An Extraordinary Life

Some of you might have noticed that I have not posted much lately. It's not that I have not wanted to; it's just that life seems to have gotten in the way.

If you are aware at all of my other blog, you would know that Donna, my mother-in-law, was diagnosed in July at age 56 with non-small cell, stage 3 lung cancer. She also has malignant tumors on her esophagus, and as well, the cancer is in her lymph nodes. Her cancer is inoperable, and it is terminal. The only hope she has is for intensive chemotherapy to maybe add a couple of months to whatever amount of life she has left.

When this kind of reality is not staring you in the face everyday, it's easy to go through the motions of daily life; of daily normalcy. It's for this reason alone that I have posted over the last couple of months, using zombies and psychopaths as a mental escape.

Donna doesn't have that luxury. She has no escape. She has no normalcy.

Donna has no real time to do all the things she had put off until tomorrow. No time to take that vacation to Hawaii she always wanted; no time to travel the countryside in an RV; no time to really appreciate all the things she had taken for granted.... at least, not without jeopardizing the time she does have left.

But I do. I have time to let her know how important she is to me; how much she has impacted my life. And together, my husband and I are making the time to make our lives mean something more than just existing. We are committed to not waking up tomorrow and find ourselves at age 60 and wondering what we did with our lives. We no longer want to risk being told we only have months to live before we realize we were simply going through the motions. We plan on taking steps to make our ordinary life an extraordinary life, in honor of an extraordinary woman: Donna.

One way we are doing this is by recapturing our love affair with the saddle. A bike saddle that is, and we plan on riding our first century next year in Philadelphia's 2009 LIVESTRONG Challenge.

The LIVESTRONG Challenge is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's signature fund raising event for the fight against cancer. Whether we choose to walk, run, ride, volunteer, or simply donate $1, $2, or $5, each and every one of our participation is yet another powerful weapon in this fight. As well, any money my husband and I mange to raise through donations, we plan on matching - in honor of Bill's mother, and my family members already taken by this life altering illness.

So if my blog seems lacking in the next couple months, please don't abandon me. I have grown quite attached to the very few of you who frequent my blog on a regular basis, and your absense would be sorely missed. I do intend to keep posting reviews of gawd awful movies, and I even have some more zombie survival skills to throw your way. Of course, my Zombie Tanka of 1000 Verses is just getting under weigh so you won't want to miss any of those posts. They will surely get bloody and ruthless before you know it!

And if you feel like contributing to an awesome cause, visit my LIVESTRONG Challenge fund raising page here. It would mean a lot to me, and to all those fighting for their right to live everyday as they battle cancer.