Dear Reader:

Within the “Ya” friendship circle lately…there has been a lot of chaos spreading out among us. Health concerns for our children, grandchildren, financial worries, unexpected renovations, and unexpected health issues for Libby and Jackson.

So when I saw this Kelly Roberts poster…it perfectly summed up the emotional turmoil going on in our lives right now. Nothing is life shattering, mind you, perhaps a little altering…but certainly not shattering.

As Beverly Barutio, (creator of St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope used to say about her cancer) we are all experiencing a multitude of little “annoyances.”

It has been Libby and Jackson who have experienced the most annoying “annoyances” lately.

“You heart will never be alone.”

*Jackson decided to get some moles checked randomly because a few looked funny to her. None of these were a problem…but then one teeny tiny little mole in the center of her back   (she didn’t even know about) came back as potentially serious and needed to be studied again.

It isn’t malignant but at a high pre-cancerous level. It looks like they got it just at the right time. Jackson will now have to go back and let them check the margins around the neighboring tissues to be sure everything else looks good.

Her biggest dilemma is getting someone to help change her bandage once a day since she can’t reach it…all of us have probably been in that position at least once in our lives (mine was tubes from the last surgery) where we just have to have help. It is humbling when we experience that situation for the first time in life.

One of her main helpers has been Libby….Jackson runs over to her house and Nurse Libby takes care of the bandage change.

*As we all know from the blog Libby has dealt with her daughter Betsy’s thyroid cancer, which was also caught just in the nick of time…only to discover that she, herself, has a blood disorder. Libby makes too many red blood cells…her blood is too thick.

In fact the medical personnel at the hospital recently said that none of them had ever seen blood that thick….not exactly the title we dream of as little girls.

So now Libby has to go for “blood-letting” (removing blood from her body) every couple of weeks. Yesterday she was returning for the second round of this…and not looking forward to it. She felt, after the first experience, that she was the thick blood lady in a carnival freak show the way so many nurses gathered to observe on her initial trip.

Her sister couldn’t go with her so she was “soloing” it but to her surprise when she got to the hospital…there was Jackson to “pay it forward” and backward for all the help Libby has given her…but mainly, Jackson was there, because they are friends.

*When Libby texted us the “surprise” photo with Jackson in it she also commented:

“Oh my goodness!!! You never know where you will see a Ya Angel!!! I walked in and thought I was having a vision-Sweet Jackson was there! Made everything better….no words except our YaYa’s  make me happy!”

The friendship between the four of us dates back to 1967…our freshman year at Erskine…and today we can all finish each others’ sentences…and do!

 Of all the thoughts about friendship that exist…(and there are a ka-trillion) I chose the following three that best seem to apply to our fortuitous meeting in September of ’67. 

1. Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ― C.S. Lewis
2. *Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. – Aristotle
3.  A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow. – William Shakespeare
4. …………………………………………………………………………………………….

So until tomorrow…”Let us keep our hearts open to the chaos around us and keep on truckin’ “…taking time to stop and help our fellowman along the way.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Prayers for Libby and Jackson as they “keep on truckin” through their treatments are always welcome and appreciated.

*Kaitlyn and Tommy will probably get the results of the biopsy on Rudy today…please keep them in your prayers also.

*Marcia shared this extraordinary photo off her Facebook page with me last evening. The title is: Beyond words, what a artist GOD is!!! (Scott Blaney) *Thank you Marcia!

• One more ” decline of the art of conversation” cartoon to share with you…

*Sis made a sweet comment about friendship and then laughed at her choice of words concerning Libby’s situation:

Hi Becky!
Great post today about friends and how “thick” y’all are – the “Ya’s.” (Oh! no pun intended on Libby’s situation – really! Only realized it when I was proofing what I’d written.) Y’all are truly lucky to have each other and for such a long time; the friendship y’all share is a wonderful gift. I love how you ALL embrace it.