Here for it: Every week-ish I will write about a few things I am "here for" aka into, enjoying, obsessed over -- you get the drift. And, I muse about something at I "not here for."
This week I am here once again for friendship and connection. I guess it's summer and making the effort to spend time with friends. But last week was a doozy (more on that later in the post), and we happened to have plans with some of our closest friends for the weekend. Perfectly timed medicine for the soul. We went to the sweetest coastal town, Westport (MA), and spent Friday night with one of my besties, her husband, son and his fiancé. We both had lots to cry about so that's exactly what we did: we snuggled on the sofa, hugged and cried for hours and hours. We ate tuna they caught, drank lots of wine and caught up on months of time apart. Saturday we headed down the street to hang with friends from our twenties in Boston. Some of our favorite people in the world. Our kids are similar ages so we have vacationed and spent many weekends together as families and the memories always come rushing back. Always we play sports together so that is exactly what we did: tennis, pickle, golf (for the guys) and beach walks. Most importantly the laughs start the moment we see each other.
As I have aged, I realize I truly am a quality over quantity girl. I am not one for constant socializing and I pick my closest friends carefully. I do not need to be invited to "everything" -- actually, I don't want to be! I have a lot of really close friends but not a traditional "friend group" with whom I hang regularly. And you know what, I am here for this!
And then the NOT..... A week ago my brother called me hystercial, barely able to get the words out: My sister-in-law has metastatic cancer. Found on an MRI of her hip -- performed to assess a constant nagging pain, it showed tumors in her hip -- bone mets -- which sadly I am familiar with. Let me backup... our Mom had a glioblastoma almost 15 years ago so we are familiar with horrible stage four cancer. And one of my close friends had metastatic breast cancer. The origin of my sister-in-laws cancer is not known but what I do know is I will love her, my brother and their kids up. #fuckcancer