Erosion Revelation & the "Fog"

While at Portlands Saturday market on the waterfront, I found myself staring at so many beautiful art pieces with tears in my eyes thinking of my beautiful artistic daughter fighting for her health up at OHSU Hospital. As her mother, it was hard to enjoy it without her there with me to admire & appreciate. However, I have always believed that all things that come into our lives (including & most likely the hardest of things) are to teach us many of life's most important lessons and or to help us grow spiritually in some form. I can personally say that for every struggle in my life, amazing strength & blessings (in many forms) have been gained! It is because I have come to find gratitude from all of my struggles (a novel's worth indeed but not important here) that I know Mayleigh's difficult road is carving a beautiful future for her and will reveal to her the inner strength she didn't yet know existed within her. Even as chemotherapy erodes away her cancer, it will also reveal the beauty of her loving soul. As she reveals her inner strength, she'll find her road to health and a very bright future! She may feel beaten with this kind of "wind" but she is strong like the cliffs... whose beauty was sculpted by the harsh winds. So when I read the title of this art piece "Erosion Revelation"; it was truly art that hit my heart!

After many weeks in the hustle & bustle of the beautiful city of Portland (and OHSU-land) I was very happy to be returning home to the quite & peaceful coast that I love and miss. Larry and I went to the sunset beach to relax and have dinner by campfire while Mayleigh celebrated her hostage release with her friends. It was the kind of night that captured much of the journey over the last few weeks for me. Foggy with a chance of sun. The "fog" for me began once we got the news that cancer had taken my daughter's body hostage, hiding even into her bone marrow and therefore we had to be become hostage negotiators! Fog really sucks; it sneaks in blocking out vision. It feels "eery and spooky". Its' presence weighing thick & heavy, leaving confusion as to which way to go. All one can do is to pray for the fog to lift or reveal a path to take. Since I beleive everything in life is perspective, I tried to feel my way through the fog but I REALLY JUST WANTED FOG-BLOCKING GLASSES!! Someone fogged up my prescription lenses; my vision of our family's lives was being warped! As chemo treatments started and Mayleigh kept her whit, sense of humor and positive attitude...the fog lightened to reveal glimmers of sun rays. My incredible husband...my rock & strength, has a tremendous inner compass. He found his way out of the fog, created maps to show others the road we were on and revealed his heart on our behalf until the fog on my lenses began to clear enough to see light and be a part of writing about our experience today. Thank you Larry for being the lighthouse to guide us through murky waters,for being the boat keeping us afloat and for being our umbrella when it rains! You are everything we need when we need it and your an incredible father, husband and my best friend. I love you with all that I am and could not be the person I am today without you. This photo also shows the sun peering thru the fog as a reminder of the warmth beyond the haze. To all of you whom have been following our blog, offering loving messages, well wishes, prayers, donations and words of encouragement...YOU ARE THE SUN RAYS! You're the light that pierces through our fog. I cannot thank you all individually as there were SO MANY of you whom reached out. A special thank you to the Ronald McDonald House for the blessings of comfortable housing and a work space that allowed me to keep manufacturing "hugs" to help others & keep Framehuggers LLC going yet keeping me close to see my daughter each day! During a time of so much uncertainty, the gifts of all the love shown is truly priceless. I am forever grateful to feel the heat radiating through our family's haze. We are WARM with your love, blessed with many graces and we'll use the heat to keep the flames burning as we find our way through intermittent fog ahead seeking our daughters health. Much love and hugs to you all!