Catching Up

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. Just over a week ago, my wife Krissy, at one time known as "The Girl with Months to Live", was dancing like a rockstar on stage in front of dozens of people. Yes, the same girl that just three months ago had massive abdominal surgery and was handed a life changing diagnosis of terminal cancer, was having a blast at the benefit auction event that our friends and family held for us at the Thirsty Parrot. How is this possible you ask? I suppose I should start at the beginning...

I'm not sure exactly when the wheels started turning on this auction idea, but by the time Kris and I came back from Oasis it was already taking shape. So many of our close friends and family were involved in the creation of this little, and soon to be quite big, shindig. With the word spreading around Facebook and email we soon had piles of donations coming in daily. Each day I was shocked to see not only who and what were donated to our cause, but also to see the bids coming in from friends, family and strangers for these items. Everything coming in was so nice I was half tempted to bid on a few things myself but I thought it would be pretty cheesy to win something from an auction being held for our benefit. Soon, the final day came and we spent an amazing evening last Friday at Thirsty Parrot (thank you very much for hosting us!) while I was continuously reminded of what incredible people we've been blessed to have in our lives.

So there we were, laughing, hugging, talking and walking about the bar and taking in the fact that this was all being done to help Krissy fight cancer. After the bidding closed and the items were cleared out, DJ Brandon Lee started pumping out the jams. Thanks to Cesa they were seriously old school too. It didn't take long for all of the girls to hit the dance floor and watched Kris dance with a big goofy grin on my face. Before I knew it, she was being coaxed on stage and introduced to the entire bar. I stepped off to the upper side of the stage and watched in wonder as my wife climbed up in front of a cheering crowd and proceeded to dance like the past three months had never happened. She looked strong, resilient, and beautiful. I hope no one looked up and saw me watching her, because I was crying like a baby. Tears of joy of course, and a host of other emotions that coursed through me too quickly to keep track of. At one point in the near past I didn't think I'd see anything like this ever happen again. I didn't know if I'd get to see Krissy sit up and enjoy a meal or hold our kids, let alone mingle at a club and dance on a stage. That girl is strength incarnate, if I can manage just a tenth of her strength and determination in this lifetime I'll count myself a lucky man.

In case you were curious, the auction was a tremendous success. So successful I think I'd have to invent new adjectives to describe just how awesome it was for Krissy and I. Perhaps "supermcfrickatastic" or "incredimazingmousness" come close to describing it. You know that scene in Spaceballs where they thought they couldn't go any faster and Darth Helmet pushes them to Ludicrous Speed? We blew way past ludicrous with this auction. With all of the generous bids and donations received we're now able to afford the next two treatments at Oasis without putting ourselves into massive debt. There are still donations coming in too, it's just amazing. I know I've said this before and I've been told we don't have to say it, but we will find a way to show just how grateful we are for all of this and say "Thank you" to everyone involved. Whether that's accomplished by Krissy coming out cancer free or us sending everyone complimentary passes to a Neil Diamond tribute concert remains to be seen. Oh, I'd never really do that second one. Probably.

Needless to say, we can now breathe a little easier. We're not out of the woods yet, and we have no idea what our costs will be in the future as Kris continues her fight, but this keeps us ahead of the game for a while. We can actually keep the few vacations we booked for our kids last year before all of this happened. We spent this weekend in Aspen at the Winter X-Games, something we'd paid for last February and were able to keep without feeling stressed. It was much needed for my family. While relaxing, it wasn't without it's adventures and mishaps, so if you're still around tomorrow I'll tell you about our weekend in the mountains.

That's it for me this evening. Now that we're home and busy as hell it's hard for me to find time for blogging, but I really enjoy writing here and will try to do it as often as I can. Kris heads back to Oasis next weekend and Cesa will be going along this time. She's been tasked as my proxy in Mexico so it'll be an interesting week of posts from Oasis while she's there. I'm also planning on taking my first art class in what seems like forever later this week. I'm sure hilarity will ensue. Until next time, g'night!