2010

Alright well clearly I have not been keeping up with this blog. Go me. I also gave up on Project 365 obviously a long time ago. Oh well.

However, it's the first day of a new year so I thought it would be a good time to start writing again.

Unfortunately, I don't have a happy subject to write about right now. This morning, my mom called to tell me that our neighbor died yesterday. She lived next door to my parents since they moved into their house over 30 years ago. Seven years ago, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, which she fought and beat for five years, and then was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she also fought and beat. She unfortunately had a cyst on her lung burst on Christmas Eve and was rushed to the hospital as she was bleeding into her lung. She was in ICU the whole time I was home and since I was sick, there was no way I'd be allowed to go see her. When I left on Tuesday morning, she was supposedly on her way out of ICU and into a regular room. Wednesday morning she relapsed and refused to be put back on a respirator and slipped into a drug induced coma on Wednesday afternoon. She died at about 4am on Thursday morning.

I saw her when I was home in September and she looked remarkably healthy, out walking her dog every morning, visiting with everyone in the neighborhood. She was always our go-to neighbor whenever we needed anything, rides to the airport, someone to watch the animals, advice on an illness (she was a nurse for 40 years), anything really. It's so weird to think that next time I go home, she won't be just a house away, there to help out with anything we need. I'm still in shock over it, I really don't think it has hit me yet.

As some of you may know, I've cut 10 inches off my hair twice to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. I don't know how many people I told though that the reason I did this was because of my neighbor. Watching her go through chemo with her breast cancer and her losing all her hair all over again and ending up with an awful wig just broke my heart. I currently have four braids each with 10 inches of hair in a box in my closet waiting for me to have the courage again to cut the last 10 inches so that a full wig can be made out of the same hair. Looks like now is as good a time as any to get out my measuring tape and make the cut again.

My heart hurts right now. Here's to you Bobbi. Love you.