Perspective

What a difference a year makes on my perspective of Mother's Day.

A year ago I received one of those phone calls that throws a physical punch to the gut: my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer, just a couple of months after the unexpected passing of her own mom. The following weeks were some of the darkest of my life as we waited to find out which form she had, how far it had spread, what her treatment options were, etc. Bella's fur and Walker's chest caught a multitude of tears during that time (and this from someone who prior to this averaged maybe two crying episodes a year). My experience and knowledge of cancer gleaned through medical school was both a blessing and a curse. We clung to prayer, family, an incredibly solid foundation of friends, and consistently reminding ourselves that none of us were promised tomorrow. My senior quote from high school was Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." I have full faith that God etched that verse in my heart so long ago to get me through those difficult months. 

Mom was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and had multiple tumors in her breast, but through the divine plan and grace of God her cancer had not spread into her lymph nodes. Praise the Lord for the miracles he performs each and every day!

Over 15 hours of surgeries and 16 weeks of chemotherapy later and mom is now in clinical REMISSION. My heart swells with pride when I think of how she handled this past year. Even when her body was ravaged with surgery or the poisonous drugs it needed to kill the remaining cancer cells, her spirit never wavered. Surrounded by her family and precious friends, she fought like a champ, and this Mother's Day I celebrate her influence on my life more than ever.

In my three years of medical school I have encountered countless cancer patients in which remission just wasn't in the cards, and I know many of you reading this have experienced in the worst way the pain and toll that cancer takes in the lives of a loved one. Today I celebrate my mom's life, and praise God that at this time in her life His plan has her winning this battle. Love you mom!

Proverbs 31:28, "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her."

On another Mother's Day note, I am truly blessed by the family I have married into. Walker's mom has been like family to me long before my wedding day, and happens to be one of my mom's closest friends and strongest supporters. She is a Proverbs 31 woman as well, and I hope one day she shares her secret to raising a son like my husband, as I would love nothing more than to have little mini-Walker's running around my house one day :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Reunions

This past weekend brought two reunions: the first with this precious pup, who we had been away from for over two weeks while on vacation. My sweet parents kept her while we were gone, and she came home happy and exhausted after all of her time with her BFF-weimaraner-doggy-cousin Lacey.

Next, we headed to Auburn for my cousin Spearman's wedding and to stay with one of my best friends, Dr. Anderson (AKA Krisan, but I like to brag that one of my best friends got a doctorate at 24 :) ).

We caught up on life over lunch at Amsterdam, stayed at their precious new home, and played with this little man...

He and Bella played hard and crashed hard...

Sadly, I have no pictures from the spectacular wedding on Saturday night. The reception was held outdoors at the bride's gorgeous home, but the incredible Alabama humidity precluded me from documenting with any photos. We had a blast, but perspired quite a bit, and sweaty photos are never pretty.

Until next time...

Chicago, Part II

Chicago, continued...

Lucky for us, the Cubs were in town during our trip. After I discovered this gem in San Francisco last year before the Giant's game, Walker was charged with finding an equally appealing and spirited location for us to eat in Wrigleyville. Much google searching and customer reviewing led him here...

We ordered drinks from our very pretty waitress in a VERY short yellow-plaid kilt and sat back to take in the local flavor of the restaurant. We quickly realized all of the waitresses were very pretty and dressed in the same very short kilt. 

W: "Ohhh, no wonder all the reviews said 'good food, GREAT service'". 

We likened it to a home-grown Tilted Kilt. 

The food was in fact quite good, and after some artery-clogging cheesy fries, wings, and chicken fingers, we headed into Wrigley Field.

The photo may appear to some that we are in fact standing on the field, which would be close to the truth. Thanks to an E&Y Chicago connection, our seats were on Row 3, directly behind third base.

By the 4th inning we looked like this...

Chicago is indeed a very cold and windy place.

Day #4 of vacation started with this place. Any ~2007 AU grads remember it? I must have purchased over 100 of their bagels and cups of Vanilla Hazelnut coffee during my senior year!

We took an architecture tour on the river and it was well worth it. The river runs through the heart of the city and it was a wonderful way to see all of the beautiful buildings Chicago has to offer.

Trump Tower

Chicago Merchandise Mart

Sears Tower

And now a little humor and the perfect way to end our vacation... In an attempt to capture the photo below, I had a little misadventure. This interesting building is at the intersection of North Michigan and Chicago Avenue, a VERY busy and populated area on Magnificent Mile. 

On first attempt I couldn't quite capture the height of the entire building in my camera frame, so I started inching backwards until it came into full view. Suddenly I found myself falling backwards into, you guessed it, a fountain. My husband and his cat-like reflexes caught me before I (and the camera) face-planted, but it did result in one completely soaked and very cold leg (it was in the mid-forties) for the next several hours until I could change. For you Office fans out there, I like to think of it as my koi pond.

For those of you still reading, thanks for letting me indulge the details and photos of our vacation. These posts will be an easy way to remember all the little details of our trip since I'm sure some will fade with time. 

Chicago, Part I

After 5 glorious days of vacation, we have returned south of the Mason-Dixon line feeling rested and refreshed! Even a couple of days of horrendous weather couldn't spoil our time in Chicago. It doesn't get much better than vacationing with your best friend. Walker kept me laughing the whole time and shares my type A personality (and therefore, OCD-tendencies), which makes us excellent travel partners. I took lots (read: way too many) photos, so I can't say for certain how many "Parts" there will be, but here goes...

Our arrival was met with rain, rain, and rain, with some wind gusts thrown in for good measure. Our first priority upon on arrival was food (of course), and what better way to start a Chicago vacation than deep dish pizza? Oh man, the pizza. Deep dish = more CHEESE, which made us happy campers.

That afternoon we took the train (have I mentioned that we mastered Chicago's public transportation system during our stay? Because we did. And it was dirt cheap. And made life so much easier. We were so proud of ourselves.) several blocks north to attend a show at Second City, a famous comedy club that has produced such notables as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Steve Carell, and it did not disappoint. I don't think we stopped laughing the entire time!

We attempted to hit up some local Mexican fare for dinner, and were saddened to learn that people in Chicago do not believe in cheese dip. They have some weird alternatives (i.e., greasy Mexican sausage covered in a poor excuse for cheese), but no where during our entire vacation did we come across the creamy, white queso we are so accustomed to in the South (and believe me, we checked). Ah, I digress.

The next day brought worse weather than day #1, 

so we decided to redeem it as best we could.

Chicago is full of this place, making my husband one happy man (he loves to make pretty faces during solo shots, more of these coming).

Lucky for us, our hotel was a few short blocks away from Magnificent Mile on North Michigan Avenue, home of some of the best shopping in the country (photo taken on a later date when I could pull out my camera without fear of rain damage).

Sunday night we ate here (delicious),

then used our newly acquired public transportation skills and headed out to the suburbs to visit a blast from the past, the Hogan family. For those non-Montgomery folks out there, Brian Hogan was mine and Walker's youth minister during junior high and high school, making a huge impact on both of our lives. His family moved to Chicago the year we graduated from high school, and he now is the worship leader at Wheaton Bible Church. He and his wife Amy's three boys were merely babies when they left, and it was so wonderful to catch up with their sweet family and see and hear how they have grown!

Day #3 of vacation brought SUN, and the chance to finally bring out the camera. Our first stop was Millennium Park...

I introduce you to... the future father of my children...

Let's take a closer look...

Walker lost 15 cool points when he committed this fashion faux pas. Alas, he would not be deterred.

Our next stop was Navy Pier...

Attempt at photo with cool view of skyline, take #1...

Yikes, Walker's hair is tall. Let's try again...

This will have to do. Clearly more takes are not going to help our hair or make the wind go away.

We finished our time at Navy Pier with a taste of home...

For those of you still reading, my apologies for the length of the post. I make no promises that Part II will be any shorter. It will also likely be posted tomorrow, as my week of vacation (and therefore free time) is slowly dwindling.

Until tomorrow...