goin' home

Many of you already know that my mom is fighting a recurrence of breast cancer. We just found out this week that she is still cancer-free. Yeah!! Her cancer is super aggressive so everytime she gets this state-of-the-art roaming tumor cell blood test, we hold our breath and say lots of prayers. The chemo she gets is specifically made to fight this little protein that makes the cancer so aggressive. That's cool.

Over the past 2 years, I've spent a lot of time in the south suburb where I grew up. After this ordeal was juxtaposed with the experience of having a kid of my own, I have fallen in love with my hometown- a town I've never been in love with.

I took Alex to the park down the street from our first house in the OF (yes, my parents bought two houses in Oak Forest). This park happens to be at the elementary school I first attended-the same park I played at as a young child. So there I am with Alex, watching him play with tons of kids surrounded by homes that look like the Brady Bunch house (but, not as nice). I was finally thankful for the place my parents chose to raise us. It's a place full of working class, family oriented people. No pretensions. I'm glad we are raising Alex in a town with the same qualities- minus the Brady Bunch looking houses (forgive me, there are a few in DeKalb).

On the way to the park I told Alex we could buy a toy because he did such a great job helping Gooey at the doctors and keeping her company during chemo. He wanted gloves from the hardware store. Then, when we got there, they had vinyl gloves like the doctor. So, there we were, driving around the OF with doctor gloves on- yes, I was wearing them, too. I did refuse to wear them into the restaurant. He didn't. My little OCD son. As Steener will atest, he even wore them the next day out at lunch. And, thanks to old dog's ocular surgery, Alex received another pair while visiting Uncle Ogy. We love Aunt Steener and Uncle Old Dog!

I don't know how ot use spell check on this thing- sorry.