Weekly Holiday: Breast Cancer Awareness Month Celebration

**First, a quick note. I hosted a write-a-thon on my writing blog last week which kept me busy. Plus, I had a VERY sick toddler for a few days. So I'm sorry, but I didn't get around to responding to many comments. Most likely I won't get around to replying to them now, but I promise to start replying to new comments again!

On Saturday we celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I wore pink, of course. 

I printed out this amazing printable from inkhappi (my mom's new blog & forthcoming shop)!

Get your free download at inkhappi! I also made this my phone wallpaper a week ago :)

Then I taped it to the window by our front door so anyone that comes to visit our home will see it!

And finally, I talked to Ryan about my Aunt Jo who died of breast cancer. I read him this poem I wrote about her.

I'm no poet, but I wrote this for a poetry class I took in college:

Aunt Jo

I didn’t understand

That you were really sick.

Lips always curved.

Upward.

Eyes shining—

No pain.

I now know it was there.

Laughter,

Loud voices,

Ringing through the soundless night

Phase 10 and Red Vines

Were you sick then?

Like a great novel

Without an ending,

You died so young.

Forty two; with 1,000,000 pages waiting—

Left blank in your book.

Me: age nine—

Naïve—

I figured we would still laugh

As you modeled outfits

Pretending to be on the runway

And I picked my favorite.

I was wrong,

Innocent,

Confused.

I wanted to know

How the cancer spread

From your breasts,

To your back,

And on to your brain,

Like an airplane

From humid D.C.

To the windy shore of Newport Beach

And on to northern Canada.

Now I understand.

10 years later.

Blurred vision cleared:

Your pain is now gone.

Dreams and memories;

Return to the past.

Late night game sessions,

Home cooked meals,

Me next to you

Always.

Laughing for hours

And hours.

Your smile spreading.

But someday we’ll laugh again.

**Congrats to Maureen Tenney, winner of the $25 Target gift card!