HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! (yah, I know it's almost summer....)

The Make A Wish team called and asked if Johnny would ride on their float in the St. Patrick's Day Parade -- of course he said yes. Unfortunately, there wasn't any beer -- but we all managed to have a good time anyway...


The "Crew"



Johnny with a little Irish in him (or at least his nose).



Mike, Sophie and Tessa. Tessa LOVES Mike, no really she does, I know, it baffle us too (Mike included). He usually tries to scare small children with his deep voice, but Tessa is smart, she can see right through his "I hate small children" facade.



Nana and Pops chillin' before the start of the parade. All they need to complete their look is a flashing candy pacifier necklace...



Sophie and her new glasses.



The MAW float was one of the last ones of the parade. We couldn't have asked for better weather or better seats (MAW kids/families were under a tent). -- Well except for this old lady who was seated right between the MAW tent and the judges tent. I am pretty sure she was Irish because she had a Shilelagh in her hand -- you know the traditional Celtic weapon -- as one person so eloquently puts it, "to beat the #$&@ out of the Proddy's" (Protestant's). She was about 250lbs, and I'm not kidding you when I say this, she looked just like the witch from Snow White:

Missing teeth and all. Except instead of a poison apple, it was a Shilelagh she kept slapping in her hand. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought that maybe she was separated from her party or escaped from assisted living, and when the moment presents itself, help her find her way back to where ever she was spawned.

Since we were right next to the judges booth, all of the floats stopped in front of us to show off whatever their thing was -- some people River Danced, some showed off Irish Setters and no parade (Irish or otherwise) would be complete without Shriner's zipping around in tiny cars. With the parade underway, the first float stops and the Shilelagh woman starts yelling in an old crackly voice, much like the witch from Snow White, "COME ON! GET MOVING! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!". I was startled at first and looked back at sister who gives me this 'What-the-$#@@!-is-she-for-real?' look and we both laugh. I thought to myself, "Wow. She really likes parades. Hopefully she won't do that the entire time."

But she did. Half way through the parade she told me that this was her job (last year) -- to keep the parade moving, so she had to yell every ear piercing time they stopped. Not only to "KEEP IT MOVING", but "NO THROWING THINGS FROM THE FLOAT" was also screeched numerous times throughout the parade. No candy, no beads, no frisbee's, nothing.

Trust me. You didn't want this woman to come after you with her ancient Celtic weapon -- although she didn't look very quick on her feet, she did look like she could do some damage with the Shilelagh.

We were almost to the end of the parade when a Judge finally tells Shilelagh woman, "They have to stop and perform for us." But she just ignored him. I guess it's people like Shilelagh woman that make my life interesting, albeit deaf in my left ear, the doctor's say I will hopefully regain my hearing before next St. Patrick's Day.

WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

Someone asked me today what we have been up to lately and I honestly couldn't answer them -- "Same 'ol, same 'ol" didn't really say much, but unfortunately it was true. Nothing too exciting.

Well, maybe a few exciting things...

Right after my last post Mike's Nana passed away (okay, not particularly 'exciting', but it kept us busy). We will all miss her very much...



It must suck to be the last of three kids.

I say this because everyone kept asking Sophie and I what our plans were for her birthday the following weekend. PLANS? Uh.... didn't really have any, "You better figure out what your going to do, you don't have a lot of time to plan.", was the usual response. Even Mike started worry about her party (or lack of). A far cry from 5 years ago...



Sophie's dress I bought at a children's boutique for about $100.00, then dropped $30.00 for the hat. Kathleen flew in two days before the party so we could make the food and cake.


We stuffed olives with herbed goat cheese, we made recipes from the French restaurant I used to work at -- we were food snobs. Nothing from a can! Everything must be made by hand, from scratch! We even made her cake TWICE! The first time was just to make sure the real thing was perfect. The champagne punch had ice rings decorated with edible flowers...

W A Y OVER THE TOP -- I know. Then I went to a 'normal' birthday party at a gymnastics place that weekend and had Kettle Korn for the first time.

I asked someone "What is this? It's delicious, what is it called?" -- "Kettle Korn? How do you make it?"

The parent stared at me and said "You don't make it, you buy it. It comes in a bag." really? I guess you could call that my epiphany moment, buying something already made never crossed my mind. My, how things have changed. Now all I need to arm myself with is a can opener, stuff already sliced and diced, ...and bring on the rug rats!

Okay, I'm exaggerating, but let's just say that Sophie's six-year-old party wasn't full of pomp and circumstance like her previous birthday's. It took me awhile but I finally learned when you have a child's birthday party, it's best to keep all of the guests outdoors. We played kickball, soccer, freeze tag -- all the 'normal' stuff you do at a six-year-old's party.

THINGS ARE GOOD...

Two weeks ago Johnny had the works and bounced back very quickly. We didn't let him do anything that weekend though -- usually he's out skating or surfing by Sunday. I think keeping him on lock-down helps with his recovery -- imagine that -- taking it easy after chemo...

His counts have been so strong they have increased his oral meds -- he is inching ever so close to -- dare I say -- normal dosages?!?!?! I know we've talked about this before, more meds equals this:


I guess the good news is, his hair is almost cutting itself -- through attrition... pretty soon all the long hair will be gone and the short will be right behind it. Well, that's what I keep telling myself anyway.

Our big issue right now is his meds. He is fighting us every night about them -- very out of character for him. I was telling a friend this and they compared it to my marathon, when I reached mile 18, all I could think about was stopping even though I was so close to the end. They mentioned maybe having a count down -- right now we only have 13 more clinic visits -- doing that makes it much more manageable.

At the last clinic visit one of the nurses saw us and said -- "You guys still here? I thought he was done with treatment?" We told her how close we are and then she asked "Are you going to have a big party when your done?" Johnny very enthusiastically said "YES!" the same time I said no. She asked why not, and I told her about our fears and she said "You have to have a party. Live one day at a time. You have to have a party."

Johnny chimed in with a snarky, "Yeah mom!" She went on to say that kids have pinatas and tape pictures or words representing meds, chemo, spinals, IV's, needles and let the kid beat the shit out of it. That suggestion I like! At Sophie's birthday party we had a pinata and after someone finally cracked it open the kids ran for the candy. Not Johnny. He asked if he could finish it off.

The kid went after it! It reminded me of a scene from Goodfella's or something. He looked like Joe Pecci whacking someone, no remorse in his eyes, just finishing it off. He didn't stop until he was ready and I could tell it felt really good to him -- letting out all of his anger.

Another friend of ours told us to have a party too. Her son was diagnosed when he was three, went through treatment, was in remission, considered a long-term survivor and then it came back last Thanksgiving. She told us to celebrate the new beginning, because it's a huge step in his recovery not only for Johnny but for all of us -- a rite of passage. Now I'm leaning toward an End of Treatment Kegger or something... We have some time to think about it, I'll keep you posted.