Wasians for the Cure

Normally my posts are relatively light, but this one may not be. So if you aren’t in a heavy mode, you might want to check out msnbc and read about how the Kardashian wedding is coming along or whatever. Kim is getting married, right? Anyway, a little over a year ago, our family was struck by some unfortunate news: my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Mom went through various rounds of chemo and radiation starting last July, and finished all that in Jan/Feb. it appears as though they have rid her of the cancer, which is great. The previous sentence about mom going through those things is not to diminish how hard it is to go through chemo or radiation, but moreso how seamlessly Mom made it through. Not to say she wasn’t a bit more tired, or that she didn’t lose her hair, or that at times it noticeably worried her or dad but at the same time she was still the same person in most ways she always has been. My mom is the person who will sit and play games with Emma for hours (not exaggerating), who can’t find most things without being driven, but always knows where the nearest mall is, who buys Emma endless clothes and books, including a lot of Hawkeye gear (which we like a lot of course), and who sings songs with her grandkids no matter where she is or how it may embarrass other parties around. That’s not all, but some of the high points and in many ways mom is the linchpin that brings and holds our family together. My mom never wanted to be known as Cheryl, breast cancer survivor, but rather Cheryl, grandma (among other things), with the breast cancer beating being something she did on the side. That’s probably why it was all relatively seamless, she wouldn’t let herself change in a good way.

So Kansas City has a Race for the Cure, similar to many other cities. Lela and I have participated in it previously and always thought it was a great event, and a great cause. We thought it would be great to have Mom come down and participate in it with Lela, so she could experience the celebration it is and also participate in her first race of any kind (my mom runs quite a bit btw, so the running wasn’t something abnormal for her, just hadn’t participated in a race). With many things we do for others or attend, we expect it to be moving and to a certain amount it is. With other things you think it might be, but you don’t consciously think about it, and then when you are there the gravity hits you and it is amazing. For us this was in that category. Maybe because we had participated in the event previously and thought it was cool. Maybe it was because we were running around the day before utilizing the grandparent babysitting system. Regardless it was extremely moving to be there, to get to share the experience with Mom and fight back tears at various points for no particular reason other than the aforementioned general gravity, and we were so happy it worked out. Oh and by the way we were blessed not only with Mom and Dad’s presence but a day where it was 65 degrees at race time, something that doesn’t often happen in KC in august! It was great to share it all with my mom, crazy grandma who sings endless songs, knows where Von Maur is in relation to our house within 10 min of us moving, loves the Hawkeyes and her grandchildren and who happened to do a number on breast cancer.

You may be asking where the title came from. I saw a group of Asians who had t-shirts “Asians for the Cure,” which cracked me up, so I thought Emma will likely want to start Wasians for the Cure. As a side note, the Asians surprising weren’t taking pictures of anything and didn’t have cameras around their necks.

Straight Cash Homie

Some other musings and I couldn’t resist adding a subtitle. Emma has developed some more interesting habits in the past few weeks. She found this dollar bill from a purse she got and has been obsessed with it since. She walks around saying “My cash” all the time. I have tried to teach her how to say “straight cash homie” ala Randy Moss, but she has refused to this point. For some reason Lela also thinks I shouldn’t do that. Weird. Emma also has become obsessed with laying cloths and blankets on things. For example she spent about a half an hour the other night laying a wash cloth on a basketball and putting her cash on top and then kicking the ball. Um, okay. Coincidentally, this was just after testing the Elmo Loves Potty dvd with Emma. IN theory such a dvd sounds like a good idea, since the only thing Emma likes is Elmo. However, Emma decided most of the time that she just wanted to practice climbing over and over. She did dance to a song by Elmo and Grover, but mostly thus far the dvd has just resulted in me having Potty songs in my head all day and no real results on the potty end of the world.

Two weekends ago was one of several first for Emma. We tried out a little kids soccer “practice” to see how she liked it. Emma was in what I will call a special mood that morning, so it wasn’t fully enjoyable. Plus it was 80+ degrees in the room she was in. . . Emma really enjoyed the race at the beginning, to the point that for 90% of the class she just wanted to run around the room rather than trying any of the stuff the kids were doing. I got a pretty good workout chasing her though I guess. That afternoon we went to the lake for emma’s first trip on a boat with some friends who have a boat. Due to the soccer fun we had that morning, we were a bit nervous. It was also 100 degrees near the lake so we were anticipating her not only  being a cranky mess, but sweating profusely while it happened. We were very pleasantly surprised to find out that emma loved the lake. She spent hours in the water, and didn’t really have a sad moment the whole time, so no “fun” stories to tell on that front thankfully.

Some candids of emma showing her Elmo shirt (courtesy of Grandma of course)

Emma's first soccer "practice".  Girl's got skilllllzzzz, that is when she isn't running away from everyone!

Emma likes to wear my belts, not a bad look!

Pre-race picture

I asked someone who was about 80 years old and didn't understand how to run our camera to take this.  The looks on everyone's faces are priceless though!

Much better, with Union Station in the background even