Sunshine, Friendship, and The Week - Friday 5

TGIF, friends. This week has actually been a great week. I have never longed for Spring and Summer so much in my life. Maybe it is because I feel so much better about myself now, but I am becoming so impatient. We were given a tease Saturday through Tuesday here and I took advantage of it as much as I could! However, I am irritated because I have been so sore, all week long. I love it for the first day or so, but now I am off over it. My thighs better be shaping up good after all of this!

Monday was my off day from the gym. I came home and made a new recipe (which by the way is out of this world delicious), did some cleaning, and (1) I had a fabulous new workout top arrive. Not only is it pink, the best color ever, but I love the saying on it. How freaking true? It is so motivating and the perfect saying for when you're hard at work at the gym. The shirt is from Blessons Apparel!

(2) Tuesday was the most beautiful day and I soaked up every second of it. I left work a little early, put the top back, and drove home. I did the Hot Mess Express for half an hour then Kelly and I ran two miles on the Greenway. I am so lucky to have my gym, LA Fitness across the parking lot and a beautiful 4 mile Greenway to run on. If that doesn't keep someone on track, I don't know what could! Great thing I picked my particular apartment complex - I just knew it felt right.

After our awesome run, Kels and I walked to Hickory Tavern for a bottle of Pinot and patio time. Because, duh - we exercise to drink our wine, ha! The weather was beautiful and we work out butt's off, so we deserved it. We had the best time. 

Wednesday, I received some bad news about my father. Luckily, the rain stopped and turned out to be another beautiful, warm day. My best friend was there for me the whole evening. Kelly and I went to the gym, had a killer work out, then she and her dad took me to a delicious dinner. (3) I am so thankful for friendship. We of course had to snap a a sweaty, post workout picture. Our more glamorous state. Ha!

(4) Thursday morning my cat was on another level. He ran around all night being psycho. Marty definitely has the biggest personality of any cat I have ever seen, but this was crazy! I woke up to him going through my medicine cabinet! Ha! I love him more than anything, he is nuts.

(5) My dad. I feel like I talk about him all of the time on my blog, but his cancer really affects me. I have never had to deal with a terminal illness like cancer nor have I lost a close family member before. This is all so new to me and difficult to swallow. I talk about the pain sometimes on my blog, because writing is my therapy and outlet. Plus I feel like you can never ask for too many prayers. I received a call that my father was rushed to the ER at Duke. There is a hospital 10 minutes away from my parents in my hometown, why did he have to go 2 hours to Duke? Turns out the cancer is eating away at his bone. The doctors attempted to do surgery and couldn't. Nor could they do radiation. They sent him home with a morphine drip. My dads battle with cancer is tearing me apart. I can only imagine how he feels. The cancer started in 2006 in his kidney, which was removed and he was cancer free until 2011 when there was a tumor found in his brain. That was removed and then we found out that it was in his leg bone and pelvis as well, so it had been in his blood stream. Thus it is not curable. My family has been on this terrible rollercoaster ride of good news, bad news good news, good news, and everyday it gets hard. My father has fought so damn hard and for so long. And there is not much I can do for him. I wish I could take it all away from him and put it in me, but I can't. I visit my dad when I can, I call to say I love him, and I made a picture for him that can hopefully cheer him up.

My dad is a really hard person to buy gifts for. He doesn't really have any hobbies or any likes, besides the Beatles. I have gotten him so much Beatles stuff that I lost count. I thought the picture of he and I and our favorite song may help him. He used to sing "Butterfly Kisses" to me all of the time. I cried like a baby while trying to make this for him last night. Until a few months ago, I really distanced myself from my dad. I rarely saw him, rarely talked, and I pretended that the cancer didn't exist. Any time someone would ask me about him, I would reply that he was receiving his treatments and doing OK. I would never talk about it because I was living in denial. I did not want to believe it, because I don't feel strong enough to handle it. However, I have slowly changed myself over the last few months and realized my selfishness will not help him. I try to be a better daughter everyday and realize this is not about me, it is about him.

Have a great weekend everyone.