Who knew I would not only be Shannon's mother, but also her publicist? At this time, there will be no story on KTTC. No story in the Post Bulletin either. Not now, not yet. In a year, hopefully Shannon is still on the Mayo girls golf team and the support from her teamates has helped her to persevere, and then maybe there's a story to tell. For all of us. But, playing in a JV match tomorrow is a personal gift from Coach Myhro and his team to Shannon to lift her spirits. And she is excited and it is bringing her joy. Now, about that weather forecast...
My dad arrived today. He's drove a car back from my parent's home in Nevada so he and my mom will have their own wheels from here on out. 1600 plus miles in two and a half days. Next on the agenda is finding them a temporary Rochester home. They lived here until 4 years ago when they retired out West. Now they can't imagine not being here. And we need them.
I've lived in Rochester my entire life (except for the college years) and I've never needed the Mayo Clinic. Sure, my mom worked as a nurse, so it helped pay the bills in our house. And sure, we delivered our babies at Methodist and treated our ear infections and strep throats through the Family Medicine department, but we never needed it. How different would our lives be if we had to uproot everything to pursue this kind of treatment? As we walk the halls at the clinic, we see people from all over. And here we are, living in our own house, shopping at our familiar grocery store, going to our jobs. (Yes, I actually managed to teach tennis for a whole 90 minutes today!) Shannon goes to school, gets picked up at 12:35pm and is done with radiation and home by 1:30pm. Not every kid being treated at Mayo has that. For that, we are grateful.
Another great meal appeared at our door tonight. Grateful for that, too.
A few people have asked us to continue to share our musical selections. On this Monday, I've gone with an all Jack Johnson playlist. Today's favorite for me - All At Once:
All at once, The world can overwhelm me
There's almost nothin' that you could tell me
That could ease my mind
Which way will you run
When it's always all around you
And the feelin' lost and found you again
A feelin' that we have no control
