CLAY AND WATTLES

VBF Brenda

My dear friend Bren called me late in the week and said she would have a breast biopsy Monday. After looking at her x-rays and with her family history (her mother died of breast cancer), she and her surgeon decided this was the best course of action. Her husband Jim called me yesterday morning (by 8:30) and said that all is well and it was benign! I was so relieved, of course! Later when they were on their way home, Jim insisted she call me and talk to me herself, just because, "You need to talk to Pat," he said. So she did. We rejoiced together that all is fine.

Yesterday and today she's been at home recuperating and realizing all over, as we all do at these times, the importance of family and friends, and what our priorities should be. She described the garden work going on just south of her house, Jim plowing up the ground getting ready for those "nine bean rows" (not nine literally - there will be many more than that! - but poetically). His cousin Charlotte, a life-long friend of Bren, and mine from just after high school, has several rows of vegetables each summer. Such is the quiet life in the small rural town of Iuka. Everyone knows everyone else, and most everyone is related in some way. (Bren and Jim have the same first cousins in their respective families, for instance. And I can't explain how right now. Bren's a great genealogist and if I don't have it written right in front of me, I can't remember.) If they aren't related, they know every other possible connection - who died, who had babies, who graduated, who had surgery, who went to the nursing home, who won the beauty review, who won the annual drawing at the shoe store, and how all these events affected the community.

Looking forward to "going home" in a couple of weeks to see family. I'll only get to see Bren for a few minutes, and will be taking her something for "my" bedroom at her house. And give her a hug.

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Related note: Caren Hand Treatment - part of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. It's a great hand cream and can be found at Cordial Cottage for one place I know locally. It's also online here.

And, unrelated, Paul updated his blog - finally! Thanks for the updates!