Category: Life Before Cancer
-
Trying to Outrun a Hurricane
In August the year before I was diagnosed with cancer, Stacy’s best friend Mitch invited us to come hang out with them at the beach. They had a condo, but because apparently we like making life more complicated than necessary, Stacy and I decided to take the camper. We stayed at this little campground called…
-
The Tattoo I Almost Quit
About a month after my sister Katey passed away, I decided I wanted a tattoo for her. Not just something I picked off a wall. I knew exactly what I wanted it to mean, so I came up with the design myself and took my ideas to the tattoo artist. He drew it out, brought…
-
Dad, Simon & Garfunkel, and a Two-Hour Drive
Some families have road-trip playlists. My dad apparently had a road-trip curriculum. When we were kids, we camped on the St. Lawrence River pretty much every weekend during the summer. It was about a two-hour drive from home, so we spent a whole lot of time in the car together. And at some point, Dad…
-
The Letter I Almost Kept Ignoring
Because of my sister, I made sure I got my mammogram every year. And over the years, I had my fair share of abnormal ones. You know the letter. We saw something abnormal. We need you to come back for additional imaging. So I’d go back. Three different times, I went through the whole routine…
-
The Heartbeat I Needed to Hear
Every year on September 11, I think about where I was when the world seemed to stop. I was almost eight months pregnant with Dylan. That morning, Katey came into my room. “OMG, April. You have to see this.” I remember turning on the TV and trying to understand what I was looking at. It…
-
You. Are. Mean.
Dylan was a little stinker when he was young. I say that with all the love in the world. He was funny, stubborn, full of personality, and my brother Tim absolutely loved to antagonize him. And somehow, by some miracle, we got one of those moments on video. We still have it. Dylan was playing…
-
It Was Only $5
The $5,000 credit card, a lifetime of shopping with my sister, and the lie we never stopped telling our husbands. I was 18 years old when a bank decided I was responsible enough to have a credit card with a $5,000 limit. Let me say that again. Eighteen. Years. Old. Five thousand dollars. I don’t…
-
My Dad, His Red Underwear, and a Very Bad Plan
My sister Katey and I were in high school, and of course, there were boys. It was late one night. And when I say late, I don’t mean we probably should’ve been in bed late. I mean 2 a.m. late. We were on the phone with some boys, and somehow we had decided that these…