I'm sure you've seen the Atlanta floods all over the news lately - well to our relief, our home is untouched. Our home is the highest in the neighborhood, and I honestly did not see any flooding in our area this week. It's the surrounding areas that got hit HARD. I think we got about 12 inches at our house over the past week, it could be more though because my gauge only holds 6 inches and it filled up in no time. I thought my flowers were going to drown! Well, others weren't so lucky. Ben and I did not realize how bad it was until we watched the news Monday night. Oh my goodness...some of the photos rival Katrina. When I saw people in boats, and kids having to stay overnight at schools because their parents could not get to them - I realized the severity of this flood. I feel so sad for the people that lost family members, that is so awful. I have never seen 85 and 285 shut down because of water before! Here are some pics of Atlanta below...

We hope the rain stays away this weekend, there is no reason to add insult to injury! Those poor people that lost everything in their homes and don't have flood insurance, oh my gosh what do you do?

Hope all of you are having a great week - the sun is finally shining over Atlanta, thank you God!

Love to all,

Kerri

Hey all!  I have begun to raise funds for the Light the Night Walk in Atlanta on October 10, 2009.  Please help me out if you can, it's tax deductible!

I'm halfway there, YAY!  Here's the link:

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day - we sure did!  Thanks to my family for coming up to spend the weekend with us.  It was filled with beautiful weather, football, yard games, grilling out, trout fishing and shopping - FUN!!!  :)  We also got to see my in-laws briefly last night, and that was nice too!  Hope you all have a great week.

Love to all!

Kerri

Kickoff is at 7 pm tonight on ESPN.  I'm so excited I can't even work!

You dropped the bomb on me...baby, you dropped the bomb on me!  It felt like an atomic bomb had been dropped on me exactly one year ago. Today is the anniversary of my own personal D-DAY, or diagnosis day.

I was diagnosed with the big "C" ...Cancer on September 2, 2008.  The memory of that day is so remarkably vivid, it's like it just happened.  But it didn't just happen.  It happened a long time ago - and that feels good to say.  The memory of it is hard to think about...that infamous phone call at work...those horrible days until we knew what I would be facing.  I know all of you have tried to imagine the horror that comes with that kind of news.  You may think you know, but you have no idea.  Before that, I sometimes acted invincible.  Nothing could ever hurt me.  Nothing could ever be wrong with me.  And that is immaturity at its finest.  Yes, things do go wrong and yes, things will happen to you.  It's just a matter of time.  Struggles are a fact of life.  It just comes in different forms.  One persons cancer may be another persons financial ruin. The thing that you have to come to terms with is that the experience will shape who you are, whether you know it or not.  I sometimes have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the only thing people think about now when they think of me...is that I had cancer.  That sucks.  Would you ever want that word associated with your name?  Heck no.  Would you ever want people to not know how to act around you?  Heck no.  But, then there comes the fact that I did beat it...that I did so well with treatment...that I didn't let it break me.  And I hope people also think about that when they think of me.  

Over the past several weeks, I've been thinking about everything I had to do to be in remission.  Surgeries, blood draws, chemo, more blood draws, more chemo, radiation (I could still spit fire about that), more blood draws, surgery again, etc etc etc....ugh, not fun.  So now comes the fun of major "scanxiety" every time I go for a scan.  Not only does cancer affect you immediately, but you've got to put up with blood draws and scans for 5 YEARS after that.  I have to put up with the thoughts that it could come back...and it won't, but I'm just saying.  That's why they scan you.  I also think about the millions of emotions that I have gone through in a years time, wow.  It really has opened my eyes to so much...and has helped to prioritize my life.  I now know what is important and who is important.

I consider myself lucky in many ways...I'm lucky that I caught it early...I'm lucky that I sailed through chemo...I'm BEYOND lucky that I'm in remission and have had 2 clean scans...I'm lucky that I can look back a year later and say "wow, what a scary ride" and still be sitting in the same office where I was diagnosed.  I thank the good Lord above for keeping me sane, keeping my body strong and putting my mind at ease.  I could not have done it alone, and for that I thank my husband, parents, siblings, in-laws, and friends for being there for me.  You are all a gift from God.  I also thank everyone who reads this blog...thanks for being interested in what I have to say.

Cancer...you messed with the wrong chick.  And to all of you who are just starting on your journey through cancer, the waiting really is the hardest part...after that, it's easier than you think it's going to be.

To echo back to my first post on here almost one year ago...you have all been so good to me.

Love you all!

Kerri