Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Grown Up Christmas Wish

Seriously beggars can't be choosers, right?

But I thought I would let you in on a little 
conversation that Kyle and I had the other day.

It's about choosing.

and I'm begging you to listen closely.

Shhhh....listen.  Really listen.

We were talking about Christmas, and once again
for us it's going to be a tight year.

Cancer, being off of work, waiting for disability
to kick in and all that jazz is making us
tighten the already tightened purse straps.

Which is okay.  We have lots of practice
with tightening.  We did one Christmas
when Kyle was unemployed a few years back
and as I recall it was one of our most
wonderful Christmases ever.

Christmas is not JUST about gifts and getting.

It's about a whole lot more than that.

Things that are more important.

Things like time and experiences.

Which leads me to this post...

Since you are all probably scratching your
heads wondering what Christmas Wishes and 
cancer have to do with one another.

Before we've even made it to Thanksgiving...
Sheesh!

And even if you're NOT wondering, I'm 
going to tell you.

I asked Kyle what he wanted this year for 
Christmas.

To which he replied, "Nothing!"

"What do I need?" he asked. 

Nothing.

I wasn't sure how to respond.

How do I prepare for and buy "nothing".

He looked at me, in all seriousness, and 
said that we never know how many Christmases
are left.  All of us together, making memories,
spending time, having experiences.

We hope a lot of them are left.

But, we just never know.

Heck, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.
(Please don't let me be hit by a bus tomorrow!)

So he looked at me again and said,
"This is what I want Dor.  I want time
and memories and experiences."

But not just from me.

And not just from the kids.

This is what he wants from family and
friends and anyone that would want to 
"give him a gift" for the holidays.

So since we are heading rapidly into 
the season of gifts and giving.

And we are also heading rapidly into
the seaon of radioembolization, and who knows 
exactly how he will respond to this...  

(Good we hope, always good we hope!) 

...I am sharing with you Kyle's "Grown up I
Have Cancer Christmas Wish List."

This is what he wants:

*Time

*Memories

*Experiences

If you love him, if you want to give him
something?

Make the time to DO SOMETHING WITH HIM.
Or for him. OR WITH HIM.

Take him to lunch.  (Remember he's not 
working and has lots of free time now.)

Take him out for a Diet Coke. (He's drinking
it again, always a good reminder he feels well.)

Spend some time with him.

Make a memory with him.

Go and experience life with him.

Put it on your already busy holiday
schedule now and make it happen.

Take a picture of two to remember the day,
or moment, or memory.

Go to a movie.

Sit in the park at talk.

Laugh with him.

Cry with him.  (He won't care)

TALK TO HIM.

Be with him.

Love him.

Give him the thing he desires the very
most from the people he loves the very most.

Time.

Memories.

Experiences.

You won't be sorry, he will be thrilled 
and it will be time and energy well spent.

On both sides.

And you will have something to look back
on, when that other awful time comes, and 
smile about and remember and be glad
you MADE THE TIME TO MAKE A MEMORY with
your brother, your friend, your dad, your
son, your cousin, your spouse (and hopefully
I am the only one that fills the "spouse"
category!) or your whoever he is to you.

He's usually a Grinch and a Scrooge about 
Christmas...I take this as a good sign that
cancer, and perhaps middle age, is softening
him a bit.

This is Kyle's Grown Up Christmas Wish.

You know how to make it happen.

As Nike would say  "Just DO it!"

And that's what I've got for today!

Ho Ho Ho






5 comments:

  1. Here's wishing you all the best, fullest, friendliest, most memorable of holiday seasons, yet!

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  2. Thanks Wade! I love it that you're "Wade the Rascal"...how Rascally of you! ;)

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  3. Sounds like a pretty good wish. Also something all would do well to remember.

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  4. Sounds like a great Christmas wish list to me Dorien! I hope Kyle gets everything he is asking for. If I start driving now, I could make it to Utah by Christmas surely. I'd buy you BOTH a pizza and a Diet Coke!

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  5. Lisa--we would take you up on it! :)

    ReplyDelete