PULLIN' UP THEM BIG GIRL PANTIES

This post isn't about me so don't get your panties in a wad. Also, if I caused you to have bad visions in your head or nightmares with the title...that's your fault. Hey society today doesn't believe in self accountability.

I didn't know how prophetic the image on the right would be when I posted it on Rhonda's Facebook wall yesterday. With the challenges she is going through I thought it would brighten her day and it did. 

We parted ways as usual in the morning but we were excited for a special day. I would pick her up from the Juliaetta Elementary school and proceed to the Quality Inn at Clarkston, Washington for a luncheon to honor area Valedictorians/Salutatorians. It was SUPPOSED to be Dillon's day.

We had a stop to make before the event and that was to look at different landscaping rock. I have this bright idea that I can start and complete a project on the farm before Dillon's graduation party while doing farm work, helping Rhonda, and having a meeting thrown in. I love pressure.

Then Rhonda's phone rang on the way to look a the rock. It was a call from a doctor. The good news is that surgery dates can be set, the bad news is one of them is May 30th which is Dillon's graduation party and the other is July 3rd. As she ended the call (you don't hang up a cell phone) the tears began.

I'm thinking to myself "OK Robert, let her get some of it out and don't screw things up and make it worse." We were almost there and she pulled them puppies up with a look of determination.

I drove through the lot to find the rock piles and we saw what we wanted...fractured rainbow rock. We both loved the colors and thought it would go well in the area we wanted it in. 

Onward and forward to the luncheon.

Rhonda needed to talk. The more she thought about it the farther she leaned towards the 30th. She joked that I would have to place a faux Rhonda in the chair at graduation. I said that would be  easy, I would just get a blowup doll. Great, I got her laughing and the tears were from that instead of sorrow. 

Pulling them up even tighter now.

It was a great event and it was good to see people there that we knew. The four Kendrick kids were sitting together and we hurried to get a table (in the back so I can people watch and take pictures).

Afterwards, we congratulated kids and parents then headed to Home Depot and URM to shop for project supplies and party supplies.Stop for petrol and on to work and home. On the way we made another joke about the blowup doll being a replacement...it stuck. It will be the R n R...Rhonda Replacement.

Rhonda stayed at the school to catch up on work and wait for Logan while Dillon and I received the load of rock. Mission: Finish before Rhonda comes home! Five yard of rock doesn't seem like much but when you are trying to sling it around it's like a never ending gobstopper. Baby scoop to the rescue. I used it to do the major spreading and then it was shovel and rake. Mission accomplished.

I was mowing the windbreak and Dillon was raking grass when Rhonda came home. I finished my pass and drove to meet her by the pump house. 

She definitely had a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face.It looked awesome and Dillon, Logan and I reveled in her happiness.

Then it was time to pull them panties up a little more.

We broke the news to Dillon and Logan that Rhonda will have surgery on May 30th...the day planned for Dillon's graduation party. We will have to cancel it for that day, but we will have one. Probably on July 4th, multiple celebrations.

Pull them up even higher and tighter...Rhonda will miss Dillon's graduation.

When we put things into perspective, it is more important to have Rhonda around longer than just one party or event...even if that is a big day for her first born. As parents, our focus has always been on our boys with no equivocation. They are the center of our life.

While this does break our hearts we know that God has a plan and it is not always for us to see or understand at times. We are both sure that the understanding will come. For now we need to focus on Rhonda and her being successful.

That was Thursday, May 22nd exactly one month to the day when we learned of the news about Rhonda having cancer. Today we head to Spokane for an MRI to help the doctors make sure that the proposed surgery is what is needed and nothing more.

So grab a cup of coffee, put on them big girl panties and face life with a sparkle in your eye and a smile on your face. There are always people with more and bigger problems out there and we are very fortunate to have caught this early and for the tremendous support Rhonda and our family has received.

Besides, I might just have a replacement sitting next to me at graduation with an amazed look on her face wearing nothing but panties. Probably not, but maybe that's an image you can work up in your mind and have a laugh at today.