I'm Back

Hi all,
I am back.  I am excited to be writing again.  I will try to post twice a week.  I have been thinking about life quite a bit lately.  My beautiful wife recently passed her one year mark of being cancer free.  The whole experience was very surreal.  I never imagined I would hear the words you have cancer.  I know that is a very naive thought to have, nevertheless it was a surprise to me that she was sick.

I have not written my feelings until now.  I think the first feeling I had was surprise.  I know I felt some fear, especially when the Surgeon wanted to do her biopsy the same day as the consultation.  I remember I met her at the doctors office, and had to drive home alone after the biopsy was taken.  I know I had some fear at that point, but it was very quickly replaced with peace.

I do not remember if I have posted this before, but I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We are more commonly known as Mormons, but that is a nickname.  The name comes from a book of scripture, The Book of Mormon.  I will talk about the Book of Mormon at a later date.  As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I believe that the family is the unit of eternity.  I know that God is my Heavenly Father, and that I am his son.  I know that through the Priesthood restored to the earth I will be with my wife for all eternity.  I also know that I will be with my children for all eternity as well.  That knowledge alone brought such peace to me it was incredible.  I knew that irregardless of what the outcome would be, I would be with her again.

Fighting the Turd.

I have a daughter who is a one of the biggest sweet hearts I know.  She is also "champion of the picked on".  She will always stand up for other kids who are being teased or riddiculed even if it's behind their back.  Because she is a sweet heart and a very sensitive girl she gets her feeling hurt easily, which makes it difficult for her when she stands up for other kids.  Last night I picked her up from the sport she plays, and she came out of the building crying.  She was very upset.  I asked her what had happened and she told me a story full of injustice and drama.  The story in a nutshell is this, she stood up for a friend of hers who is on the team, and the girl who was saying mean things about her friend then started being "mean" to my daughter.  This is a very common theme by the way.  I am frustrated because many of the problems she has she brings on herself by defending other kids.  I dont want to tell her to stop defending others because I think that is a good trait to have, but at the same time when she does she ends up in a bad mood or in tears.  In a moment of inspriation it occured to me that I can use her experience to teach her an important lesson in life.  I called it fighting the turd. 
One issue she had yesterday was this other girl "cut" in front of my daughter in a line they were in.  My daughter of course started it up with this girl.  So I told her that her decision to fight about, (not a physical fight) or argue about it was hers to make, and that I wasn't going to tell her what to do.  But I did tell her that if she wanted to take on this girl, who we referred to as the "TURD", she needed to expect to get some poop on her.  In other words she cant expect to stand up for others or herself with out a backlash.  I have found that in life we need to pick our battles.  We need to decide if it is worth it to fight the bullys and protect the innocent.  I happen to like the fact that she stands up for others, and tries to help those in need.  But many times that isn't the the popular way to go, especially on the grade school playground.  I could see the light come on in her eyes.  It was the first time I have really felt like she understood and agreed with what I had said.  I think that I have helped her understand that if you are going to stand up for what is right instead of being a sheep in the crowd, someone will always disagree with you, and that is ok. 

That is all