On Sunday, we had the opportunity to celebrate the 12th wedding anniversary of our friends, Russ and Darlene. For our Apopka church family, you know them well. For our Tarpon church family, allow me to introduce them briefly. Best friends who became husband and wife, they have been battling Russ's brain cancer for over three years now. Their "normal" was changed forever with the diagnosis in December of 2005. When the diagnosis came, I set up a caringbridge website for them. To this date, there have been over 26000 hits. They have lots of friends and family who have buoyed them through it all.
With all the tough stuff that comes from living with this type of cancer, we also laugh with them as often as we can. In the process of thinking about memories, I couldn't help but recall the day I called Darlene's cell and she was concerned because she was away from the house, had been talking with Russ on the phone and he had hung up on her and she couldn't get him to answer again. So, I went over to check on him, let myself into the house, and found Russ on the bed with a major headache. I thought a cool washcloth might feel good on his brow so I took care of that and then went to put it on his forehead, deciding to sit on the side of the bed as I did so. What I didn't know is that they had a waterbed. When my big "self" sat down on the side of the bed, I thought I was going to flip Russ right off onto the floor! Of course, I just about freaked out and he didn't even realize it because his head was hurting so badly. Then, I just tried to sit very, very still keeping the cloth on his head until Darlene got home. At the moment, it was so scary. Now, we can laugh.
Again, as I say often, I am thankful for friends. Happy anniversary Russ and Darlene.
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