The last two weeks have kicked my ass something fierce.

Two weeks ago today, we made the difficult decision to take Bartleby the Rat to the vet one final time. He had stopped eating over the weekend, which is a sure sign, and his movements were becoming slow and clumsy. It was hard, harder than most people would probably believe, because he had become a family member to us, much like a “regular” pet. But it was no longer about us and what we wanted.

The following night, I developed a really, really bad toothache and resigned myself to calling a dentist in the morning.

Except I never got around to it. On a whim, I called my dad to see when he would be visiting; he and my stepmom had made plans to install crown molding in our house as a birthday gift. Instead, I found out he was in the waiting room at a hospital. My stepmom had gone to the emergency room because she wasn’t feeling well and, not even ten minutes after arriving, had a massive seizure.  After much worrying and waiting, the doctors told us she had two small lesions on her brain.

Long story short, she’s in perfect health otherwise with no signs of cancer anywhere else in her body so they’re removing the larger tumor today since it’s on the surface; the smaller one will be controlled by medication, as it’s too deep to remove and not really interfering with her health.

And through it all, I was reminded of how important friends and family truly are.

In the week since then, I’ve tried to capture the sense of togetherness, the banding together, the total sense of family that was there but I can’t do it. I can’t find the words to properly express it. But I am thankful that I have a wonderful family of my own, both my side and my husband’s, to care about me.

It was a hard week and I don’t know how I’d have gotten through it without my husband, who took Bartleby to the vet because I needed to get through my workday, who dropped everything and drove down with me to be with my dad and stepmom, who just worried with me and hugged me when I needed it. The love and kind thoughts from friends (both online and off) was humbling, although I already knew they’re all good people.

So, there isn’t really much else I can say except thank you, for everything you’ve done, are doing and will ever do.

Filed under: family