Has it been a week almost?

Since our last post, yes, indeed.

We've been really busy lately and most of our free time has been primarily used for "We" time or "Wii" time! (Hula hoops...UGH!)

Some updates around the sucky cancer world...the Berrys have had to go back into the PICU. His Caringbridge site is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/wesleyberry1

The Waters had a G-tube placed (no fun) and at last word were waiting on surgery.

Think good thoughts about them and the many, many others out there.

We've been delivering weekday lunches to the Berrys and would like to do still more. Please contact us if you're willing to do something. Tomorrow, Thurs, and Fri. They're good during the weekend. Next week is "wait and see." Healthy if possible and no coffee or soda, please. Thanks.

TEAM CJ and the Monument Ave. 10K is rolling along. We've passed the $1000 mark for pledges and I've only heard from a tiny percentage of folks! YAY!!! If you're FUN-raising and have a moment, please send me a rough estimate of your pledges. If you have money in hand that you want out of your sphere of responsibility, please either bring it to us at Romp n' Roll at VA Center, send to PO Box 854 , Ashland, VA 23005, or deposit it into your own account and have fun in Cancun. (OK, I'm kidding about that last one) Please have checks made out to "CJSTUF."

If you have received a registration code and haven't registered yet, please do so ASAP. I'll start reassigning codes next Tuesday. If you try to register and have trouble, I might have to get you a new code anyway or you might just want to register on your own. There has been a small amount of confusion about codes.

Also, if you haven't done so and want to FUN-raise for CJSTUF, please print out a pledge from here and go harass your friends and family.

Just a reminder, the registration codes were given out as part of bulk registrations under the CJSTUF umbrella with the idea that participants would gather pledges and in return, CJSTUF would pay the registration fee and give everyone a cool t-shirt. (They're in, by the way). The codes have already been paid for. The absolute least I want is to cover the expense of the codes, t-shirts, and anything relating to the pasta consuming party but if the early reports are a sign of what's to come, it should be a great event for CJSTUF!

If you don't want to run/walk/mosey, the TEAM CJ Spirit Group is always looking for more people the cheer on the runners/walkers/mosey-ers. Meredith Hayes is the "chair" of the Spirit Group effort so please contact her.

There will be a joint pasta party hosted by CJSTUF and Reesestrong.org on Friday, March 26th at Shady Grove Methodist church in Mechanicsville. It's free for TEAM CJ and Team Reese partcipants and the more supplies get donated (spaghetti, sauce, garlic bread, etc...) the less we'll have to charge "civilians." It's not a FUN-raiser in the fund-sense but more of a community event. Donations will always be taken and split evenly between CJSTUF and Reestrong.org but that's not the purpose of the evening.

I think that's all for now. I still want to have one group run/walk before the actual event but haven't gotten around to organizing that. (Anyone???)

I hesitate to write this next part. As some of you have known, I had been having more trouble dealing with, first, anger issues and then some very deep sadness. I even scheduled a one-on-one with Dr. Matt and I've NEVER done that before. I felt the need to try to get things straight in my head or at least out in the open so I could deal with it all. Funny thing is, by the time I sat down with Matt, I seemed to be over the worst of the anger.

As far as the sadness, I have never stopped being very sad and Allie dying didn't help things but I've been missing Charlotte much more than usual lately. I've found myself almost losing it on multiple occasions threatening to affect work. This is all relatively normal under the circumstances and not unexpected.

The part I hesitate to write is that last night I had a dream that Charlotte gave me a piece of pre-school type art that she had made (still not too weird, I dream about her all the time). It was a small piece of paper torn from a brown shopping bag with a smaller rubber ring glued to it. Inside the ring was a light blue flower shaped plastic "jewel" like the kind we use for craft projects at Romp n' Roll. It looked like any number of things she made at Tuckaway or "Montessori House." I remember it pretty vividly.

Here's the thing for all you PSY101 students: On the back was written in very legible handwriting, "Take care of the living." I kid you not. In my dream, I assumed she had written it. When I woke up, I felt refreshed and a little less sad. So here's the challenge for all you armchair analysts: Was that me wishful thinking that Charlotte was sending me a message or was that my rational brain telling me to buck up and deal? Or was Charlotte actually sending me a message? Whatever the real answer, I feel a little better. I'm going for a mix.