Today I Am Blue For My Son Joseph Christopher

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.    Blue is the color that was  chosen for the awareness ribbon.  Today, March 1st,  is "Dress In Blue Day".
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's web site pertaining to this specific awareness campaign:
"Colorectal cancer screening saves lives. If everyone who is 50 years old or older were screened regularly, as many as 60% of deaths from this cancer could be avoided.

Of course, I support the push for people to get screened.  Early detection is the key.
So sad and so tragic is the fact that my son was 34 when he was diagnosed.  He had no symptoms and no family history and therefore no reason to even consider a colonoscopy.   Should the recommended age for a colonoscopy be lowered?  I'm sure the insurance companies would balk at that.  I suppose the question of where the line should be drawn is a difficult one.   I don't know what the answer is.

When my son Joe was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in January 2010, I  turned to the web for answers, but  mostly for glimmers of hope.  When I googled  "survivor's of stage IV colon cancer",  I happened on one of the most encouraging websites "Colon Cancer Alliance".
An inspiring area of the site is the "Personal Stories" section.

I browsed through their products and ordered the blue bracelets, and the star lapel pins.
When I think back to that time I realize how desperate I was for, well a miracle, I suppose.  Now, I also realize that in my state of shock and stupor, I actually thought that by wearing the bracelet and lapel pin, somehow Joe would get better.



I have such mixed feelings about any of the disease awareness campaigns.   I am mainly cynical about the millions and millions of dollar donations raised by hundreds and perhaps even thousands of separate and different organizations.   I often wonder, what if all of these separate organizations pooled their resources, wouldn't that be better?

I suppose if I decide to even get dressed today, I might consider wearing blue.   My blue makes me sad and it makes me angry, and it brings with it the bitter taste of the evil that is cancer.   The evil that took away a father, a husband, a brother, a friend and our son.

Today, my blue will be worn for my son James.  Go get your colonoscopy!  My blue will be worn for my aunt Dolores.  Go get your colonoscopy!
My blue will be worn for you.  Go get your colonoscopy!

But mainly my blue, though, will be worn in memory of my Joe.  I miss him so much.

So Glad You Asked

Huh?  Oh, what did I do this weekend?  Well, after hibernating all day Friday and most of the next day, Ross tried to coax me out of the house late Saturday afternoon.   I agreed to go, but I warned him that I was not about to change out of the sweats and tee shirt that I had been wearing since bedtime, Thursday night.

So we figured we would go see what Isaac was up to.

Even at the late hour of 5:00, the skies were blue, the sun was out and it appeared to be a perfect beach day.

Ha, there he is.  The always present, extremely patient and ever hopeful fisherman

I wondered how long he had been sitting there. And what does he think about while he is sitting there?

Apparently,  the only thing he can catch is his lure and he’s even having trouble hooking that.

Time to head on home. Looks like it’s take out pizza tonight.  

The gulls aren’t ready to call it a day, though.

Hurricane Isaac was stirring up some rough surf here in Surf City.  

 Six to eight foot swells didn’t stop these guys.  

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy!

Ross was sitting on a bench at the top of the beach.  I was down by the water taking these photos.   I turned around to see what Ross was doing and he was gesturing and yelling to me.  “Are those guys alright?”  He had his phone out ready to dial 911.

We kept watching to make sure they weren’t in trouble.  We were very relieved as they finally made their way out of the water and onto shore.

It doesn't matter what time of day, day of the week, or season of the year, there is always something interesting and beautiful to see at the beach.

Today, I  showered, washed my hair and even put real clothes on.  

I promised her I would come.  

I'm so glad I did :)

I want to give a shout out to Anne.  She ran a 5k race in the Colon Cancer Alliance's Undy 5000 on Saturday in honor of Joe.  She was one of the top fund raisers.
She wrote about her experience in a touching post here.


So, what did you say you did this weekend?

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Sat. September 7, 1929
Jean, Edythe and I had lunch at Kresges.  Then shopped for jewelry to wear next Saturday at banquet.  Bough tickets to see Elsie Ferguson in Scarlet Pages. [Scarlet Pages]
Sunday, September 8, 1929
Home all day.  Peg here.  Also Rosalie and Ted.  Went to 360 in the evening to leave Junior.  Jean, Ted and I drove to see cousin Louise in Silver Lake.  Lena still sick.
Monday, September 9, 1929
Jean's vacation this week and also Peggy.  Decided to stay home.  Raining out.  Flo came over after supper.  We went to Mt. Prospect.  Walked home with Flo.  Planned to go to N.Y. tomorrow.