Scenes from October in Nashville and Asheville.

I spent last week with my family in NC. The drive there and back was full of the most beautiful changing trees. People from all over flock to the mountains of NC where my parents live to see the leaves in the fall. “Leafers” we call them. They really are worth the trip.

I have driven to visit my parents quite often since Jeff and I moved to Nashville. Partly because my mom has been battling breast cancer for the past year and a half. She actually got the news while we were all together on our family beach trip last year. It was a blessing that we were all together because I don’t know how I would have handled that news over the phone, especially since we lived in California at the time and I was already finding it really hard to be so far away from my family. Since her diagnosis she has had a double mastectomy, undergone chemo, and now as of last week had breast reconstruction surgery. It is hard to believe all of that happened since last July, but it also seems like a lifetime has passed since then.

I think I didn’t want to write about this before because I took so long to process it, but it’s breast cancer awareness month and it’s always on my mind and such a big part of our lives now that it feels wierder to not talk about it than to share.

I’m more proud of my mom than I could ever express in words. My sister Leah and I were in town when her hair was starting to fall out and she asked us to shave her head. We were all scared I think but felt it was better to do it that rip-the-band-aid-off way so she wouldn’t have to relive the reality of being sick by having hair fall out every time she showered or touched her head. We had braced ourselves to be sad and emotional after seeing her looking bald and sick but when we were finished she looked so beautiful and strong like Demi Moore that all we could say was “You look so badass!” and “You have the best bone structure!” After that she wore a wig sometimes and would get such a kick out of randomly taking it off really quickly to surprise my dad with her bald head. She just carried herself so gracefully through this whole thing and I have more love and respect for her than ever.

Also, Jeff got the Nashville job offer only a week before finding out my mom had cancer. So when we got the news we had the comfort of knowing that at least we would not have to fly back and forth to be with my mom during her surgeries and treatments but that we could drive there anytime we wanted. God’s timing was perfect as always. So much to be thankful for.