The check is in the mail...

One day last week, I received a check from

Vanderbilt Hospital in the sum of $295.72

Two years ago I went to Vanderbilt in Tennessee

to get answers as to what chemotherapy and radiation

had done to my body back in 1968.

On that trip I was asked to sign a release

so that my records, my history might be used when

studying effects of these medications that saved my life.

I never thought about that paper again.

Yet at the same time I am reading a book about Henrietta Lacks

and how her cells were used without her consent,

I was being compensated for something I did two, almost three

years ago. An extra 300 dollars is not something I needed

but it was nice. Nice to think of what I could treat myself to.

With the extra money. I thought of Ipads and a new camera.

I thought of all the cricut cartridges I could buy.

The check stayed untouched as I wondered what exactly I would

do with the money.

For whatever reason, I didn't feel comfortable spending the money.

I am not sure why, it is mine, for the first time I have been

compensated for the life I lived way back when.

Still, I did not feel like I should spend it on wants.

You see, in the life HOBL and I have made for ourselves,

there is nothing I need, therefore it would have been used

for a want. Yesterday, yes, you guessed it, while brushing my

teeth, it comes to me.

I decide that I wanted to share the wealth.

I will send 50 to a friend who is battling cancer again for

the second time, a single gal who finds work hard for her.

I am going to give 50 to a dear friend who always smiles and

never complains but I know, because of a divorce, she finds

herself financially strapped.

I am going to give 50 to one of my own sisters who

is not only a cancer survivor like I, but has battled it twice

and now finds herself unable to work for the first time in her life.

That leaves me with three more 50 dollar checks.

I have decided I am going to give it to my children.

Not because they deserve or need it but because I can.

I am going to give 50 to my baby boy who I am so proud of

because he works hard so his wife can stay home with

his small child, because it is important to him that his little

daughter be only with people who love her at this time in

her life.

I am going to give 50 to baby girl because at 22 she is on her own

and has not once since she has made this life change,

has asked myself nor her daddy for a penny.

I realize how in this world, and in speaking to other parents,

there are very few 22 year olds who are not still compensated

monetarily by their parents.

The last 50 dollars will go to my precious bean...

for whatever her mommy thinks she needs at this time in her life.

I will ask that it not be saved but spent on something

that maybe is not a necessity which her parents provide for her

but for something that is fun or new clothing for the winter.

This makes me feel good inside because the fact is,

there is nothing I should want that I or HOBL, at this time in our

lives cannot buy if we choose to.

For 6 people I love....

"The check is in the mail"