"Bittersweet Birthday..."

This week has been a world-wind of all sorts, first the parentals came in town for all the festivities with a Dad that was in so much back pain he could hardly bare it, second Mother's Day week...the second busiest day of the Floral business, Third Thursday was my 23rd Birthday, and Fourth I Walked on Friday...and a few other crazy things that happened in between. First...My Birthday, we celebrated on Wednesday for me and Ty's birthdays with the Gines's and had a big BBQ which was very fun, got tons of cute gifts and really cute cards. Thank you guys! Thursday my actual birthday was filled with mixed emotions, Wednesday night we had been told that my cousin Kasey that has Cystic fibrosis was not doing well, Kasey had just gotten out of the hospital for his routine stay the week before and had a reaction to the medication they had used, he was very sick and was put on other medications to stable this out, Wednesday afternoon he awoke from a nap soaking wet with sweat, couldn't breath and his heart was racing! the ambulance was called and he was rushed to the hospital where they tried to get him stable. They soon realized this was not working his heart rate was out of control and his breathing was limited or not there at all, and all his levels were very wrong, to make a very long and complicated story a little shorter, Kasey was sedated sent to the ICU and placed on a respirator that night and our family were all asked for prayers.

(Thanks Dad, Mom &Kay for all the balloons,muffins and decorations...making my birthday morning special! and to everyone else for their gifts, text's, calls, and wonderful cards! i love them)

Thursday morning my birthday was a very mixed emotion morning, i was tired from staying up far too late unable to sleep praying from my buddy. I was scared and not in any mood for a birthday party or to be at work for a full 11 hour day! that morning we had learned that Kasey was "in a scary place" and were advised to come see him, (luckily i have a great boss who allowed me to get off work to go) he needed us, our support, loving words and encouragement. Me, Mom and Kay showed up at the hospital around noon and i enjoyed my "birthday lunch" in the hospital cafeteria with our family. Although this may not sound as good as a birthday should be to some, there was NO OTHER PLACE i would have rather been than there! We all sat in the waiting room and hugged, cried, laughed and shared our hope! I feel like my aunt Jill (Kasey's mom) is the strongest most wonderful person ever, as each new family member arrived she would explain them "were we are at" and smile. Although Kasey was unable to open his eyes, move or talk, he could listen... and believe me our family took advantage of that!one by one each member of our family took their turn with Kasey, after a long wait (due to the amount of people who love and care for Kasey) it was finally me and Kay's turn. We had made him a poster, balloons and brought a blank poster for visitors to sign for him and stuck those on the wall.

I soon was over come with emotions as i stood next to his bed and held his hand, i could feel his heart just a beating, and the lifeless sound of the respirator. He was covered in tubes, it was hard to see yet, i was so grateful i was there! Me and Kay sat and talked to him about Baseball, Golf, family, school, and everything else under the sun. He could hear us and would move his eye brows when Kayson would talk, we told him we loved him, and that he is the strongest dude we know, that he needed to keep fighting that Kayson had planned to win him at golf this year at Lava, that he was strong and we knew he was mad to be back in the hospital and it sucked (he raised his eyebrows as to agree) but he needed to be here to get better! This was a very touching experience and i feel so glad i was able to be here! As we left my heart sunk! i wish i could spend every second next to his bed and cheer him on, but life goes on and we have to go back to work. WE LOVE KASEY! and have been rooting for him his whole life he continually is challenging himself and breaking down his own barriers~He is our hero! although we are still very worried we are very confident that the right thing will happen..So we continue to fight for him, keeping him in our prayers and Letting him know just hoe much we love him! and how we are sooo glad we will be walking for him this Saturday...i will keep you posted on his progress!
Friday was Graduation Commencement Day! Finally it was here...the day that i would feel like i really did graduate!! and let me tell you it now feels REAL! the day started early with the first commencement ceremony that was so good, great speakers, great advise,just great! (which i will post the speech later it was great!) then we had lunch and back at it again for the second ceremony (where i walk) this was so fun hearing the roar of the HUGE crowd as we were officially college grads! although i had really graduated in December it only now really felt real! I laghed at how excited Kayson got as he saw me all dressed up, he was so proud he said! i felt so blessed to have all my family and friends there to share this moment with me! it was such a great day and a well needed "brake" from the realness of life!

That day there was over 7,000 graduates..amazing i know..and a 1/4 of those graduated were graduating in my college (college of humanities) our group was HUGE to say the least. we had to stay in the huntsman center to fit all of us there were over 1,500 bachelor degrees given out in my college, 65 masters, and 32 PHD's ! it was so neat! i got to see one of my favorite teachers, and one of my least favorite (stats teacher)! haha
It was a blast and i am so grateful my Dad was able to be there..even though it ws hard to watch him in so much pain! thank you thank you ,thank you, to everyone who came, or send cards, gifts and called! your love and support means the world to me! I Love all your guts!
Afterwards we headed over to one of my favorite restaurants Tucci's MMMM..oh man it was good! Kay, grandma, me and Shaun all licked our plated clean! oh man it was soo yummy and a great end to a fun fun day!

Yesterday we also got news about a very dear friend of ours, that had just finished her long fight with colon cancer has now been told she now has terminal lung cancer! This is one of the Gines families very closest friends and we are hoping for the best and keeping her in our prayers along with Kasey also... And...my Dad is having back surgery tomorrow to help the with the horrible pain he has been feeling for the past month..PLEASE..everyone keep all these people and their families in your prayers.