*&^%$#@ cancer!!

i missed a phone call yesterday while i was working. it was my aunt calling from memphis. she doesnt call that often, but didnt leave a message. i honestly didnt think much of it, just that she was calling to chat. she is a chatter! she is where i get my chatter-ing from. lol. then last night mark and i went to corinth to finish up christmas shopping. while shopping, aunt seleta called again. i answered, and she told me the news. she has breast cancer. i asked her how big the spot was, she said, "not spot, but spots". she goes back to the doctor tuesday. her apt is at 5pm. 5pm! is that not crazy?!? i dont know which side it is on, i dont know what she has chosen to do as far as treatment, surgery, etc. i dont know if she knows.
seleta is my daddys sister. she is the only aunt i grew up knowing. we were close back in the day. as she has gotten older and as my life has gotten busier, we dont get to spend the time together as we once did. memphis isnt across the country, but its still great enough distance to make time together harder to come by.
her daughter, zina, also had breast cancer several years back. then a few months ago she had another scare. and i also learned yesterday that one of her daughters had a scare recently.
i havent had a scare. i have never in my almost 31 yrs had a mamogram. yes, i know, i should be scheduling an appt asap. i am currently without insurance, so getting coverage will have to come first.
my mind wanders back to old times, when i was a child, when my daddy and uncle and grandmother were alive. when we all got together and my cousins and i would play and play. when i would go to memphis and spend the night with aunt seleta and we would stay up late talking, and sleep in late the next morning.
i am praying. praying for my aunt. she just buried her husband earlier this year. i am praying for my cousins, for this is their mother and grandmother. they just buried their daddy and granddaddy earlier this year. and now we have news like this. life is full of surprises, setbacks, bumps in the road. i pray that this cancer she has is not bad, that the doctors are able to get it all, and that it stays gone.
the picture is of aunt seleta and tommy, just a few weeks ago, thanksgiving day at zina's house.