So I never really wrote about my shopping weekend with Gulley and you’ll understand why as you read this post.
I’ll start with the fact that I look forward to our shopping weekend all year long. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the whole year. Gulley took the day off work on Friday and we headed out at the crack of 9:30 on Friday morning. Our first stop was Shepler’s, which is admittedly an odd choice but I had a pair of cowboy boots that we’d bought for Caroline that needed to be returned and Gulley was looking for a pair of boots for Jackson since that’s one of his Christmas wishes. However, we quickly found ourselves overwhelmed in Shepler’s, mainly because Jackson wears a size twelve shoe these days and we were just buying him a Little People farm at Toys ‘R Us yesterday.
We left Shepler’s and headed for the more familiar terrain of Nordstrom where we found a couple of gifts for various people on our lists and also ate in the Nordstrom cafe’ because FRIES and AIOLI SAUCE. After that we made our way through the rest of La Cantera with mixed results. It is significantly harder to shop for pre-teens than it was for toddlers, but we did our best.
By the time Friday evening came we had the back of my car loaded down with bags and boxes and made a quick stop by my house to unload everything before we went to eat some Italian food. All that shopping left us with a need for some carbs and we more than fulfilled it, although we did order a side of Brussels sprouts which I believe count as a healthy choice even though they involved a lot of bacon.
Saturday morning we slept in because I believe I’ve mentioned that Gulley has two new puppies at her house and we are back to a stage in life where puppies are our version of having a newborn. This is an officially destination on the cycle of life. Get married, get a puppy, complain about sleepless nights and how it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done, have a newborn and realize you were a big sap for telling people how hard it is to have a puppy, raise a child until they’re about ten, get a new puppy and complain about sleepless nights and declare that it’s just like having a newborn.
Eventually we made our way out of the house and hit a few more stores that were on our list. And we were beyond pleased with our progress, we were breaking all manner of Christmas shopping weekend records. We even made it to The Container Store to pick up wrapping paper while it was still light outside. This turned out to be fortunate because it allowed Gulley to fully appreciate a man parked next to us who was wearing a red t-shirt with a white Santa beard down the front while drinking a beer with a straw. He rolled down his window and said to Gulley, “I’m gonna tell you like I told that woman in there, you ever seen me and Santa in a room together?”
Well. No.
No we haven’t.
We pondered our thoughts on this man as we made our way to our neighborhood Target. It was, by the way, our third Target to visit throughout the weekend but served to confirm that our Target is the best of the area Targets. And it was while we were there that we both heard our phones ding with an incoming text and looked at our phones to discover our friend Jamie was texting us to let us know that she had been at the hospital all day with Jen and that the doctors had let them know that Jen’s cancer is back.
Which is how Gulley and I found ourselves crying in the gift wrap aisle at Target at 5:38 p.m. on Saturnday evening. I was waiting to write about it until I knew Jen had gotten the word out to all her people, but she posted a new post on her blog this evening and the word is out. She tells her story better than I ever could and, honestly, I keep telling her that she’s the one who needs to write a book. You can find her blog here if you’d like to read it and keep up with her.
Needless to say, it hasn’t been my favorite couple of days. I realize people get sick every day, I know that so many of you have people you love who are fighting cancer, but this hits close to home for me and has left me feeling a little broken right now. I know Jen would so appreciate your prayers as she walks this road again.
My friend Paige posted this on her blog yesterday and I’ve been listening to it ever since. Here’s what I know for sure, God is good always.
Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
hearts unfold like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!