an unexpected compliment

Was caught off-kilter by Will last night...out of the blue, he told me that he "appreciated that I can fight my own battles". He went on to say that "among all the other things he appreciates about me" [dawww], he likes that I don't come running to him any time something happens to ask him to intervene with his friends or co-workers or whoever to make things right.

Not really something I ever thought about. Of course I deal with it myself...it's *my* problem. Never been able to do it any other way. So it was an awesomely unexpected compliment to receive from my closest friend, one that's going to stick with me for a very long time.

curling up into a little ball

I mentioned earlier that I have a love/hate thing with this time of year. Love the weather and the season, hate the amount of drama and pain that has been crammed into these cold months in recent years. And it continues to pile on.

That close friend who was diagnosed with cancer? They found out that the initial treatment didn't work...the cancer has grown and is now in more than one spot, so it's on to more drastic treatment. Fuck.

Earlier this week, a pair of close friends (they were two of the ten we had with us when we got married) had to take their not-quite four years old son to the ER with stomach pains; he's been in the hospital since then. Tonight, they were told that he has leukemia. He starts chemotherapy tomorrow. Fucking shit.

And just to keep it interesting, the news of my friend's diagnosis came on the anniversary of the day my dad died. And tonight's news? It's the anniversary of the day my mom died.

Buh.