Fan Mail

Our family has been receiving a lot of fan mail lately. Yes, half of them are medical bills, but the other half are wonderful words of encouragement.  Both make us cry, but for very different reasons.  Our most avid fan bases seem to be North Carolina & Saddleback Memorial Medical Center.  Well, I will gather Kevin’s stack of letters and place them on the kitchen counter so he can see them.  I have found myself perplexed when the stack of letters stay there unopened.  When I asked Kevin about it, he said he loved receiving letters, he just had to wait for the right moment to open them.  Not me.  I take claims on any letter addressed to “The Hegewalds.”  I tear into them and can hardly wait to feel the love that comes out of the envelope.  Imagine my surprise and utter joy when a letter came addressed simply to “Sister Hegewald.”  It had just MY name on it.  It was just for ME.  I tore it open and read the first few lines before I put it back in the envelope and tucked it in my pocket.  I now understood Kevin.  I wanted to wait for the right moment to read this letter.  

It was from Taylor Florence.  I don’t know Taylor very well ..I’ve met him a handful of times, but I do know that if he could convince Heather Reese to marry him, he must be top notch.  Taylor and I share a common bond.  We both know what it feels like to live with someone who is fighting for their life.  I didn’t know his mom.  I wish I did.  I’ve heard so many amazing stories about Julie Florence, and quite honestly, they all sounded too good to be true.  But when I heard the same type of stories and characteristics repeated by the next person, and the next person, and the next person, I pretty much accepted them as truth.   I remember hearing how she invited babies over so she could teach her girls how to feed and change a baby.  I was touched by that.  I have an odd connection to Julie and I didn’t remember it until Taylor’s letter came.  Almost five years ago we moved into our new house and neighborhood in Talega.  I was asked to speak in church, and I was kind of excited because I thought this would be a great introduction to meet the church members.  That Sunday the church benches were only half full.  There was an exodus of church members who had traveled to Utah that weekend for Julie’s funeral.  It has made me think how many of these same people who loved and cared for Julie, are now doing it for me.  I’ve wondered how they are so good at it. .It's because they've done it before.   

Taylor, I’m your number one fan.  Thanks for not just telling me that “it will all work out” . .Thanks for showing me that it does.  I love ya. 

*Kevin goes in tomorrow for a CT-scan and MRI to monitor progress.  He has felt great, tired, but great - no back pain, no anti nausea patch needed.  Again, the oncologists don’t expect to see much change until after 4 or 6 rounds of chemo.  But we remain hopeful. "Hope for Hegewald"