treasure your loved ones

~snow falling on ruby~

Our week-long road trip to the Bay Area was a busy one - there were literally no spare moments to be had. This year, since my sister-in-law just got engaged, we also went to her finace's family celebration which resulted in us attending two Thanksgiving meals within 3 hours of each other. Boy, did we eat well! It was a nice trip made even more meaningful after my next story...

As soon as we returned, I came down with a nasty cold. This happens to either or both me and my hubby after almost all of our CA trips because there's always someone who has a flu or cold and spreads it around during our holiday gatherings. Usually we are very grumpy about it (cuz really, who enjoys being sick?), but this time it was a blessing in disguise. For the several days I vegged out on the couch, I spent lots of extra time petting our two Goldens and discovered a lump on my sweet Boo (short for one of her nicknames, Ruby Booby Boo). We took her to the vet today and had a biopsy done. Very fortunately it was diagnosed as a lipoma or benign fat tumor, but we have to watch it closely because of its location. If it grows too large, it may interfere with her walking. Also, the vet told us to keep track of it because other kinds of cancerous tumors could develop underneath it.

The thought of losing Ruby so soon - she just turned five last week - has been rough. I'm so glad the lump was not cancer, but the scare reinforced in me the fact that neither she nor any of those we love, care about, and who make a difference in our lives will be around forever. It's been a great reminder not to take any of them for granted.