I cannot put into words how special yesterday was for me. There were 13 of us ( girl cousins) ranging from age 48 - 74. These are the cousins I grew up with, spent holidays together with and became good friends with. My Dad had 3 brothers and 2 sisters and these are their children.
We visited about everything and reminisced about our parents, grandparents and our childhood memories. We shared about our own families and my claim to fame for the day was that I am the only one with greatgrandchildren (2). One of the other cousin's won the most grandchildren title = 17. 
I told them how much I missed having all of them and they piped up and said " Well move back to La Crosse" (giggle)
My cousin with the ovarian cancer looks like the picture of health and yet there she was with the dang cancer invading her body. She has so much spirit and more ambition than I had at her age without having to battle with cancer. She is a runner and ran in a race on Saturday in Iowa. I will be here for her and we did have a chance to visit about her previous chemo and procedures and how everything looked good only to find out the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes. On Tuesday next week she starts 3 months of chemo. A different drug this time.
It took me almost 7 years to reach out to these wonderful ladies after my major meltdown in 2005 and now I wonder why I waited until I was feeling desperate before making the one phone call to the cousin of my heart who immediately made sure I was in the loop.
I know this is not an instant cure but I also know that I have extended family that does love me so I say to each of you - keep reaching out no matter how long it takes to make the right connection - keep reaching out to family/friends and you will find you are truly loved and cared for.
Thank you to each of you for being my own special family here in HealingWell.
Gentle hugs,
Kitt