Tomorrow

As you all will notice tomorrow, I will not be in class. I have to make an emergency trip to Alabama today. My grandmother, Lesley Butler, who I share my middle name with, has been fighting lymphoma for the past seven years. She had a scan in January that was clear and hopeful. But over the past few months, she has become severely depressed and has been experiencing a loss of balance. A follow up scan this week revealed three tumors in her brain, one large one that is pressing on her brain stem. The doctors gave the sad news that she has about a week to live. With treatment, she would only be expected to survive three months. 

So I will be flying to say my goodbyes. This is a difficult time for my family, my mother in particular. Unfortunately my eldest sister is currently in Berlin celebration graduation from college and her first season as a CPA. We have decided not to tell her and ruin her trip, but we know how much pain this will cause her. But my grandmother insisted on it. 

My family has been prepared for this for a long time and my grandmother is ready,  the entire family will be in town, aunts and uncles and cousins that I have not seen since I left home seven years ago. 

This is a picture from this past Christmas. Chelsea, the one in Germany is holding my twin sister's son, Rebecca is the one closest to my grandmother, my mother is beside me and my twin sister, Mallory is on the right. It was the first time in 6 years that my sisters and I were all in the same house.