Sunday, Tim's birthday, was nice as I brought Tim breakfast in bed and ironed his clothes for church and we just had a very relaxing morning. We all went to the late service (except poor Nathan who is sporting a cold) where we found out a friend of ours who started dealing with bladder issues the same time I did, but his bladder cancer had metastized to his liver and other places, passed away that morning. Man, this cancer thing is nasty stuff! I started my once a month for 3 month maintenance chemo this past Tuesday at Tampa General and I feel like it was a much better experience than Moffitt. I need to call my doctor's office and figure out what happens after my 3rd dose in August - then what? Sometimes it's just nice to not think about it, though.
Anyway, back to Tim's birthday. So the main thing he wanted for his birthday was to honor a small group of people who have had a tremendous influence in his life. We invited the pastor who married us and his wife, along with the singles leader whose Sunday School class we met in and his wife, along with the man who both counseled him and mentored him in counseling and his son-in-law who Tim meets with on a weekly basis, and our good friends the Perrella's out to dinner at a very nice restaurant! The atmosphere couldn't have been better, and the chemistry between everyone was amazing! Tim made a special point to spend time letting each of them know why he had invited them, how they had influenced his life, and how appreciative he was of them. Many of them also let Tim know what he has meant to them, and it just felt like such a blessed and special evening! We came home and the kids and I gave him cards and gifts, which was a great ending to his special day. Nathan wrote and sang him a song that I uploaded to youtube and shared below - his rendition of the Sound of Music classic "16 going on 17" only titled "60 going on 70"! OK, enough of my babbling - here are a few pictures from that day.