w00t!

A message on the answering machine told us that the friend who's been tussling with cancer since last year is in officially in remission: Friend: 1, Cancer: 0. I try to keep it in perspective, knowing that it's Round 1, and she'll be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life. No actual organs or other bits removed, but the price--in the coin of scarring and hospitalization and outright misery--was dear enough.

All the same, it's victory enough for me here on the sidelines. I can't begin to imagine what it's like for the survivor in question. And I hope I never have to.

In other life-accomplishments, Mom has achieved her 63rd birthday--all the more remarkable for what her brat-children put her through. And that's just the stuff she found out about... ;-)