Lori and Lyra = Abby and Rayven

Dearest Hope,

Seven years ago when I found out I was pregnant with my first, I immediately called Lori to tell her the great news. Her response was ..."Me too". Our due dates were exactly one week apart. But since my girl came into the world 3 weeks early and hers came in 1 week late, Abby and Rayven ended up being exactly one month apart.

The two girls' personalities are so different yet they love being together. Sort of a cousins version of Yin and Yang. The more they grow and the more I watch them I realize that I am reliving mine and Lori's childhood all over again.

Abby- so much like Lori- artistic and precise, a collector of all things miniature (Littlest Pet Shops are her passion for the moment), already interested in make-up and insistent upon picking out her own clothes..confident of her fashion sense at the age of 6.

Rayven- so much like me- lover of things that are flashy like pettiskirts and high heels. Witty with her remarks and back talk that it is hard for me to keep a straight face as I discipline her. Always playing out dramatic scenes when she thinks no one is looking. Drawing and creating things to give to other people because "it will make them happy". A blossoming writer herself...as she documents her life in a daily journal.

Since Lori's diagnosis, our families have gathered together often and it gives the girls a great chance to discover each other, to love each other and to create wonderful memories of their childhood. I am hoping that years from now when they revisit these moments, they remember it not as the months when Lori was sick, but as times when they got to see a whole lot of each other and loved (almost) every minute of it.

Last Friday Lori received her third round of chemo along with an MRI report that states...THE RIGHT ANTERIOR MEDIASTINAL MASS HAS MARKEDLY DIMINISHED IN SIZE.
I cannot define all of those words...but I know what it means...and it is good news!