Making lemonade

That's literally and figuratively.

One of the highlights of my weekend, besides cleaning and going to that store yet again, was visiting my aunt. She lives on the Oakland/San Leandro border. One of the things I love about San Leandro is that the houses usually have fruit trees. My aunt's house only has a Meyer lemon tree. On my last few visits there I have always forgotten to inquire about the tree. This time I remembered.

After I came back in from picking lemons, I asked her about the gargantuan specimen I had collected. Her answer was, "Oh. Sometimes they grow bigger than that." (I had planned on including a picture of one the large lemons here but I'm just not in the mood to take photos now.)

I went to visit my aunt because she was not feeling well. Once more she was suffering from abdominal pain. The last time she felt this way, about two years ago, it was ovarian cancer. On my way to work yesterday morning I found out that not only had she been admitted to the hospital on Sunday, but that they also removed her colon. It seems the pain was a result of the tumor in her colon. There was another tumor that they were unable to remove because of how it was attached to organs. I guess we can hope and pray and all of that stuff, but I also know that part of the doctor's concerns over this weekend was her most recent blood work. It showed that there might once more be the presence of cancer. (Her most recent bout was just this past Thanksgiving -- breast cancer.) So I am sitting around, waiting to hear the test results, and hoping for the best. Oh yeah. And I'm going to make some lemonade because that's what she suggested I do with all those lemons I brought home on Saturday. After that, I think it's back to making soups. That's what I've done all the other times she has been sick.

NOTE: When I started writing this post, I was in a much better mood than I am in currently. I alternate between crying and wanting to strangle at least half the world and through it all, I feel very alone.