Top Ten Reasons Why Dad's Cancer Sucks...other than the obvious fact that Dad has cancer

1. Easter should always be at Mom and Dad's house. Having it here worked out fine, but it's not the same.

2. I'm really really homesick and since we are the Berg-Machine-of-All-Illness-All-The-Time it wouldn't be right for me to go spreading our germs around over there. Gotta get Dad healthy, not give his body one (or seven) more things to fight.

3. My dad has been sick enough already. I wish, for his sake, that he could just feel great.

4. Ok, I'm gonna say it. Mom. Mom dealing with Dad being sick is rough. She's got a whole lot on her plate right now and Morgan gets her emotional strength from her, if you know what I mean. I think Jenny might strangle her before this is over, and nobody wants to see that happen.

That's how far I got before I started thinking about the Top Ten Bright Sides To This Crap

1. If he HAS to have cancer, at least it's a good one. A great prognosis is very comforting.

2. Dad could have died during that last huge illness that I can't spell or pronounce. He didn't. I am so grateful for that. I know we all are.

3. Baby-Brother is there to help and it sounds like he's really stepping up taking care of things. That is wonderful.

4. He's been doing decent with his treatments. Not great, but it sounds like he's not completely miserable.

5. We have plenty of friends who have already lost one or both of their parents. I think it's only right that I live to be 90 something and my parents live that whole time too and they should be healthy and lively that whole time, but it's probably not realistic, so I'm just acknowledging how lucky we are that our parents are alive and it looks like they'll stick around for awhile.

6. If I can't go home for awhile, at least it's not summer time yet. That would suck way worse. No barbecues. No corn feed. No Dad bringing Mom a rose and her getting all giggly and me throwing up because it's MY PARENTS. No slumber parties and sneaking out and 7-11 and Big Gulps.

7. Grandma is still here. That's such a relief. I'm glad she's there and hope that all continues to work for them.

8. The whole "appreciate the time we have" stuff. You know what I mean.

9. That they got to go on their big vacation before his official diagnosis and chemo and all that. I wish he had felt 100% that whole time, but I'm still glad they got to do that and I look forward to them going again.

10. We are so blessed to have all of our family still here, still together, and mostly still close by. It's a huge blessing that we don't have to wait all year to see each other or travel great distances. Missing visiting my folks makes me sad, but I see the bigger picture, that I still have them there and will see them before too long.

That's all I've got. I feel better now. Jenny, stop crying, I see you and if you don't stop I'm going make fun of your red nose.