Happy but sad...

My baby sister is moving in with her boyfriend this weekend. Okay, so she's not really a baby -- she's 22. But, she's always going to be 15 in my eyes. :(

I am really excited for her. She is so happy and excited. She is still in school, so she has continued to live with my parents even after she graduated from high school. So, every time I go home, she is there at my parents' house. It was actually really nice. I liked having my family all in one place.

It's not that she's moving very far; only a few miles. I just am having a hard time accepting that she is an adult. I can't believe that the time has gone by so quickly. It doesn't seem right that she should be moving out on her own.

I knew it would be coming soon... I even got her a "hope chest" for Christmas (a bunch of stuff she'd need when she moved out on her own; stuff like a blender, a toaster, a mixer, etc.). I just kept expecting "soon" to continue to be in the distant future. :S

I also wish that I could be there to help her move in and set up. It is a big step; and I'm her big sister. Isn't this one of those moments that I should be there with her for? I probably would say "screw it" and fly home this weekend if it weren't Philip's birthday on Friday.

This is one of the times where I really don't like living so far away from my family. I miss moments like these. On the other hand, I really love Denver. My family really does need to move closer to me. :P

Oh, well. I am going to surf Amazon.com for a house-warming present for her. Then, I guess I'll just be there in spirit.

Who Knew??

So, my sister has a mole on her back that started changing colors. She made an appointment to have it removed a few weeks ago. Well, they couldn't remove it because she had to have some shots and a physical to enter the nursing program. She had to schedule another appointment to have the mole removed.

My mom called me yesterday morning upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "Do you remember the appointment Tonya had about the mole on her back?" I searched through my mind trying to remember if I knew when she had rescheduled for. I was, of course, thinking that she had it removed already and that she had cancer. I was wrong. My mom said, "She got her vaccinations for the nursing program and her TB skin test came back positive." Well, I didn't freak out. She had to have one in high school before she could work for the nursing home and it came back positive but her chest x-ray showed nothing. And, my TB skin test before coming to Catawba was iffy. So, I don't think they're 100% reliable. If they come back positive, you still have to have a chest x-ray to confirm that you have it.

Well, my mom went on to say, "They scheduled her for a chest x-ray and they found something in her lungs." At this point, my stomach sinks to my toes. I don't really know what TB does. I know it used to be called consumption and it affects the lungs. That's about it. All that was going through my head was, "Nicole Kidman's character dies of TB in Moulin Rouge." I was at the point of tears.

I've never heard of anyone getting TB in the U.S. I thought it was gone. Done for. Like Polio. I mean, has anyone met anyone who has had TB??

So, I did some research and it is still killing people all over the globe. Under 1,000 people die from it each year in the U.S. (ha! I didn't even know 1,000 people each year GOT TB, let alone DIED from it!). Those are mostly elderly people. It kills about 2 million people per year in the world. That's mostly people in 3rd world countries and especially people with HIV/AIDS.

There is a treatment for it. It lasts 6 to 9 months. Phew. That's a long time. She shouldn't be contagious after week 2 of the treatment though. At least, that's what the internet tells me. She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to discuss it. I'm sure there will be more tests as well.

I'm not quite so freaked out now. It's very unlikely that she will have any problems recovering. However, she's supposed to start the nursing program in the fall. If she has TB, she probably won't be able to start. And she's already put in 2 years worth of work to get to this point. So, she will be devastated if she can't continue. If there is a problem, she will hopefully be able to just delay it for a year. But, that delay will suck. She's already had to transfer and had problems with credits transferring, so she's already behind. If she has to delay even longer, she's going to be in school for longer than Joe! ahahahahahah! :) Just kidding... there are very few people who can accomplish that! ;)

But, anyway... hopefully everything will go well with the doctor tomorrow. And then, hopefully she will get good news about the mole... which still hasn't been removed.

P.S. When I was making dinner last night, I turned on the TV and the news was on. The first story I heard was about a girl in Charlotte who tested positive for TB. Isn't it weird how when you find something out, relevant things seem to pop up?? This was really weird since I'd never heard of anyone getting TB in my lifetime!

Pet Peeve + Christmas

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people are hipocrites. It drives me nuts. With MySpace and Facebook, it's especially easy to spot some of these hipocrites.

Allow me to explain. One person who shall remain nameless has photos up on their MySpace page of them getting wasted, kissing people of the same sex, and doing vulgar/sexually suggestive things. In her interests are listed, "getting wasted," "partying," and "sex, drugs, and rock and roll." Not very many things after this is listed, "and I love my lord and savior Jesus Christ." I come across this sort of thing all the time. Christian references and then references to sinful things. Don't get me wrong, I know that people aren't perfect. It just seems to me that the people with pages like that one aren't even trying. Why would God choose to save people like that and send some of the best people I know straight to hell simply because they didn't believe that Jesus was divine and died for their sins? Does this make any damn sense to anyone? Why would God be so ridiculous? I could never believe in that God. But, I am a Unitarian, so I don't believe that Jesus was divine. And, if I did believe in heaven or hell (which I don't), I would certainly be a Universalist... God would send all of God's creations to eternal bliss, not eternal damnation. But, who am I? Nobody. I just would like to think that God would save good people before God would save people for simply believing that Jesus was divine and died for their sins. Anyone can say that they believe, but how many of those people live as if they care about those beliefs?

Okay... I'm tired of rambling on about that. I have good news. Joe and I are leaving for Indiana tomorrow. :) We are going to Joe's doctor's appointment tomorrow morning (he's having a wart on the bottom of his foot removed), and then we're going to his Uncle Joe's house for Christmas dinner (they always have it on Christmas Eve). And then, as soon as we're finished there, we're going home, packing up all the boys in the car, and headed to Indiana. :) Unfortunately, tomorrow is probably not going to be the best day for driving. There is supposed to be rain during the day, and then snow that night. Which means ice covered by snow. I'm hoping like crazy that they have plenty of salt and plow trucks out so that we don't have to worry about accidents along the way. :S

My mom and dad have no idea! I'm so excited. My mom tried to send all of mine and Joe's presents to us yesterday. My sister and I planned for it and she intercepted the package. It's now in hiding in my sister's closet! :) Tonya (my sister) had to give her a phony tracking number. She's wondering why it isn't working, but the lady who did the shipment told her that it's probably because there are so many shipments going out right now for the holidays (it's one of my mom's coworkers who is in charge of shipping -- she's in on it as well). I was worried that my mom would end up finding out and then ruin the surprise, but so far, so good. :) I think we're actually going to pull this off! And I owe my sister big for jumping through all sorts of hoops and such to make sure that we can do this surprise!

My mom is upset because this will be the first Christmas that we haven't spent together. Well, I can't wait to see her face when she realizes that it won't be the case! She's going to cry... she has cried for much less. It's going to be awesome! :)

Wish us luck!