judas, forgiven

Memorial Service Info

2011-10-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

Aaron's service will be held this Saturday the 8th at the Springfield High School Theater on 7th St off of Centennial blvd. at 1:30pm. The service is open to the public. There is also a fundraiser planned for October 24th at all Papa's Pizza restaurants, Coburg Rd, Main St. and W. 11th. You will need a flyer. All fliers will be accepted at any Papa's. Get a flyer here!

Joy Perspective or As Purple As You'd Like It

2011-09-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

I am currently sitting in our living room looking across the way at photos from our wedding, signs made for me by my mother. One says Choose joy, the other it's a wonderful life (one of my favorite movies). It's a very different view from the one I had last night. As I laid on the floor in our bathroom waiting for paramedics to show up and help me get off the ground. I've fallen a few times

It's amazing how much we don't need... Amazing.

2011-08-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Once again I've had a few (more than several really) people ask me, "How can I help?" I cannot express enough how appreciative I am to all those who want to help... let alone those who actually have helped. I've been incredibly hesitant to be too specific because I don't want anyone to feel like I'm demanding things. There's also the weird fact that I expect to be dead any day now. That

I'm Bad At Math But I'll Try To Sum Up

2011-08-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

I cried today. In fact, today I cried more than I have in the last few weeks. There were multiple reasons. But they all pretty much rolled up into one. It's only in the last few weeks, maybe months, that I've realized how well Kristin's artistic talents and my meager design skills really fit together. There's the possibility that we just didn't pay enough attention to what each other

Pray for Kristin, my Parents, my Dog and Charlie Sheen

2011-08-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I set myself about a new task. At least it was a new exercise, to me, with the goal of achieving results that used to come much easier for me. I decided, shortly after drinking my "horrible green stuff", that "Today I will find a reason for joy every hour. No matter what's going on. No matter how I feel. Every hour I will stop and find a reason to reJOYce!" To be honest, something

There Are Lyrics From A Song Somewhere

2011-08-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

The build-up to Relay for Life was grueling. More-so, I think, than Kristin and I expected. We did not raise on tenth of the amount we sought to glean from the pockets of "Relayers" but did raise an almost repectful $170 or so to add to our pre-Relay for Life total. With a goal, which we raised a couple different times during the "build-up", was $1,500 and we ended by surpassing our goal

Relay for A Life Less Traveled

2011-07-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Win An Ultimate Duck Fan Prize! This one's gonna be all about cancer and cancer related stuff. Let's start off with what I think is the funnest cancer thing I can possibly talk to you about. It's a RAFFLE! Through stealthy and super-spy means I was able to secure, for our Relay for Life team, a Limited Edition BCS Commemorative Football. There were only 2010 of these made... I can only

Why take Doug and leave us Bruce Willis? Why?

2011-07-22T23:52:00.000-07:00

April 22, 1975 - July 21, 2011 Doug Cecil and I went to Springfield High School together. That is to say... when we went. He was a talented and caring individual. It's both funny and sad that our friendship was separated for so many years and only reunited, not because of but, when we we had both been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Doug with Stage IV Small Cell Carcinoma and I with Stage

Further Evidence That I'm On Drugs

2011-07-20T23:48:00.000-07:00

Today I had my weekly meeting with Anne, our hospice nurse. I say, "our," because Kristin and I are, for the most part, in this thing together. If I suffer through something then, on some level, she also suffers through it. Thus, today our hospice nurse came by. She's usually here on Thursday but, due to some special long weekend plans, needed to make her "in home visit" today. Which worked

It's Not "Self-Pitty", It's Just Pitty

2011-07-14T23:24:00.000-07:00

"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain." - Emily Dickinson There have been moments, months, in my life when that has been my sole and driving purpose. My only goal, in those breathless days, was to mend a heart or prevent it's damage. Not that there was anything particularly noble about me. Not that there ever has been. I think, simply, that if I focused on the pain of

Relay for Laffs - And Other Things That Won't Pass Spellcheck

2011-07-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Relay for Life is coming up quick, quicker than I can comprehend. My wife has been working tirelessly to raise funds and awareness for our team, "Choose Joy!" and for Relay for Life as a whole. From organizing "curbing" (where our team and other volunteers stood at different points of the intersection of Pioneer Parkway and Q streets in Springfield and collected over $300), to scheduling walkers,

All I have to do is dream...

2011-06-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, as I lay slumbering in my bed, I dreamed of death. Now, you may assume this to be nothing outside the abnormal. Your assumption, rightfully so, may be that since I move closer to death each day that my dreams also move along with me. But this is not the case. I do not, on the norm', dream about death. At least not my own death. (The death of others is a very different story. See you

If life were fair, there'd be more corn-dogs.

2011-06-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

My parents new home in Troy, NY. About a mile from my cousin Corey so her kids are in walking distance and don't even have to cross the street to go visit their "Auntie Jan" or "HoHo". (I may have added yellow bricks, a rainbow and a "Jamison Crossing" sign...) Before we get to anything else, most of you know that my parents have now moved to New York. As of this morning, their stuff is at the

My writing keeps getting worse... and worse...

2011-05-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

There is so much I have to say but I just don't have the words to say it yet. So, here's the words I don't have to say in exactly the manner I don't have to say them. My parents moved away this week. I am excited for them. I have a passion for their new adventure. They have earned this new path. My Mother and Father have worked their entire life trying to do and fulfill God's will. Of course,

Papa's Pizza FUNd Raiser Monday, May 16th

2011-05-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning, Thursday, I will be increasing the dose of one of my pain killers. It's something the health-care providers and my wife have wanted me to do for some time but I have balked at on every occasion. But it's time. The drugs aren't doing their job at the current level and my wife spends quite a bit of time worrying about my pain level, knowing that I'm suffering more than I "should".

If You Want Things To Grow... Fertilizer

2011-05-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

It doesn't happen every night. Just on the simple, "once in a while." On days where I've somehow managed to leave a friendship in doubt. Nights when the last words between my Mom, or Dad, and myself were not quite as loving as I'd have liked them to be. Sometimes it comes after long days, or short days that feel long, where all my memories are of mistakes and all my mistakes are from my "best

Paula Poundstone and the Goblet of Methadone

2011-04-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

My wife, my nurse, my mother and, in her own subtle way, even my dog are trying to convince me to up the amount of methadone I take on a daily basis. I'm reluctant and fighting it harder than Donald Trump in line at Walgreen's for the last can of hair-spray. I've shared that the "screening interview" we went through a couple weeks ago for Medicaid affected and hit me pretty hard. It put my

Getting Perspective

2011-04-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

This moment, this place, is far to familiar. I went to bed with Kristin, and Belle of course, at a very decent hour. We read some more from the Psalms of David, which has been our current selection, and then prayed amongst our tears. A little after one this morning I became weary of trying to find a comfortable position and had to admit to myself that the pain in my liver had no intention of

Breaking Through This Writer's Block

2011-04-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

The evening was spent crying with my Mom as my Father stared quietly at the floor. Soon, as soon as the third week of May, they will be leaving for New York and the new life God has planned for them. When I say, "planned for them," I'm not referencing a recent occurrence. I believe that this move, this plan, has been in the works for years... if not centuries. When my Mother retired in February

My Own Personal Fail Blog

2011-04-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

Just lost two hours worth of writing... It's 3:30 in the morning and I can't see straight anymore... So, in lue of a blog, here are some upcoming events. I'm sorry. This Sunday is Easter Sunday, or as I prefer to refer to it, Resurrection Sunday! Our church is having a very different service. At 10:30 on Sunday we'll be having a celebration feast. Families and friends eating and singing

Shut up Robin, and hand me the remote.

2011-04-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Last week I was experiencing what I was told was "referred pain". This week, today specifically, I'm experiencing symptoms I haven't had since before my cancer diagnosis. You remember right? That year I spent when they kept telling me I "probably" had diverticulitis? It was always a "probably" because it was so hard to explain my symptoms to the doctors.

Arkham Asylum: Home Sweet Home (REVISED)

2011-03-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of homeless people in Eugene. Of all those, many are just kids. The first time I began working with homeless kids in Lane County was with a group called Pisteuo that met on Saturdays in the basement of First Christian Church in Downtown Eugene. I remember being amazed at what I saw. I had expected a bunch of teens who just seemed to be lazy and/or didn't care. To be honest, those

Home for Sale & More Crap About Joy

2011-03-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

You all know I never plug anything here on the blog right? I mean... Well... at least I never plug anything that I don't really believe in, support and/or think could be a service to you, a close friend or a cause that's important to me. That all being said, my friends are selling their house. In my opinion you can't do better in buying a new house than to buy it from an honest carpenter who

From Pockets of Intentionally Worn Out Jeans

2011-03-10T22:50:00.000-08:00

First, there's this: Now, on with the blog:My last post was dripping with pain. Many of you applied bandages and other means of medical aid to that open wound and I cannot thank you enough. As I said on facebook this morning, "Today is still a tough day. But I feel much less alone. Thank you all." Then, there was a message from Leisha Stevens that elevated my heart more than I could have hoped, "

Do they sell pride on Amazon.com?

2011-03-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

[ramble]I'm sorry, and really ashamed, to do this. But we need help. Financially and, next week, physically (with some cleaning and a couple of meals). Kristin is hurting emotionally right now and my mind is overwrought while my pain has really increased, due to a fall last night. If you can help, there's a link over to the right hand side and my email is aaron@judasforgiven.com I'm so tired of