Bonus Family! :: We're Getting Married! ::

Life is a funny thing ..... one day you're cruising along thinking things are one way and then BLAMMO!  Major detour! That's how our engagement came about.

Brett and I have been together for 3+ years and pretty settled in the idea that co-habitation was bliss.  Both married and divorced, neither of us are religious and saw marriage as somewhat outdated. Dating made you work harder for the relationship I often said.  Whenever someone asked us when we were getting married, my standard sarcastic answer was, "when we're tired of being happy." Sometimes Brett and I would talk about it, but always ended up at the conclusion that it wasn't for us.

The fork in the road .....

Brett went to the doctor February 20, 2012 with a nagging cough that antibiotics couldn't touch.  After a couple of sleepless nights, I pleaded with him to go.  I'll never, ever forget hearing the word for the first time from the doctor's mouth : CANCER!

Brett's only 35!  Freaking CANCER?!  Seriously?!  One abnormal chest x-ray leads to this diagnosis?! My heart stopped. Without a moment of hesitation, I looked at Brett and said/asked, "Let's get married." All the reasons not to were no longer compelling. I couldn't LIVE without this man.  Brett is my partner above all things.  The thought of being without him was too chilling to even let my mind wander there.........

In that tiny room we decided two things: 1) We were going to fight this, WHATEVER it was, together; and 2) We were getting married!!!!

This is Brett.  The love of my life.  I am so excited to Mrs. Wilcox 

Over the next weeks Brett visited several doctors, had tests run, blood drawn, was poked and prodded.  We were told to hope for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, as it had the greatest cure rate.  A surgical biopsy was scheduled in early March. The surgeon was successful in removing several samples of lymph node.  Biopsy results took several days.  Weeks of worrying and what ifs led us to this point: the Pulminologist called Brett and told him it wasn't Lymphoma after all; it was Sarcoid Disease.  We'd researched Sarcoidosis after hearing the surgeon mention it.  No cancer!  No chemo!  I tried to feel happy about this, but couldn't some how. It didn't change the fact that he was ill.  This wasn't the healthy, invigorated, lively man I was used to living with.  We learned quickly that Sarcoid was something Brett would struggle with his whole life. It was unknown as to what caused it. Some websites told us it was auto-immune. I urged Brett to start a blog of his own and he did:

http://livingwithsarcoiddisease.blogspot.com/

How I came to be Chicken Mama

chicken
This is a picture of a chicken.  It's the cutest one I could find in Google images. I'm using it only as a visual, as the creature has very little to do with me or this blog.

Chicken Mama is a nickname my boyfriend Brett gave me a while back.  He has a million of them for me ... but this is my favorite. My Chicken Mama persona embraces everything I am and ever hope to be: matriarch, iconoclast, and virtuoso. In my mind's eye I see this very confident, colorful character with killer style and and amazing shoes. Beside me is my brilliant, confident, amazing partner and true love - Brett.

This is Brett.  My partner in crime.