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Today is my birthday! I am now 1 year away from the big 3-0. I always thought I would feel older, more secure and settled and well more like a grown-up. But I don't! I feel just as scared as I always have.

I have to say congrats to Julie, she gave birth to a lovely little girl, Mary Pat on Sunday May 27. I can't wait to meet her.

I have my surgery scheduled for June 22. My mom will be coming out to take care of me as Paul will most likely be on the road. I think I am ready for this but I am still a little scared. This is a major operation and comes with risks, but I think that these risks outweigh the possibility of this growth becoming cancerous as pancreatic cancer has only a 5% survival rate. I am really looking forward to the 6 weeks of recovery. I need the break from work, and I may look into new opportunities while I am at home.

My sisters will also be visiting me and that should be nice, I am so grateful to have a home large enough for my family to be able to stay with me, it make things much easier. We are planning a trip to the Snyder's of Hanover factory as we all love pretzels! Ang and Nat will probably go to Hershey Park but I feel that I won't be up to a day at an amusement park for a while.

I will be in Oregon next week to see Nat graduate, she just got another scholarship. Hopefully I will get to see Wendy and Sarah. I miss all the girls out there so much I can't even describe it. I hope that I will be able to go back to the west coast in the next few years but I also know that life has a funny way of making things happen, so we shall see.