Things are finally...

...looking up.

My mom's latest bone marrow test came back free of leukemia. She still has a lot of chemo ahead of her and only a one in three chance of making it another 5 years, but things look so much better than they did this time two weeks ago. She might be home as soon as this coming weekend. I know she must be going nuts after a month and a half in the hospital. I'm going to help my sister get the house ready for her to come home. Dad has been a little lost as far ask keeping house while she's gone. I imagine it's been pretty tough for him to balance work, constant trips to the hospital, helping take care of my nephew, volunteer firefighter meetings, and just keeping his head screwed on straight. I know things won't be back to "normal" for a while, but it's nice to finally have some hope about the whole thing.

In other life-altering news...I'm getting married! (I couldn't be more excited.) Mike asked me to marry him in Niagara Falls last weekend. He was only supposed be in the area for the weekend of the Niagara Falls Fark party, but when his flight got delayed on Sunday, he decided to stay around another week and get to know the area. Having him at my house for a week was amazing. For the first time in as long as I can remember, everything felt like it had fallen into place. It was so hard to take him back to the airport on Saturday. He got to meet my family, and they seem to be really impressed with him. My friends all seemed to like him a lot as well. I can't wait for January. That's when he'll be coming back for good.

C. really seems to like him a lot, too. When I picked C. up from his dad's house last Sunday, I didn't tell him that Mike was going to be at our house. C. walked in, Mike said, "Hi, C.", and without batting an eye, C. replied "Hi, Mike," as if it was the most normal thing in the world to see him sitting there on the couch when he came home. I have to admit, it felt great to come home from work every day and have him there. He's an amazing guy, and I couldn't feel luckier to have found him.

Things aren't perfect yet, and there are a few things that I need to take care of before he moves out here, but it's so nice to have such an amazing future to look forward to. Three months ago, if you had told me I was going to fall in love and get engaged, I would have told you that you were crazy. It's amazing how the right person can change your outlook on everything.

PS - The engagement story (since it's too unique not to tell): Mike was going to propose to me at the Falls. We left the party for a little while and walked down the hill to look at the falls. It was his first time ever seeing them. I had no idea that he was planning on asking me to marry him right then. Good thing I didn't, because he didn't ask at the falls. He really had to pee, and I'm sure the rushing water wasn't making it any easier for him, so we only wound up spending about 10 minutes at the falls before heading back to the hotel. We started watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVDs and when the moment seemed right, he asked me. It was amazing and I was so oblivious to everything else that I didn't realize until several hours later that he had asked me to marry him (quite unintentionally) while we were watching the MST3K version of The Touch of Satan. I haven't stopped teasing him about his interesting timing since it happened. No proposal by the falls, no sweet music in the background or fancy dinner date. Just Mike, me.....and Satan. :P As much as I tease and joke, it really couldn't have been more perfect.