Happy Siete de Mayo

So - it's Monday again. The weekend sure went by too quickly for me. Friday evening we cooked at home and had a pretty lazy evening. Greg also baked the margarita cupcakes for our game night that was going to happen on Saturday with our friends/co-workers.

Greg baking cupcakes.

Cupcakes cooling.

On Saturday, hubs had to work half a day so I stayed home and cleaned the house and did lots of laundry. So. Much. Laundry. Greg got home and then made the icing for the cupcakes. I didn't snag a photo of the finished product - sorry. But, they were very tasty and super cute. You can find the recipe here. We packed up the car for our Cinco de Mayo game night around 5:30 - we had to stop by the grocery store and get gas and it started POURING down rain. We ran inside when we finally arrived to avoid getting even more soaked. We had a lot of fun eating, play games, eating and more eating. Think cheese, beans, and more cheese.

Cinco de Mayo game night fun.

On Sunday we went to Sunday School/Church and then grabbed a quick lunch - followed by a quick trip to Target where I got this lovely table runner and napkins - yay!

Cute green runner and napkins. Still looking for some cute placemats...

My mom and dad joined us for the Spring Concert at our church from 4-5pm. It was a lovely service dedicated to a lady (Faye) in our church who passed away last year. Greg and I never met her (or her husband) as she was really sick when we started coming but she sure must have been a special person. There were SO many people there for the concert - it was very moving. Afterwards, we went back to our house where my brother and his girlfriend met us for dinner. All night I could not stop thinking about this sweet couple. I was sad because we never got the chance to meet them - but so happy that they were so in love and were so faithful to God and to one another. Below is the article written about  Faye and her sweet husband - I'll warn you though - it's a tear jerker.

Cancer couldn’t separate Wendell couple(Eastern Wake News, April 21, 2012)

It’s about the most perfect love story I’ve ever heard.

In 2009, Faye Pridgen was stricken with cancer. After a lifetime of taking care of others, it was evident she was going to need some taking care of. It’s a good thing she married Kenny Pridgen.

Kenny had been the beneficiary of Faye’s caring ways since they were high school sweethearts.

Now it was his turn.

After Faye was diagnosed, she did what she could to help others come to grips with the effects of the illness. She spoke at the East Wake Relay For Life’s survivor dinner last year.

Later in 2011, she was treated in the hospital for a blockage caused by the cancer and Kenny never left her side. When the end of each day came, he made himself as comfortable as he could there in the hospital room with her.

When Faye was moved to a rehab facility following her hospital stay, Kenny went with her. But that first night, he learned he wouldn’t be able to stay the night with his wife as he had for so many nights in the hospital.

But he was undeterred. He went home, retrieved another vehicle – a truck with a camper shell on the back and drove it back to Rex Rehab. He parked the truck right outside his wife’s window. He wanted her to know, if she woke up during the night, that he was still there.

He brought along a cot and a guitar to keep himself company and there, in the back of his truck bed, he settled in for the night. He was still beside his wife.

It rained that night, and Kenny Pridgen got a little wet. But he didn’t mind, his daughter Nikki Paxton told me last week. He wasn’t leaving.

“He was very adamant about staying with her,” Paxton said.

The folks at Rex Rehab caught on to what Kenny Pridgen was doing and they relented in their rules, setting things up so Kenny could, again, spend his nights in the same room with Faye.

The last weekend before Faye Pridgen passed away, at the age of 67, she took a turn for the worse and was readmitted to Duke Raleigh Hospital. True to form, Kenny stayed by her side until the very end, which came October 3.

Two months later, on Dec. 10, Kenny Pridgen died of a massive heart attack. I have no doubt he died of a broken heart.

“He wrote in a journal that we found after his death that he believed that the reason he was here on earth was to take care of his beloved wife and he believed his purpose had been fulfilled,” Paxton said.

A lot of other people are going to be fulfilling a special purpose next weekend as the annual Relay For Life rolls around again. Family members and friends of cancer patients will walk the makeshift track at Five County Stadium to help raise money for the American Cancer Society, which provides millions of dollars each year for research and to support cancer patients and their families.

Nikki Paxton said she learned valuable life lessons watching her father care for her mother.

“When you love someone, that’s how you should do it. That’s what God wants.”