#BasicBecky

This is a post you will need to revisit.  I am certain that after I publish this, I will think of several other things to add to my list.  Backstory:

I have a group text that includes my mom and several of my friends who are my key supporters and cheerleaders during this time.  One of them is my dear friend Johnna who I've known for about 11 years.  I've taught 2 of her 3 daughters and their family has a special place in my life and my heart.  She's the kind of friend who will drop absolutely anything she's doing to be at your side and keeps you in stitches while she's there.  Great sense of humor that diffuses even the thickest tension.  She and I have the same personality type, so when we're together it usually gets really loud rally fast.  What can I say?? 💃💃

I've had a bit of a rough go of things over the last month, if you've been keeping up.  Infection, anaphylaxis, possible blood clot, possible heart attack, possible liver and kidney damage.  I'm shooting for the fences here.  Leave it to Johnna to post in the group one day that I need to quit being an overachiever, trying to check allllll the boxes of medical mishaps in one shot.  Then she coined the hashtag #basicbecky, saying I needed to go to the hospital and just be basic.  Don't do anything extravagant this time, just go in, get it done and go home.  So, in honor of Basic Becky, I wanted to make a list of all of the things that make me basic.

1. I drive a very basic Mom car.  I would like to drive a Shelby Mustang, either red or black.  BUT I don't have that kind of cash flow, so GMC Terrain it is. 
2. I have a very basic job.  What's more basic than being a "school teacher" as David calls it (like its 1908 and I work in a one-room school house wearing a floor length skirt with petticoats under it)?
3. I LOVE it, but I have a very basic haircut.  My brother once called it a "Karen" haircut. 
4. I am proud to have a group of basic friends.  We (and I mean they) may have had some wild days in our youth (I was never wild haha), but we're solid now.  Basic.  Raising kids, doing our job, being solid wives and girlfriends.  The good kid of "basic" women who don't end up topless over spring break (yes, women my age still do that) or on social media somewhere drinking with their underaged children (yes, women my age do that too).
5. I'm a basic Mom.  I have rules, sometimes I'm "mean," I take away their phone and TV privileges, expect them to do their chores (yes, they have chores!) and expect them to be polite and well-mannered.  To sum it up, I'm a basic mom from the 1960s.

Also, I'd like to list some things I've learned over the last month, as I strive to have a "basic" cancer experience, if there even is such a thing:

1. You MUST pay attention, ask questions, and advocate for yourself.  Even at MD Anderson, the world's Mecca for cancer care, they screw up.  You get an infection that they miss for days, your infusion nurse skips a step, they tell you won't need a certain procedure and the next day show up at your door ready to perform said procedure. Don't assume that just because they're doctors, they know more or better than you.  Be your own advocate, even if it labels you as the boat rocker.  Rock ALL the boats you can to get the best care.
2. Going through significant trial brings out the best AND worst in yourself and the people around you.  You realize what you and they are made of, and if you really want them in your life going forward. Because for real, if you (or they) can't handle life with you with cancer, it's gonna be a rough go the next time there's a trial.
3. You really realize who your friends are.  The ones who say they'll always be there for you vs the ones who actually are.  
4. You get the opportunity to see God work; you see it through your friends, family, strangers, and in yourself.  And he surprises you almost every day, if you're willing to have the eyes and heart to see it.
5. If you're willing to be vulnerable with your experience, you'll get to be encouraged by people in your life who you have impacted in some way, and never even realized it.  

In honor of my friend.  This picture sums Johnna up with no words:

This is what an awesome friend she is: a sign honoring my fight in her High School classroom:

Her daughters, who made me a Basic Becky Chemo shirt!!

Johnna and her girls (Myka, Mabry and Mayvin) on Pink Wednesday.

Me, wearing that awesome shirt to chemo yesterday:

Be a Johnna.