What a great night we had celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year! So many friends enjoying food and fun with us. It was on the heels of receiving wonderful news of a clear PET scan and being cancer free two years after my diagnosis! So I looked around the room and appreciated everyone in our home that evening. The pictures you see don't tell the whole story. So I will share some insight with you. Not everyone at the party is pictured, but they are all certainly in my heart.

 Me on the left, Lisa, Stacey and my sister, Janet. These girls kept my family fed for months with yummy meals and always made time to visit and keep me laughing!! And my sister, Janet, there are no words to describe how helpful she was. She was my guardian angel, my best friend, a surrograte mom to my boys, and Hazel the housekeeper (our little joke).

 Dan and Lisa...dear long-time friends. Lisa sent me cards constantly that would make all of us laugh and let me know that she was thinking of me. That's my wonderful husband, Van, on the right. Every women fighting breast cancer should be blessed with a husband like mine.

Liz, Julie, Chrys and me. So much fun. Liz was (and still is) always just an email away and kept my spirits up at all times. She was the best chemo buddy and my biggest cheerleader and sidekick when it came to Race for the Cure activities. Julie and Chrys are fellow moms at my kids' school, two kind souls that stayed in touch and supported me then and still do. My dad is still talking about a meal Chrys made more than a year ago and how yummy it was!

Lisa and Linda, one look at these twins and the smiles say it all. They are snuggled up with my little Noah. These girls are a tag team of love and support. Meals, gifts, laughs...they spoiled me like a little kid. I adore them!  

 Pete, Mary, Shannon, Kristen and Brad. Great friends -- some newer friends and some friends for more than 20 years. They, too, fed us and made me smile whenever they visited. These girls are sweet, smart and sassy....all my favorite qualities in a girlfriend.

Keith, me, Pete and Sheri. Keith and Sheri are newer friends, but it often feels like we have been friends forever. They were so kind and kept us in their prayers at all times. It always meant so much. Keith sat at the hospital with Van last year while I was in surgery. It meant so much to us.

These friends cried for me when I was first diagnosed. They are friends who made us dinner for months while I was in treatment and would spend time visiting every time they delivered a meal. They are friends who sent emails and cards and texts just letting me know that they were thinking about me and praying for me. They were the support system that every cancer patient deserves. They are friends I will never take for granted. And I will strive to be the kind of friend that they have all been to me. When I look at these pictures, I don't see a silly St. Patrick's Day party. I see a group of kind, thoughtful, caring and supportive friends. My wish for anyone fighting cancer is to be blessed with a group of friends like this to help them during the difficut times and to celebrate with them during the happy times.