I should be sleeping, the kids will be up bright & early in the morning and our day will be long…a day full of triumphs and tribulations – laughs and tears and I will be a tired mama. But, I can’t sleep right now…not right now while someone I know, someone I admire is going through something I couldn’t possibly imagine going through and there are a handful of people I know right now that are fighting a tough battle and I am sure you do too. Tonight I need to share one of those people with you…

I feel shame and selfish right now, this morning I felt so angry with my husband – like I do often these days when life gets stressful and the exhaustion of work and parenting creeps up on us. And it’s always over such trivial things, his aversion to putting his dirty dishes in the dishwasher after eating instead of the clean sink, his habit of using neatly folded throw blankets and leaving them in piles on our couch after he seems to use all of them or other minute annoyances that right now make me want to slap myself. How lame am I to really put so much energy into those stupid little things when someone out there is fighting just to keep their person…their someone, the love of their life…their spouse, their friend, parent, child, the mother or father of their children? Seriously, someone smack me silly! Please.

I’ve followed Emily Meyers of www.thefreckledfox.com for a very long time now and tonight I felt compelled to share her story with you after catching up on her latest blog update about her family’s journey, her husbands battle with cancer. I cannot.stop.crying.right now.

Emily is a beautiful young woman with 5 precious children, 4 adorable girls & 1 dapper young boy and a husband named Marty. Their images are full of colour, life and pure LOVE and Emily’s periscopes always have me giggling out loud! Emily and Marty are young, smart, driven and humble. While their youngest babe was growing in Emily’s belly they learned of Marty’s stage 4 cancer and the battle began. If you have the time to read about from the moment they found out to now, please do over at Emily’s blog {here} or visit her Instagram or YouTube channel.. There you will find much more than a story, you will connect with each image in some way, her words – we can all relate, we’ve all been touched by cancer in some way.

Their love story is heartwarming and they’ve graciously shared the past year of their lives with the world, the beautiful & the hard moments as well as her raw, honest words and her reminders to hold your loved ones closer and closer. Emily’s love for Marty puts me to tears…I am balling my eyes out as I write this. I couldn’t imagine going through this, I couldn’t imagine watching Craig go through this or to explain it to our children – to hold it together and stay positive. This woman truly has me in awe of her strength especially as a mother. She is reminding me to be thankful of the man in my life even when he’s driving me bonkers. To be thankful that my family is full of love and health. To not take little moments, when we’re putting the kids to bed, those little moments that we’re giggling and reminiscing after the kids go to sleep…any of it for granted.

It’s a tough pill to swallow, a sad reality when things like this, stories of illness rattle you to your senses and remind you to appreciate ALL of it. I wish I could just remember to stay positive every day and let the ridiculous annoyances go, to just be thankful every.damn.day. I’m working on it, feel free to remind me whenever you want to!

Emily and her family have a fundraiser right now to help raise funds for the awful weight of medical expenses during Marty’s battle with cancer, I hope you’ll join us in sending your love and positive thoughts for their family. And if you wish to send your financial support too I’ve linked to the fundraiser {here} and below.

To read more about their family and their journey you can head to Emily’s blog {here}. xo

You can help Emily & Martin’s family by clicking here!