Surprise everyone!  David here with a quick (good) note on Kim and the Monk family.

As Thanksgiving approaches, please know that when the Monks sit down at the dining table for turkey and dressing next week, we’ll be giving thanks for many, many blessings, including your friendship and kind support for us through the years.

And it has been a few years.  A few years (7) since my last CaringBridge post in 2014 following Kim’s surgery for a brain aneurysm.  A few years (10) since Kim’s surgical resection of a recurrent brain tumor in 2011.  A few years (11) since Kim ended chemotherapy treatments (for the first time) after 3½ years.

And a few years since Kim was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer on November 16, 2006, began aggressive radiation and chemotherapy, and was told to start thinking in terms of 6 to 18 months of life remaining.

This week, Kim celebrates fifteen (15) FIFTEEN!! years of survival!  We hope you’ll take a minute to join with us in celebration of this miracle, and in giving thanks for all that we’ve been able to do and experience together since this journey began.

Fifteen years ago, Kim and I had just celebrated our 10^th anniversary, our two little boys were 5 and 2, we had never owned a pet, and we had just moved into our “new” house on Greenbrier.  Friday nights were “family nights” and Saturday nights were “date nights.”  Since then:

• Kim and I celebrated our 25^th anniversary this June;
• Devin is a 20-year-old sophomore at Vanderbilt University, majoring in Human and Organizational Development with a minor in Data Science, and is Rush Chairman of the ATO fraternity;
• Gavin is a 17-year-old senior at Highland Park High School, is a leader in their championship drumline, plays guitar and is applying to colleges;
• Theo (Thelonious Monk), our wheaten terrier, is 10 years old and, I’m told, has his own Instagram page (theomonk_official);
• I just celebrated my 11th year at RealPage, the software company where I continue (after an IPO, many acquisitions, and a private equity LBO) on the executive management team as EVP, Chief Legal Officer;
• Kim is happy and relatively healthy and continues to be the uncontrollable “sparkle” in all of our lives;
• We’ve lived in our new “new” home on Centenary for 3½ years now;
• Family nights are much harder to come by, but cherished when they do; and
• Date nights continue unabated.

I obviously haven’t been on CaringBridge in a really long time.  It’s amazing to look back through the postings from years ago and remember the challenges we faced and conquered, over and over, during the last decade and a half.  Kim’s 15 years of survival (and counting) are more than we dared consider in the beginning.  Unfathomable, really.  And now, as weird as the last two COVID years have been for everyone on the planet, we just roll with it since we learned long ago to be thankful for Every. Single. Day.

Kim and I hope the approaching holidays are fantastic for you and everyone you love.  Please enjoy, reminisce, and remember how important you all are to us … whether we last spoke 15 minutes ago or 15 years ago. 

David