It came time to finally tell my folks about my diagnosis. To say this was a conversation I wasn’t looking forward to would be an understatement. But I was lucky enough to have my trusty sidekick with me, so Rachel and I set out on Saturday morning and headed to Topeka to share the news. Of course, we did this under the guise that we just wanted to have lunch because yes, we’re sneaky and yes, I’m a chicken.

We got to the house where we found Mom and Daddy in the basement – Mom at her computer and Daddy at his – which is a really cute setup. We chatted for a few minutes before we decided it was time to head out to lunch.

“Before we go, I need to tell you guys something…I’ve got some news,” I said.

And then I gave them the news. No frills, just the facts. The follow-up mammogram and ultrasound. The biopsy. The diagnosis. I wouldn’t know more until the next Tuesday, so I really couldn’t say more at that point.

I could see the news took them both for a loop, especially with everything that had gone on over the past two weeks with Uncle Garland and his passing, but my family is pretty good at taking in news and letting it sit for a while. So they asked some questions, I answered as best I could and amazingly enough – no tears. I’m not naive enough to think that there weren’t later, but hey, we made it through that part.

One can’t deliver life-changing news like that without immediately following it with comfort food, so we set out to for lunch and headed to the most comfort-y food place I know – Cracker Barrel. Give me a chicken fried steak, some fried okra and mashed potatoes with gravy and your girl is in the happiest of happy places for quite a while. Or maybe that’s a food coma – who knows?

It wasn’t an uneasy lunch but given everything that we’d all been dealing with, it wasn’t as jovial as a Jones/Bishop/O’Keefe family lunch would usually be. We talked about my diagnosis, about Uncle Garland and the trip to New Braunfels and a whole host of other things. I could see the sadness in my dad’s eyes, especially when he talked about his brother, and the way that my mom looked at him, trying to make sure he was okay when she wasn’t either. It was so sweet and so heartbreaking at the same time and at that point, I was more worried about both of them than I was myself.

After we finished our meal, we did a little shopping at the CB store (don’t judge me – there’s some cute stuff there) and headed back to my folks house. We said our goodbyes with lots of hugs, and Rachel and I hopped back into her car to head home. It was done. I’d shared the news without collapsing into a puddle of tears. Honestly, I felt so relieved not to be walking on eggshells holding the news in as a well-guarded secret from the people I love most. It was time to start moving forward in my new world.