Melita Ramic

As some of you may know, my friend Melita passed away late last year. This June she would have been 23 years old. I met Melita when I was a junior at Fox High School. We both had Geometry together. We also went to Jeffco for a year together, then she moved onto UMSL. We used to ride together whenever I had class at the Hillsboro campus.

After high school, we promised each other that we'd stay in touch...if at least by email. We both had a Myspace and shared emails even after we were done seeing each other at school. I remember reading an email from her one day that really caught me off guard. Believe it or not, I was snacking on some of the pink Breast Cancer Awareness M&M's, when I read her email, telling me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. At age 20. She told me not to feel sorry for her and not to cry. She told me that she'd beat this, no matter what. Nothing but optimism.

The summer after she was diagnosed, she got a team together to walk for the Race for the Cure in St. Louis. That year, her team name was "Many Reasons, One Goal." I walked with her, her parents, and some of her friends and family. I didn't know any of them. I was introduced to a girl named Betsy, which was one of her really close friends. The next year, her team name was "Shut Up and Fight." I did not participate in this walk. At this point, we had started to lose touch. I just kept up on Facebook from time to time.

I remember the last time I spoke to her, was wishing her happy birthday on her Facebook page this past June. And that was it. I thought of her often, but did not find out how she was doing...which I deeply regret now. My mom had asked me a week prior to finding out about her death, how she was doing. I told her that I wasn't sure because I hadn't talked to her in a while. I went to her Facebook page later that day (or maybe the next day, I don't remember for sure) with the intention of writing her...when I started reading everyone's comments about how much they loved and missed her. Immediately, I started crying and went to call my mom. I had no idea she had died.

The only person I knew that Melita also knew was that girl Betsy. I looked her up on Facebook and wrote her. I had only met her once and we barely even talked, but I had no other way of finding out what had happened. Jason and I spent over an hour looking online trying to find a news story or an obituary or something. We didn't have any luck. Betsy wrote me back. She said that Melita had withrew herself from so many people in the last few months. She said that the cancer had spread to her shoulder and knees, which caused Melita to be in the hospital for a few days in August. At that time, they started her on a new chemo treatment. A week before her death, the doctors told her that she was dying, and Melita looked at the doctor in the eye and said, "You're full of shit." That's the kind of person she was. She didn't let having breast cancer bring her down.

Betsy filled me in on several details and offered to talk to me anytime I needed someone to talk to. I miss her so much. She was such a beautiful person and an inspiration to me. She was going to college to be a teacher, but when she found out she had cancer, she changed her mind and was going to med school to be an oncologist. I have known about her death for a few months now, but it still doesn't seem real. I think about her almost every day. The next time I'm in MO, I plan to visit her grave and put some pink flowers down. I hope that everyone who is reading this will say a prayer for her family. Melita's family is Bosnian. She has a younger sister. I only met her parents and sister once. After the race a few years ago, they took all of us out to a Bosnian restaurant in downtown St. Louis. There are so many great memories that I have of Melita. Whether it be from school or the race or just times that we were out doing things together...so many good memories. I thank God that she isn't in pain any longer, but I sure do miss her.

I encourage all of you to remember how fragile life is. Be thankful for your health. Keep in touch with your family and friends. You never know when something can happen. You don't want to live with the regret of "I should have..."

I love you all and God Bless.

-Cole-

Our Wedding 10/17/2009

Hey everyone! I know I haven't written in a few months. I'm going to try and write more. I wanted to do a recap of our wedding, since that is the latest BIG thing that has happened to our family.

Jason and I had originally been planning a wedding for Spring of this year, either in March or April. Somewhere within the first day or two of October, we decided we didn't want to wait that long. Having our kids at the wedding was top priority and we had one weekend in particular that we were guaranteed to get the kids...so we went with that weekend...Saturday, October 17th. All three sets of parents were very supportive and quick to help us. We thank you all very much. Within as few as 17 days of planning, we were married and had a wedding that we were both very happy with.

I am still a bit amazed that we all managed to pull off a wedding in 17 days. For those that were able to attend, I hope you enjoyed it. We got several comments that it was a beautiful wedding. Thank you to everyone that made the trip up here to see the small town we live in and see us on our special day. It meant a lot to have you sharing that experience with us.

Many of the weddings I have been to in the past were a bit on the extravagant side. The wedding ceremony with a ton of people, big receptions in a hall with a DJ and catered food. In a lot of ways, that's how I thought my wedding would be like when I was growing up. Jason reminded me that regardless of what kind of wedding you have, the main purpose is getting married to the person that you're so deeply in love with. So in the end, we decided to concentrate more on the marriage itself rather than all of the unnecessary hoopla that comes with it. The wedding march that you all heard (if you were there, of course) he found online....minutes before the wedding!!! It wasn't the usual wedding march...it had a twist. The song we used to play as we were walking back down the aisle was "Then" by Brad Paisley.

Jason's uncle Kevin was our photographer....he did a great job! I am very happy with the shots he got. My mom's friend Ann made my beautiful bouquet. She also HAND MADE a bride and groom wedding bears. The bride's bouquet matched mine! Jason's mom made our cake. His grandma made Jasmine's dress. Mom and dad helped with the food, decorating the night before, and transporting family. My Uncle Dennis and Aunt Belinda helped Kevin take photos and record. My Uncle Ray also helped video tape. So many of our family helped us out. THANK YOU!!! :)

One of these days, I'll get all of the pictures printed and make my scrapbook! I already have the scrapbook and some things to get me started. I just haven't printed all of the pictures or really had the time to make the book yet. I want to take my time on it.

-Nicole-

Here are a few quick edits I just did...


















Any photo you can't see very well...just click on it and it will make it larger for you to see. :)

House in Bath, IL

Hey everyone!

Several weeks ago, Jason and I were going to visit his aunt and uncle's house, and off in the distance, I could see part of this house and it looked really cool. Jason said it is rumored to be haunted, but he'd never seen it. So, I talked him into driving near it last weekend. I thought it looked cool, so I took some pictures of it. Apparently they have a trail behind the house that you can go to as well. It's not paved, but you can tell people have driven back there. I wanted to go on the little trail to see where the path led, but we had Shawn with us...so I just got out and took a few pictures of the house instead.

Shawn

Hey everyone!

Very long story short, when we had the kids last weekend, we were also able to keep Shawn for a week. He doesn't start school until Monday, Aug 31st. He will be in Head Start. We're not for sure when we have to take him back. I'm hoping we can take him to school on his first day, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up because my luck, it won't happen.

He's been almost a completely different kid without his brother and sister around. We've had Luke a few times just by himself, but this is the first time that we've had Shawn by himself.

Jas and Luke started school last Wednesday. They didn't really have much to say about the first few days of school, other than it was "good" when we asked. lol

Shawn has been requesting pancakes for breakfast. He asked for pancakes on Monday and I decided to make him a Mickey Mouse pancake...and he loved it. He said he'd never had a MM pancake before. We made a face with peanut butter and then he stuck grapes on the peanut butter. Then he added his syrup. lol







Yesterday morning, I was getting out of the shower when I heard him singing. He was just around the corner, lying on the floor and playing with his firetruck. My camera just happened to be where I could reach it, so I taped him. And I'll let you see the rest. Jason and I were cracking up!

I'm not sure if this is a real song or if he just made it up, but he says it's called, "You Never Knew."



Until next time,

Cole xoxoxo

Wedding Update

Hey everyone! Well, I promised that I'd update everyone on wedding details. Our best man is going to be Jason's brother, Christopher, and he is a BM3 (hope I got that right) in the U.S. Navy. With that being said, it's difficult to find a time that he will be home to have the wedding. Since we're tired of waiting, we found out that Christopher and his wife Alisha will be home next in either March or April, and that's when we're going to have the wedding. We will know approximately two months in advance on the exact time that they will be home, so when we find that out, we will let everyone know of course.

As previously stated, Jason's brother Christopher, will be the best man and Eve will be my maid of honor. Even though we have decided on the rest of the wedding party, we have not asked anyone else yet, so I won't reveal the rest of the party until then. It's going to be very kid-oriented, though.

My mom's friend, Ann, is going to be making the bouquets for me and the girls. I haven't decided my color yet, but since it's going to be in the spring, I've narrowed it down to pale colors of pink, purple, and yellow. I'm contemplating using all three colors, actually. Kind of paying tribute to my parents wedding because my mom asked all of her bridesmaids to wear pale colored dresses. But I'm not for sure...I may just do one color. I have gotten a request several months ago that my boys wanted to wear bow ties, so we're working on that one. I promised them they could wear them. lol

The wedding WILL BE IN MO. Mom and dad are looking around at some parks that might work...for inside and outside, just in case. With it being Spring, the weather could be rainy and cold. There's still a lot of things we're discussing and working out, but we're on our way.

Just wanted to let everyone know on the progress and on some of the details! I'm getting so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time,

Cole xoxoxo :)

I'M CERTIFIED!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone!!!!


I am now OFFICIALLY a CERTIFIED Pharmacy Technician! I am soooo excited! For those of you that don't know, I have had to take the certification test three times. Within your first year of Walgreens, they require all of their technicians to be certified. I've been with the company a year and (almost) six months. My manager was able to pull some strings so that I was able to stay working back in the pharmacy (they're supposed to kick you out if you don't pass within your first year of employment), so I was very thankful for that. Walgreens pays the first two times of taking the test, after that, it's the technicians responsibility. So, I had to pay this time. Everybody at my work was very supportive and helped me out.

I had my test at 8:00 this morning at Pearson Vue testing center in Springfield, IL. It's a two hour test with 90 multiple choice questions. Both times that I took it before, I was 8 points away from passing. You find out immediately after your test if you pass or fail, but you don't detailed results until a few weeks later in the mail. The so called "detailed" results aren't very helpful though. They don't tell you what you missed or anything like that. It only tells you how you scored in the three different sections that they score on. You must get a 650 to pass and each time, I had a 642. :( But this time, I passed. I will find out what my score was in a few weeks! I'll update later. I don't even care how much I passed it by, I'm just so excited that I passed. I've worked really hard on this.

Oh and I also get an immediate $1.00 raise for passing. :)

Just wanted to share the good news!

Cole xoxox