don’t stop believin’. don’t ever stop.

I haven’t really written about this here, I don’t think, but back before Christmas, my best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember getting the news — I was on my lunch break, talking on the phone to the guy who was shortly to become my ex, and a series of text messages rolled in. “That’ll be Missy,” I said. “Hang on.” I read the messages. “It’s bad news. It’s cancer.” I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. It didn’t seem possible, but there it was.

So far, 2011 has been a trip. (And I want my money back.) My friend has gone through major surgery and approximately eleventy billion appointments with doctors, and she has handled it all with grace and courage and humor. As I’ve dealt with the things that life has thrown my way this year, and have faced moments when I just wanted to give up, watching Missy go through this tough journey has been both an inspiration and a giver of much-needed perspective. I haven’t had to fight for my life this year. I’ve just had to stop being a miserable bastard. I figured I could do that. I have done that.

Being a miserable bastard is overrated anyway.

But I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it without her. (This is the part where I cry like a pansy little girl as I write.) I could not possibly have asked for a better friend. I have not had to go through anything on my own this year. Missy is an incredible person, and I think it just goes to show how incredibly special she really is, that she has been there for me every day, even in the middle of everything she has had to face. Most people aren’t like that. And how blessed am I to have her in my life? I don’t have words. I really don’t.

This past Friday, she got some potentially bad news from the cancer center — the kind where it could be bad or it could not be bad and they’ll run tests, and hey, have a whole weekend to freak out about it! — and yesterday I was thinking about her and I wanted to do something to cheer her up. And since I have no shame, I figured it was time for a stupid video! I picked our song (Missy, did you know that “Don’t Stop Believin’” is our song? Because it totally is) and with the assistance of my dog, who is completely unfazed by my idiocy (which just goes to show you that where I’m concerned, there’s usually a pretty high level of idiocy, and everyone around me gets used to it), I made this:

I never get tired of this song, which is saying something because I had to listen to it basically on repeat for a few hours during the recording/editing process, and oh man I love Journey. Microphones UP!

Missy goes in for more tests on Monday. Go get ‘em, tiger.