Guest Blogger #14
I've written before in this space about my friend and editor, Rebecca Carr, and her medical situation. The surgery went well, but the recuperation is still ongoing.
And the community has truly been amazing to me. There've been dances, bake sales, auctions -- all to support a very nice woman in a very tight spot.
Since my column runs in other communities, I decided to write one about Becky to see if I could drum up some out-of-area donors, but it was a little tricky. She's a private person and I was nervous about stepping over the line. Finally, I had what I thought was a finished piece, and I e-mailed her with it.
"If there's anything, anything at all, you find uncomfortable or offensive in this piece, please let me know."
About an hour later I got a response.
"What I find really offensive is you forgot to attach the file."
I get e-mails from her like this ALL THE TIME.
Post-surgery, she was off work for about a month, and her first week back she wrote the following editorial, which I'm reprinting with her permission.
Life in a small town
By Rebecca Carr
Years ago, while chaffing at the slower pace of my new home in Oklahoma City and feeling as if I’d landed in Mayberry, a woman told me that the definition of a small town is, “When y’all can call up the fahr (fire) department and ask for their biscuit recipe and no one thinks a thang of it!”
Mukilteo isn’t quite that tiny – I’d likely make the Police Beat column if I called up MaryAnn Fry demanding a biscuit tutorial – but it’s small enough that Mukilteans genuinely care about one another, look out for one another and, regardless of politics, want to make our city a better place.
Over the years I’ve covered countless fund-raisers, from community organizations to disaster relief to helping individuals and families in Mukilteo whom life just kicked in the gut.
I’ve constantly been overwhelmed by the spirit and generosity of Mukilteans, in giving their time, money and well wishes where needed.
And I actually thought I got it, thought I understood how those recipients felt, and just how giving Mukilteans are.
But that was on the safe side of the pen and camera, the easy side.
If you’ve read a Beacon recently, you probably know I had my most uninvited turn in the spotlight this spring, when five tumors showed up in my brain. Surgeons removed two large ones in an eight-hour procedure April 12, leaving the three smaller ones and cautioning of the likelihood of more in the future.
They’re benign, but chronic, meaning they aren’t going to eat me up, but they’ll keep coming back, usually in inconvenient places like my skull and spinal cord. They can’t kill me directly, but they can cause strokes and paralysis by where they are located, and surgery will always be risky.
When word got out I don’t have medical insurance, Mukilteo again sprang to life with financial donations and fund-raisers, as well as dozens of cards, e-mails and phone calls, and thousands of prayers and well wishes.
Some of you, we go back years, others, we’ve never met or even talked; you just cared and wanted to tell me.
I can’t thank you all enough for what you’ve done, and I’ll keep the cards and e-mails forever as a reminder of what’s important in life.
Mukilteo is pretty small, and to borrow a media cliché, a close-knit community. It’s a rare trip up the Speedway that I don’t either pass someone I know on the road or run into them in the shops and stores.
I always thought I’d hate the small town life, having been safely anonymous in every other community I’ve lived in.
Biscuit recipes aside (I hate biscuits, anyway), it’s a great feeling to live here and be a part of such an amazing group of people.
We also have an outstanding doctor in Heidi Rendall of the Anchor Medical Clinic. Rendall researched and found a qualified surgeon, called to check up on me several times before and after the surgery, and never held back on the hard news, always keeping me informed and a part of the process.
Life in a small town is pretty cool after all!
4:58:59 AM 
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