I saw this little guy every morning while in Houston last week. It was like he was greeting me.

I spent a week in Houston helping my friend, Claudia, who is battling stage 4 neuroendocrine carcinoma. I helped get her to MD Anderson as well as helped pack up her place. She is moving up to the DFW area to be nearer to her family.

I've had lots of great memories at her home and will remember all the times we spent together going to the beach, having long in-depth conversations about life, going over memories that we had growing up and just enjoying the company of our dear friendship. I've known her since 3rd grade and over the past 15 years, we have become best of friends.

As I drove her back to Dallas yesterday, it was bittersweet. I'm happy she is nearer to me so I can visit her more often but was very difficult to leave where she has called home for many years. I pray she can beat this cancer but it is a very rare type so not much is known on how to treat it. I will be there as much as she needs me and will be taking her back down to Houston in the near future and hope to visit the beach again soon with her. We've known each other almost all of our lives and have had a lot of years together as friends but I'm not ready to lose her. I pray that they can stop the cancer from spreading more or able to shrink the tumors.

This time last year I was there helping celebrate her birthday. We celebrated as well this weekend but cancer has put a damper on things. However, I refuse to think this may be her last birthday here. I have faith that they will find something to help prolong her life and also able to give her a good quality of life. I love my friend very much and hope that I have more years to spend with her to have more long in-depth conversations about life, spending time at the beach together and sharing more memories. I am blessed to have known her, that is for sure.