What You Can Learn from a 12 yr old

Last weekend Holly's nephews Christopher and Thomas visited us from Kansas City. They flew into Charlotte, where Holly met them and drove up to Asheville for the long w-e. I feel pretty confident in saying that I haven't spent that much time with 2 adolescent boys since, well, I was an adolescent myself. And suffice to say that much has changed in that time period (cellphones, computers, and technology in general) while other things are still the same (girls, braces, and pizza). I don't think we were as fun for the boys as they were to us. For example, Thomas taught us how to send and receive text messages (I swear I am not making this up). Amazingly, he displayed a comfort and ease with everything we threw at him while managing to straddle the boy's world of computer games and 1 # jaw breakers. He was completely comfortable kayaking in the river, paddling on the French Broad rapids in a ducky, and hiking with 2 middle aged women. Apparently we have a black widow spider that lives on our hillside which he found while playing outside (who knew?). Christopher treated Holly to a flute concert (both boys brought their instruments to practice dutifully as their mother requested) and was more talkative than when he visited 2 yrs ago. I am not sure we were very helpful regarding his question about how to attract the interest of girls. Still I was a bit amazed by their knowledge-the weed overtaking my garden is called carpetweed, black widow spiders have one of the strongest webs of any spiders, and origami cranes make good thank you notes. They were really a delight to have visit.

Tomorrow Holly and I leave for Folly Beach to spend a week in SC with my family. It is also my birthday-I'll be 47. What a treat to see another birthday even healthy again. I purposely put off my next bone marrow biopsy until AFTER this trip just in case I get bad news. I didn't want anything to interfere with our vacation week. This way, we can behave like anyone else on vacation-carefree and easy.

Our Buddy Jo

Though it's been almost 2 w-e's now, I wanted to post one of the photos from our trip over to see "our buddy Jo." I cannot take credit for the moniker there, however, as that is often the subject line that Susan uses when she sends out email updates on Jo. The photo here is from our visit to see Jo shortly after Susan baked her a big pound cake that we accompanied to her condo. As always, Jo looked happy and at peace, like the remarkable woman she is.

Last weekend, Dennis and John, our friends from DC, were visiting us. They both retired from government service in October and just moved to a new home in Fort Lauderdale. I hadn't seen them in about 4 yrs, so it was good to catch up and reconnect. We were the last stop on a grand one month tour of friends and acquaintances all up and down the Eastern seaboard from Savannah to Maine and back again. They pulled up Friday in their big Texas truck, as I like to call it, loaded with a month's worth of clothes stuffed behind the seats and bikes in the truckbed. One of the highlights while they were here was our trip out to Saxapahaw, a small rural community, really a crossroads, located on the Haw River to hear music. The area has a community park just across from the river where they have free music every Sat night as well as a farmer's market, Hula hoops for sale and use during the music, and of course, bbq (this is NC afterall). My boss had told me about the fun as she went with her husband and 2 young kids some weeks ago. We took our blankets and picnic to find a place among the families with kids and babies and all of the tie dye. There was a lawn facing the stage for enjoying the music (a great bluegrass band) as well as a slip and slide for the kids and a whole hill of people doing the hula hoop thing. I mean women, children and even guys not too scared to look silly, using a wide variety of hula hoops, which if you haven't looked lately have become more upscale with different sizes, bright colors and even come adorned with fancy ribbons. We had a great time just hanging out for a few hours doing the small town thing with music on the lawn. Very fun.

It's getting to be vacation time. Our friends Miriam and Alex are off in the Pacific Northwest visiting a montage of sights from Vancouver to Seattle and the Olympic peninsula. Laurie is off on a big Alaska hiking adventure, and soon we will be off to Folly Beach for a week. I have been busy at work and weighed down a bit by the serious health problems of my patients. Many of them are stressed to the max (and won't have anything like a vacation) since they have lost their jobs in this economy and are barely making it both financially and emotionally. I can help with some with their medical problems, but I don't see any easy solutions for the rest until the job situation gets better for everyone. It makes me feel mighty fortunate to have a good job and even better to have good job skills and a good career that will always reward me, both emotionally and financially. If all you know how to do is to make Gold Toe socks, like so many of my patients, then you are in big trouble.

I don't want to end on a sour note. I feel really fortunate for all that I have, and most especially, for all of the people who add meaning and love to my life.

July 8, 2008

I have promised myself not to dwell on the past, especially all the difficult or bad things that happened last year. Usually I am so busy enjoying my life now that I rarely even take the time to write here anymore. Sometimes it feels silly to broadcast my comings and goings, especially as my weekdays have become dominated by work while my weekends consist of the commuting flow to and from Asheville.

I don't ever forget all of the love and support I received during difficult circumstances. So let me take this opportunity to thank my partner for helping me through the roughest day last yr which was July 8th, 2008. I had finished my 7 days of continuous chemo in June only to develop one infection and then another. My fever hit 104.2F as I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I felt horrible that night and begged Holly to stay with me in the hospital that night. I truly felt it could be my last day as awful as I felt. I barely had a cough or shortness of breath but my body hurt and wrenched from the high fever and chills. But my doctors found a good combination of antibiotics and anti-fungal medicines which cured everything.

And the most amazing thing is that today, a year later, I am cured, feeling wonderful. I did a 4 mile run this morning, enjoying the gorgeous roses blooming all over Hillsborough, followed by push ups, sit ups, and stretches. Before work, I sipped coffee with chocolate sauce and whipped cream (I call that my dessert cup) while I watched the birds at the feeders outside my bedroom window. If you need more than that to be happy, you've never faced serious illness or death. Several times a week I give thanks for all I have, grateful to be here now. Just call me lucky...