Hello dear friends! It has been too long since I’ve posted.
1) I been working on improving it and learning about wordpress and garnering help from my dear friend Bari
2) I’ve been wonderfully BUSY!
How wonderful it is for Dave and I to be living our lives unconsumed with Myeloma and treatment and, and, and…
Arriving
Our biggest news is that our son Hudson has graduated from UMD with a dual major and is engaged in a professional internship in Orlando, FL. It was a fun filled day of celebration with friends and family, enjoying the accomplishments of this moment in his life. This photo of him walking up to greet us all is when I cried. Dave sniffed when his name was called and he walked across the stage.
From there, Dave drove with Hud to Florida to get him settled in and then flew off to a business trip in the Northeast for work.
Montana and I, headed out the same day for the West Coast. She had never driven across the country and we were driving straight through with one stop if needed. Taking turns at the wheel and sleeping in the backseat to get refreshed for our shift. We ran into 50 mph+ winds in Nebraska (she has a soft top, so that was not very enjoyable). Then we hit snow squalls in Wyoming (it was the end of May folks!). Then we hit a full on snow blizzard in the Sierra Mountains in Northern California. They closed the interstate the next day and opened all the skiresorts for Memorial Day skiing! Montana was NOT AMUSED. We made it in 2 1/2 days with a stop in Rocky Springs, Wyoming to get out of the car, sleep in a bed and take a long hot shower.
- Wyoming
A couple days at home and her girlfriend flew in from SoCal to drive the rest of the way with her to HB for her summer internship.
Dave arrived home before she left. Our friend Judi arrived from the East as well because the three of us were headed for a wedding at a winery in Paso Robles. It was incredibly beautiful and we were treated to Judi’s childhood memories with her family driving from SoCal to NoCal every Christmas and being forced to eat Anderson’s Split Pea Soup which she described as gagging. Of course she loves it now, but as a kid, it was very stressful knowing it would be part of their trip each time! We were rolling in laughter with stories of three children in the backseat tormenting each other and her father unwilling to stop for them to go to the bathroom. I remember those kinds of trips as a kid as well, so it was truly funny to me.
The wedding was spectacular and we were all mentioned personally by the bride in her speech to the crowd and it was incredibly touching to us. I actually was standing just outside the hall looking in and couldn’t hear what she was saying. I stayed put as I didn’t want to walk past her while she was speaking to get to my seat, but was told later that she said I had impacted her life. Wow. What an honor.
The Coast
From there we headed out the next day for the long drive back and had unanimously, without much fanfare, decided we would drive up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH or Highway 1) to go home. More fun stories from Judi and with every switch back along the coast, oohs and ahs at the shear beauty of the coast.
Elephant Seal Beach "click to enlarge"
We attempted to do a tour of Hearst Castle, but it was a long wait for the next tour and then a long tour, so we opted out on that, but did stop at the Elephant Seal Beach up the road and was treated to quite a display.
Also during this time I was approached and accepted to do some training in order to be contracted to go out and speak about our Myeloma experience. This was an incredibly moving experience. I realized while I was there for the weekend how much I missed my “Myeloma Buddies!” While I didn’t know these folks prior to the weekend, I felt a kinship with them immediately. I was able to stay a couple of extra days in Boston and meet up with some friends, which was a wonderful way to wind down from such an intense few days. I still have much work to do in order to prepare for my “duties”, and I’m looking forward to this new thing in my life.
Finally, one of my dear friend’s daughter is staying with us for the summer. She is a teacher and a certified Yoga Instructor. Now, I have been wanting a way to help Dave get back in shape from all of this treatment and not wanting to be a NAG about his need to work on it. When Hett called to see if she could spend the summer with me, my plan was hatched. In lieu of “rent” she is working with Dave (and me!) and getting him working on stretches and so on. Its been fabulous and I truly love having her here.
It seems to be my thing. I’ve always enjoyed long term guests and short term as well. I even have a sign in my house that says L’Hotel. I’m not a Bed and Breakfast sort as I expect self sufficient guests, but I truly enjoy having people milling around and chatting about life.
I’ve so needed to get back to this blog and hope to begin making regular entires soon.
So here is my dilemma that perhaps you can help me with…
It has been hard for me to write only about the past as I have so much to talk about in the present. So I was thinking that perhaps I should # the “past” entries chronologically so you know that you are doing a time travel, if you will. Or if you want to skip what’s going on now in my life and just get the nitty gritty Myeloma journey stuff. That way I can write about both at the same time.
Your comments on this will help me a lot in my decision and moving forward.
