It's hard to believe it's been nearly five months since my last post. This blog has always been such a great exercise in writing and reflection, the play of words and photos. But the bottom line is that in what little time I have to write, the blog hasn't been a priority. Still it remains here, a tome holding so many memories, to be opened and added to when the right moment strikes.
Being a very rainy summer Saturday, it seems the moment is now.
So what has happened between February and July? So many small and large things, too small to detail, too large to summarize. But I will try.
Our little guy turned six.
He started taking Kung Fu lessons and playing Soccer
(and eventually graduated from Kindergarten!)
We had a spring break in the North East, taking Tashi on college tours and
playing in the snows of Vermont.
While on that trip we received a phone call that changed all of our lives.
We learned that my mom had been admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with Leukemia.
There is nothing good about a cancer diagnoses but that it brings family together.
And so some of that followed.
My mom comes from a tough line of genes, that is for sure.
Thus far there have been a multitude of appointments, labs, and three rounds of low-grade Chemo (called Decitabine). While she doesn't feel fantastic in the week following treatment, she is stable and the Leukemia has not seemed to progress.
The doctor's goal is to get her into remission and it seems to be in sight.
What was initially a two week to two months prognosis has turned into a year, or two, or more.
Where there was sorrow there is now hope.
Where there were a great deal of anxiety there is adjustment.
We are living day by day, simplifying our lives as best we can, taking things one step at a time.
It is quite a ride on the wheel of life when you are facing terminal illness and your teenager is attending her first prom (and getting her driver's license).
Life has been that way, a great juggle of joy, fear, fury, and just-being.
Other events? I took a photography class!
And was provided a new photography space at my workplace, where I can struggle with light and display challenges, and continue to grow and learn and do something I love.
Summer arrived.
A time of hikes, swimming, vineyards, and visits from family and friends.
A dear friend passed. Cancer, again.
And in the saddest most confusing times we have these blue eyes to look into,
this innocence and unconditional love to bring us peace.
Except when she barks, that is not so peaceful!
While I struggle with negativity - inside and out - it seems that my eyes can find the light.
