A Good Day

I am oh so tired, but I haven't posted in a while and thought I'd share a thought or two.

I have had a wonderful day. My friend, Lori, is in town. She lives in Denver and I only get to see her a couple times a year. Allie came home from Tampa to see me and Richie last night and stayed a good part of the day, and tonight I got to see both of my nieces on Richard's side which was a great treat.

Allie was stressed today. (For those who don't know, she is my daughter, shared with three other parents :-) Richard, her mom, Kristin, her step dad Craig, and me.) She seemed a little sad as the day passed and it is tugging at my heart. I think some of it has to do with me being sick and her heading off to South Africa to see her mom tomorrow. She is going for the whole break. Richard and I will miss seeing her on Christmas, but it is going to be a great trip for her. She will get to experience a whole new culture, tour a college she's considering for a Master's program, and see her mom, sister, and Craig.

But it's still the whole break. She's a free spirit who's learned to ground herself by keeping the pace of her life such that she doesn't have to scramble. So going away for her whole break kinda disturbs her peace because it puts her back home just in time to jump back into school. Plus she's flying 20 hours. Plus she's just wrapped up her finals and is mentally fried. So all these factors are weighing on her and she's carrying too much worry around on her little shoulders. And yet...fretting over this upcoming trip didn't keep her from giving me the sweetest gift today. She hand painted a glass jar and filled it with little written notes all folded up. She tells me some of the notes are wise quotes, some are thoughts of hers about things we've experienced together and some are bits of encouragement. I read one today and will read one each day she is gone. It is one of the loveliest gifts I've ever received. :-)

This new chemo is going well. Yes, I have several blueish toenails :-) a few of which are less than a hundred percent attached, but my fingernails are all still healthy. Also, I am no longer sick to my stomach. The worst thing so far has been a bout of itchiness. The second worst thing is physical fatigue. The third worst is my strange internal combustions when steam seems to come off my head! Ok, and my face is starting to swell from the steroids. But in general I feel much better than I'd expected, and I'm three down with ten more to go.

I keep myself up by not dwelling too much on my treatments and having things to look forward to, like this visit from Lori, and quality time with my family (like the other night when my mom came and made me a real German dinner, and dinner's at Rosemary's, aka the grill meister's), and Christmas eve which will be spent with both mine and Richard's side of my family :-) and the upcoming visit from Goldie's Angels!

Some days are hard. This wasn't one of them. Good night, and God bless!