I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We certainly had a nice one, despite the heat (you just can’t let that get in your way … it is simply a part of life in Phoenix, and you certainly don’t want to be miserable and grumpy for four months).
Cathy’s mother and sister, Mary, flew into town Friday afternoon from California. Cathy’s mom is on her way to the Black Hills in South Dakota until our godson’s wedding in late July. Cathy’s other sister, Karen, drove up from Tucson and then flew with her mom to South Dakota. Karen will enjoy a week’s vacation in the Hills, escaping the Tucson heat and enjoying the company of her brother, Paul, and his wife Carter (who was here last weekend, on her way from Houston to South Dakota). Both Cathy’s mom and Paul and Carter have homes on beautiful land just outside Custer, South Dakota.
Mary is staying in Phoenix with us until tomorrow. It is always great to have her visit. It is really nice for Cathy to have a running partner again and to have someone to do things with without (I hope) having to think too much about our often cancer-encumbered lifestyle. I’ve been feeling so well lately that we have been able to more or less put the disease out of our minds, or at least on the back burners. It has crept back to the forefront a bit these past few days, unfortunately, because I haven’t been feeling quite as well. I am happy to say, though, that I felt much better over the weekend than I did on Thursday and Friday. A little nausea, a little back pain, but overall not too bad. It didn’t get in the way of having fun.
On Sunday, Mary, Cathy, and I watched the movie “Moneyball” at home. We really enjoyed it. We had planned to go see “The Intouchables”, but just couldn’t squeeze it in to our schedule, which included several dips in the pool and some quality reading and napping time. I still hope to see it sometime soon.
Some friends and colleagues of Cathy’s had given us a gift certificate to a business called “Dream Dinners”, where you can assemble a variety of meals and take them home and store them in a freezer until you are ready to eat them. It is a great idea for busy families, and it was a very thoughtful gift to us. Cathy enjoyed assembling the meals, and we enjoyed the first two of them over the weekend. Pork chops one night, steak the other. I enjoy barbecuing, and of course it is nice not to turn on an oven in the summer, if you can avoid it. Indeed, we have gotten pretty good at using the grill as an oven. Recently we have cooked pizza and meatloaf on the grill. It works great!
Cathy and I are looking forward to visiting Dan and Liz in San Diego later this week. We plan to visit Dan’s preschool on Thursday, and are even going to teach his kids about the ear and hearing. We are taking lots of “show and tell” type items along with us … it should be fun!
These last several days have reminded me that I’m in a marathon, and not a sprint (Joan reminded me of that, too, in her recent guestbook entries). There will be ups and downs, and I just need to keep a positive attitude and work through the down parts. They certainly are not as much fun, but they are part of life, part of our fight against this pernicious disease. Cancer clearly isn’t for the faint of heart. Nor, thank goodness, is it for one person to fight alone. At least I am fortunate enough to have an entire team fighting with me, starting with my family and extending to all of you. Thanks for all you are doing to make this easier for me. You really make a difference.