I had a great time with my friend Paula on my annual trip to Kentucky a couple of weeks ago. I had blogged that I hadn't been last year due to Dave's illness. When I go, of course, I see lots of her special friends each year. One of them, Nancy, gave me a small gift and in the card it said, "It feels like Christmas now that you are here!" I was so moved by that! It was true for me too.
We have been trying to get settled in now in our new home in California, since we spent most of the year and a few months dealing with Dave's Myeloma and traveling back and forth to Little Rock. I was dreading trying to find the Christmas decorations, but I finally dragged all the boxes labeled "Christmas Stuff" out of the garage and into the house. My Christmas sleighs filled with flowers were all MUSHED and needed some rearranging. But all and all it went well. We needed to buy a tree, which we did, but then couldn't find the tree stand, and I'm sure that it was tossed somewhere in the move. Well, tree stands were NOWHERE to be found! BUT, we sure had fun trying to find one. As a result I got to actually see all the cool places in and around where we live now! That was funny. Reminded me of the quote (author unknown), "A truly happy man is one who enjoys the scenery along the detour!" I definitely did. Ultimately one of Dave's co-worker's rescued us and gave us a brand new stand he had in his garage attic.
Then there was the DRAMA of the monster snow storm on the east coast. When lots of snow falls in Washington, DC, everyone abandons their cars, milk and bread are bought out of all the stores and mayhem ensues. The kids are all a twitter hoping school will be closed and so on. I have wonderful memories of that sort of thing. So here I am in California and I'm all caught up in this east coast storm drama, why? Because my children are flying out the following day from National Airport in DC!!!! I was pretty sure their flight would be flying, BUT, the metro to get there was another story. So I had a conversation with the kids to make sure they left 5 hours before their flight so they could handle contingency issues. My best friends were all set to pick them up and take them in their 4WD vehicle (thank god for them!). Hudson's housemate offered if Hudson would dig out the truck, which he did.
Hudson out in the snowfall!
So Sunday morning they managed to get connected physically with each other despite 24 inches of badly plowed snow and headed off to the airport. It was clear main roads all the way there and then a mad house at the airport with all the cancelled holiday flights. We kept in touch all day and I found a "flightview" on the continental website that actually showed me where the plane was inflight. So I was able to see that the physical plane they needed to get on was indeed in the air and heading to Washington. So they got on that and headed for Houston, Texas. Then sadly, they had a 2 hour delay in Houston due to maintenance on the aircraft. So late last night, around 10:30 pm, we picked them up after a 3,000 mile trek across the country and 14 hour day of traveling, not too worse for wear.
It has been a lovely day here having LIFE in the house. Dave did more stuff around the house before they came than he's done in a very long time. He put me to shame actually. He hung Christmas lights on the house, he cleaned, vacuumed, straightened, went through stuff trying to clear out things. He was really, really excited they were coming. They were equally excited to see him.
So with 1 day gone already, we are looking forward to enjoying 4 more with them here over the holidays. This year its not about the gifts, its about being in each other's company and catching up.
When we have cancer hit us either personally, or very close - a spouse, child, parent or dear friend, it strips us of everything unimportant. We are naked before the world just trying to manage somehow to turn things around. If we are lucky enough to come out the other side, we stand on the hill and look broadly over our life and decide, "what now?" What do I care enough about to let back into my life? WHO is important to me? Where do I go from here? I don't have the answers, but I'm enjoying the scenery along the detour and I thank god everyday I have made your wonderful acquaintance along this detour. You are like the beautiful flowers along side the road that I never knew was there! You are always in full bloom for me to behold!
Enjoy your family, your friends, you! You are special and worthwhile, no matter what your personal outcome, YOU MATTER.
Merry Christmas and my best wishes for whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.
Love,
Lori
