A Winter View

Here is the view from our patio and living room window on a cold winter's day! Don't let the sunshine fool you! :)

Same Kind of Different As Me...

I have just finished reading a book which has had a most profound affect on me. There are a few books which I have read that have had touched significant nerves within me. I can probably list them on one hand. This book is one. I highly recommend it as a "Must Read" by everyone!

It is an amazing true story written by the two men it involves, Ron Hall, who is an international art dealer, and Denver Moore who could be likened to a modern-day slave, in every sense of the word. And, it also involves Ron's wife, Deborah, who brings these two unlikely men together. :)

Denver was a homeless man who Miss Deborah "latched" on to. Finally, Mr. Ron, gets Denver to go out for breakfast with him. As Denver finished his breakfast, he asked Mr. Ron a pointed question: "What you want from me?"

A direct hit, I thought, and decided to give him a completely unvarnished answer: "I just want to be your friend."

He raised his eyebrows in curious disbelief and a long mmoment of silence strecthed between us.

"Let me think about it, " he finally said.
I didn't feel rejected, which surprised me. Then again, I had never formally asked anyone to be my friend.

Fast forward a week....

"...He [Denver] stared down at the steam rolling up from his coffee cup. "I been
thinkin a lot about what you asked me."
I had no idea what he was talking about. "What did I ask you?"
"'Bout bein your friend."

My jaw dropped an inch. I'd forgotten that when I told him at the Cactus Flower Cafe that all I wanted from him was his friendship, he'd said he'd think about it. Now, I was shocked that anyone would spend a week pondering such a question. While the whole conversastion had slipped my mind, Denver had clearly spent serious time preparing his answer.

He looked up from his coffee, fixing me with one eye, the other squinted like Clint Eastwood. "There's somethin I heard 'bout white folks that bothers me, and it has to do with fishin."

He was serious and I didn't dare laugh, but I did try to lighten the mood a bit. "I don't know if I'll be able to help you," I said, smiling. "I don't even own a tackle box."
Denver scowled, not amused. "I think you can."
He spoke slowly and deliberately, keeping me pinned with that eyeball,
ignoring the Starbucks groupies coming and going on the patio around us. "I
heard that when white folks go fishin they do somethin called 'catch and
release.'"
Catch and release? I nodded solemnly, suddenly nervous and
curious at the same time.

"That really bothers me," Denver went on. "I just can't figure it out. 'Cause when colored folks go fishin, we really proud of what we catch, and we take it and show it off to everybody that'll look. Then we eat what we catch...in other words, we use it to sustain us. So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all that trouble to catch a fish, then when they done caught it, just throw it back in the water."
He paused again, and the silence between us stretched a full minute. Then: "Did you hear what I said?"

I nodded, afraid to speak, afraid to offend.

Denver looked away, searching the blue autumn sky, then locked onto me again with that drill-bit stare. "So, Mr. Ron, it occurred to me: If you is fishin for a friend
you just gon' catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend."

The world seemed to halt in midstride and fall silent around us like one
of those freeze-frame scenes on TV. I could hear my heart pounding and imagined
Denver could see it popping my breast pocket up and down. I returned Denver's
gaze with what I hoped was a receptive expression and hung on.

Suddenly his eyes gentled and he spoke more softly than before: "But if you is lookin for a real friend, then I'll be one. Forever."

This is just a very small example what the book is about. I really don't want to share any more because I don't want to take away from your experience of reading it, if you decide to do so. Oh, I hope you DO decide to read it. It is so worth it!!!

Broken Wrist Pics

These are a few of the pics of my broken wrist, my momento brought home with me from our vacation in Arizona. It was in several pieces, according to my surgeon, but now it is all together and aligned as it should be, as of this morning!! :) One handed typing is not my cup of tea so blogging may be a little slow for a few days. Pain meds :) do not go very well typing with both hands, much less one hand! Lol!!

Mexico!!!

I cannot believe I let my 4 year blogging anniversary slip right by me! But I did. You see, October 25, 2004 was my first foray into the blogging world. Oh my! I was so timid, unsure of what I was getting into, yet, on the otherhand, excited...eager to share with my niece Claire and get her to join me in this new adventure. I am so glad she did!!! Now, I have to say it was her brother Dan who enticed us both to try this new adventure. We three continue to uphold the family!

You might be asking how on earth could I forget this most momentous day?! Well, I was boarding a plane to Mexico!! Yes, you read that right...Mexico!
We stayed at the Grand Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta but toured all around Puerto Vallarto, too. It was the. most. posh. place. we. have. ever. stayed!!! It was a tiny taste of how the 'rich and famous' must live. Who would have ever thought last year at this very same time our Pilot Dad was so very sick, fighting for his life. And now, a year later we were on the beaches of Mexico.



We snorkled.














Of course we did the shopping/bartering in Old Town and strolled along the Boardwalk.




One of the other highlights was Pilot Dad para-sailing!



Not only did we spend lazy days around the pool, and in the lazy river.....

Then there was the day we went kayaking and spotted so many iguanas!


Not to mention the ones by the pool area...

So, from Pilot Dad and Pilot Mom we will say adios from one of the many sunsets we saw while eating our dinner on the beach!
This was a truly indescribable experience for us!!

Nana 08/20/1917 - 01/29/2001

~~~~Nana~~~~

August 20, 1916 - January 29, 2007

This was taken the day before her 90th birthday, the day before everything happened.









This picture of Nana was taken in the rehab center where she stayed until December 1, 2007.









Here she is back home December 8, 2006.




What can be said? I miss her terribly. Especially when I come in with "big" news. When I found out that my bridal veil was missing from my bride's box I felt such a loss not being able to turn to her and share my sadness.

I rejoice with her that she is out of her physical pain that her frail body endured for so many years. I rejoice that she is walking with her Lord, sitting at His feet like Mary, taking in all He has to share. I rejoice that she is in reunion with family and friends long gone. I rejoice that when I see her next we will both be perfect, just exactly how our Lord originally intended for us to be. Finally, perfect fellowship because God did everything for us. I'm so thankful He desires Relationship!

The Latest on Pilot Dad...

Here is the very latest news on Pilot Dad. We had an appointment with his radiologist today for a followup from about 10 or 12 days ago. Since then he has lost another 8 pounds. :( The infection is still ongoing. His oncologist ordered more blood work including a re-do of his calcium since that came back high. Tomorrow PD will go in to see his oncologist at 10:30 for a fungal and aerobic bacteria swab of the throat and mouth. Also the radiologist ordered blood cultures done today at the same time as the other blood work. Most of this we won't know anything for about a week.

The radiologist is beginning to think that maybe it is a deep tissue infection. She isn't sure if we should do another CT scan and compare it with the last one 3 weeks ago or would having a MRI be a better thing to do. She will be talking with the oncologist this evening and making a determination about that.

If it is a deep tissue infection then maybe iv's would be the way to go since the oral antibiotics do not seem to be touching it...at all. If they cannot figure out why he is so sick then he will be sent to an infectious disease doctor. His radiologist was kind enough to write to a note to his work explaining he cannot come back to work while he has this unidentified disease. She also didn't want him expending any more calories by working when he needs to be keeping the calories to put on weight. He seems to be losing the battle for weight gain. :( His wedding ring fell off the other day. :( He now weighs less than when we married.

As you go about your days would you lift PD before the throne grace whenever the Lord might bring him to mind? It would be greatly appreciated. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom, discernment, and attention to little details which may be of significance. Pray for PD to begin to gain weight, to stop running a fever, and begin to feel better. Pray for patience for me, that I not grow weary, and that I remain focused on the Lord's faithfulness, grace and mercy.

Update on Pilot Dad

As many of you know, Pilot Dad has not been feeling well since the end of August. We, being the medical experts that we are, thought it was thrush because of the coating on his tongue. He has had it several times throughout this ordeal known as throat cancer. He looked on his pill bottle and he still had a refill left so he got his antibiotic refilled. Normally after just a day or two of taking his antibiotic he would begin to feel much better of the thrush. But he still felt bad along with an awful taste in his mouth. In fact, he would go so far as to tell you this is the worst he has felt in all of the cancer treatment. I'm talking physically...the fatigue and general feeling of "ick" and "yucky" and to be more precise, to quote him exactly, "extremely crappy." (He is not including the pain stuff in this assessment.)

I called the radiology doctor this morning to see when we could get him in to be seen. After all, he still had the white "stuff" on his tongue and the terribly foul taste in his mouth, not to mention the extreme fatigue. How I praised the Lord because they put him in at the end of the day...but it was still today! He didn't have to wait until tomorrow!

She checks him out and tells him that she does not think he has thrush but he still needs to finish that antibiotic for the thrush. It is her thought that he has some kind of bacterial infection, hence the awful foul taste in his mouth and the general feeling of malaise. So she prescribed a different antibiotic to begin taking twice a day (amoxicillian). Hopefully this will get him back to liking the taste of food once again! And I pray he will gain some of his strength back so he can work more than his 4 hours a night. He will go back to see her two weeks from today.

We have been quite surprised because they had been telling us how fast you begin to recover once you can eat, and the radiation stops, etc. One day, all of a sudden he took a bite of something and spit it out because it tasted so awful. Once we get a few of the new antibiotics in him the food should begin to taste better again and I can go back to having a hubby who likes to eat again. I hate eating by myself!!!

I'll be blogging a little less today and tomorrow (Thursday & Friday) because we are getting new windows installed in our home! Yea!! This is the last major renovation for our home. We are done. Kaput. FINALLY!!! So, I'll be on, "lurking," and I may or may not post. I'm just pleased that our weather is going to be great for window installation. Yesterday and the day before we have had quite the storminess in our area which included flooding and trees being uprooted and, of course, the proverbial roof being torn off, and let's not forget the house struck by lightning which caused a fire! And over 50,000 homes without power! But tomorrow will be sunny and in the 70º's! You can't ask for nicer weather than that!