Well folks, not that many of you are regular readers anymore since I don’t post much anymore, BUT if any of you are interested in following the work that “my” team is doing over in Africa (July 20th-August 4th), here’s a link to our blog:
I’m outta here folks. Will be gone for a week. BUT since I often don’t post for that long, you probably wouldn’t have noticed I was gone anyway!
Won’t be around a computer or cell phone or nada for the week. Headed out with a group of high schoolers from my church on a (localish) spring break mission trip.
Will catchya when I get back. Maybe have a story or two to tell with a wee photo here and there. We’ll just hafta wait and see on that.
Enjoy the first full day of spring today! Feeling like spring here in Colorado, that’s for sure…but we never really got winter. That aint right…
Today (or maybe tomorrow, I’m not exactly sure!) my sister Whitney and her son Mitchell have packed up her truck and a U-Haul and will be heading out for Colorado to start their new life.
And my brother Phil has packed up his Suburban with his four kids and my sister Liz’ two kids and has hitched that U-Haul up and is heading out to take Whitney and Mitchell to Colorado.
There’s a little part of me that feels bad that I miss so much of my family’s “happenings” because of my involvement with Teen Missions over the years. Like I have missed nine of my mother’s birthdays, for example. And I’ll miss having nearly all my family together in Colorado this summer while I’m gone. BUT, sometime very late this evening my team will be leaving Boot Camp for Malawi, and what a blessing God has given me to be able to spend the summer with a group of teenagers who have given their summers up in order to minister to African children. I’m glad that my family understands that I miss things not because I want to, but because the Lord has called me to do something else.
Whitney and her son are going to take over taking care of Mew Ling from my Dad when they get to Colorado. I’m sure my Dad will be glad about that!
Please pray for my team as we “pack-out”, and embark on our 8,200 mile journey from Orlando to Lilongwe (Malawi), and beyond. Please pray that all of us, and all of our luggage, arrive safely.
You can’t even imagine how excited we all are to get to Malawi and get to work…
And he looked up, and saw the rich men that were casting their gifts into the treasury.
And he saw a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than they all:
for all these did of their superfluity cast in unto the gifts; but she of her want did cast in all the living that she had.
Luke 21:1-4
One of the blogs I read regularly shares intimately of what life is like living in Zambia as a full time missionary with a young family. I often can’t bear to hear of the physical suffering that exist there, but it inspires me to read about people who have given up the life that they know so that others can know life. We have poverty in America, but nothing like the grand scale poverty that exists in so much of the rest of the world. It seems like an overwhelming amount of work that needs to be done. How can one person even make a difference? I know that there are many people who don’t even know where to start when it comes to “helping”.
Wanna hear about two little kids who aren’t overwhelmed? Wanna read about two little American kids who made a difference?
Here’s a different kind of “Big Give” I’d like to share with you from the blog “Alive in Africa”.
While in Zambia in the summer of 2006, we (the girls), in order to be socially appropriate and inoffensive in our manner of dress, wore “chitenges” (pronounced chi’-tengies) over our pants whenever we were not in our tents.
Chitenges are a large pieces of material that are used as skirts, dresses, blankets, baby carriers, and probably a myriad other things. The patterns on these chitenges are regional and many of the prints are quite lovely…fabric art, really. The pictures in this post are a few of the prints on the chitenges I purchased (about 3 USD each) while in Zambia. These are not the chitenges I wore every day while I was there. I had three of those, and they are sort of beat up, have burn holes from when I got too close to the cooking braziers, and aren’t quite as pretty as these!
They are sort of difficult to walk in though, and we often found the edges of the garment getting caught between, or tangled around, our legs. I decided a good term for this phenomenon was to be ”chitengled”. This is a similar phenomenon to being “pajangled”, which is what I have learned it’s called when your pajamas get all twisted up around you while you are sleeping.
The women of many African nations utilize similar pieces of material in the same way. They call them by different names.
I am anxious to find out what they are called in Malawi, for that is where I will be going next summer when I lead a team there with Teen Missions!
Yep! I got my letter of invitation from TMI to lead the “Malawi Matron Unit” team! I’m mailing back my letter of acceptance today. What a privilege to be able to serve again next summer. To be able to return to Africa to do so is beyond exciting.
Malawi shares a border with Zamiba. I wonder if it will feel like I’m going “home” again.
THAT is when the new Teen Missions teams for 2008 are revealed.
There is a “sneak peak” link on the Teen Missions web page though! So far only names, no team descriptions.
Early Boot Camp:
Malawi
Orphan Angels
Kilimanjaro Backpack
Sweden
Belize
Ireland
Samoa
Belgium
Super Boot Camp:
Madagascar
Greece
Uganda
South Africa Foot Washing
France
Mongolia
Cambodia
India
China
Australia Skateboard
Australia Work
Fiji
Egypt
Around the World
Cameroon Backpack
Siberia
Guyana Riverboat
Malawi Orphan Choir
Amazon River
Zambia Foot Washing
Wales/Iceland
Orphan Angels
I don’t know what the specific project is for most of these teams. Is there a team that jumps out at me? Sure there is. There are a few, in fact. I e-mailed leadership placement at Teen Missions to let them know that, unless God leads in another direction, that I would love to lead another team next summer. Where? Dunno. Not sure yet what God has in mind for me.
That Amazon River team gets my attention. Africa. Lots of Africa teams there. Perhaps you KNOW how much I want to return to Africa. I wonder what the Malawi team will be doing. Cambodia? India?
I’ll find out in a month. Perhaps I’ll see the team description and just KNOW…
You can bet I’ll be checking www.teenmissions.org all day long on the November 13th until the teams are posted!
It’s funny I think. Two years ago I was petrified of leading a team. This past summer I was ambivalent. This year I am praying that I get to lead another one. Two years ago I would have never imagined that this is where my heart would be today.
Home again. Home again! I have spent much time away from home since moving to Colorado. This latest trip took me to Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, and Wyoming. And Mexico! Almost forgot Mexico. I was gone for three weeks. This trip was a driving trip. It ended up being MUCH more driving than I had planned at the beginning. The final tally? Four thousand four hundred and fifty eight miles driven! Yikes. I haven’t even bothered to add up all the tanks of gas I bought. I am only hoping that the trip falls into two different credit card billing cycles, and doesn’t all show up on one bill! I am going to have to do some serious carbon footprint penance for this little vacay of mine!
Highlights? Driving Utah’s Highway 128 (post on that to follow) on the way to Arches National Park. Spending 9/17 with Phil sharing memories, stories, Dom Perigon and Creme Broulee. My family’s meeting about and decision to start our own ministry to work alongside “Connie’s Heart” in Africa. (Much more on this as things develop). Seeing Janet, Shawn, Susie, Abner, and Koni. Sharing a stateroom with my sister Liz on her birthday cruise to Mexico (and winning the onboard “Pictionary” competition with all three of my sisters). Taking my four nieces and nephews (Phil’s kids) for haircuts. Having lunch with Liz and her son Louis. Shopping for Donna’s jewelry store in L.A.’s jewelry district. There were others, too. But I need to post my “I am home” post before I leave again!
(Lowlights? Sure. Had some of those, too. But we won’t talk about those here and now!)
Watched a couple of movies. I forced myself to watch “An Inconvenient Truth”. It was my latest Netflix offering. I dragged it to Cali specifically to watch with my friend, Shawn. I had started to watch it a number of times prior to watching it with her, but failed as it was sooooo bad. So we watched it together and lamented that a movie so poorly made and sophomoric was awarded an Oscar. I have lost whatever shred of respect I had for the academy. I’ve seen better films made by junior highers on YouTube. I also tried to watch “Spiderman 3″ while on the cruise to Mexico, but fell asleep each time. I have added it to my Netflix queue so that I can see the ending. I need to find out if Peter lost Aunt Mae’s wedding ring!
I ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant, La Capilla. I also dined at some of my fave joints that don’t have franchises here in Colorado. Like “Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf” (a Starbuck’s competitor which is far superior), Togo’s (a Subway competitor which is FAR superior), El Pollo Loco (a char chicken joint), and In ‘N’ Out (by far best burger in the known universe AND a mean pink lemonade to boot!).
I got home yesterday afternoon after spending most of the three day time span before getting home in the front seat of my car either driving or sleeping. I worked today. I’m wiped out. I’m glad to be home, but could have spent weeks longer seeing friends. I really wanted to try to see Yosemite and Yellowstone, but that will have to be another trip. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to wrangle a trip to Washington for a wedding the first week of November and then a Chicago trip for Thanksgiving later that month.
Thanks to Mike and Brandy for taking such good care of my Mew! She was spoiled rotten, but I think she’s glad I’m home. Not a lap cat, she has spent much time there since I got home.
Thanks Whitney and Mitchell for sharing their space with me and for putting up with all my junk in their room.
Thanks to Phil for his friendship and love. Phil…I’m prenvious of you!
(Why do you suppose some of my emoticons are turned into animated faces, and some are left as punctuation?)
Some of you in reading the title of this post already know what I’m going to write about. Most of you don’t. Those of you who do know are probably chuckling just a little bit to yourselves…
Richard. My nephew. Since he was young I have had fascinating discussions with him about finances, and investments, etc. I remember one day when he was just about five we were talking about risk versus rewards when it came to what to do with money. He wanted to know about his options for investing. At five years old his little mind was doing an assessment of what level of risk he was comfortable with. He decided that when he came into any money, like on his birthday, or whatever, that he would put half of it aside to invest and possibly spend the other half on something he wanted. We discussed straight savings accounts, CDs, stocks, and real estate. His first goal was to save enough in his savings account to be able to invest in a CD. A few years ago he told me his goal was to be able to buy a house. I think he was 12 or 13 at the time. I don’t know how close he is to that goal, but I do know that he continues to save his money avidly. How do I know this? Well, he’d much rather have the cash equivalent than get presents or gifts along the way. Not your “usual” child, for years the only thing on his “wish list” for Christmas has been “money”. This has expanded somewhat beyond Christmas and birthdays. I heard that this past summer while vacationing with his family, when they’d stop to buy souvenir sweatshirts or souvenir whatevers, he’d ask for the cash equivalent instead, and then he’d write down that amount and keep a running tab of what his Dad (my brother) would be giving him when the cash equivalency was finally paid out to him! I wonder what the final total was!
Apparently this “may I have the cash equivalent instead” approach to receiving gifts has extended beyond the family. Two weeks ago I went up to visit him in northern Colorado where he was visiting his best friend and his best friend’s family. I heard from the best friend’s sister that Richard was given an iPod Nano for his birthday. She laughed as she told me what her mother had had engraved on the back of it for him! Here you go….but you probably already guessed it…
It appears that the answer this time was an engraved “no”!
Logan was my assistant leader this past summer. He was my right hand person. He’d been on a couple of Teen Missions teams before as a team member, but this was his first time in a leadership position.
Logan was 18 for most of the summer (he had his 19th birthday a few days before we all headed home). Despite his youth he maintained an air of leadership and “the kids” responded to his authority. It would have been very difficult for me if they hadn’t. (But I needn’t have worried…he did great. Honestly, at this point of my life, having seen God always work things out, I don’t know why I bother ever worrrying about anything!)
Back to Logan. Logan is a super-hero of sorts…
Logan is part man, part teflon. Dirt didn’t stick to him, or to his clothing. He also didn’t seem to sweat. And his clothing never appeared rumpled. Logan always looked fresh, smelled fresh, and appeared to have just put whatever he was wearing on. In stark contrast, I would take my bucket bath and exit the bathroom already sweating with my clothes already damp and already smelling as though I’d just finished running a marathon. This amazing ability that Logan had to look and be clean and fresh prompted the saying “Logan! It looks like you just got here!”. This was something that was yelled at him frequently over the course of the summer. And he always smelled like he just got there, too, as he always had a bottle of Tag available to freshen up with!
I would be sweating in a light cotton T-shirt and lightweight cotton pajama pants. Logan could wear a long sleeved dress shirt over a tank top with heavy belted pants on and not break a bead anywhere! It’s a mystery, really.
Logan starts Bible College in a few days. His school is in Florida. His super-hero attributes will, I’m sure, come in handy down there in the swamps!
Thanks, Logi Bear! I couldn’t have done it without you! Good luck in school!
I met this totally amazing woman this past summer. She was the head leader of the Teen Missions’ Trinidad team. Her name is Elissa. I liked her right away because she was always laughing about something. We were instant friends.
(This is me and Elissa five minutes after we met…)
Then, when I discovered that we shared a fanaticism, I knew we were friends for life. That fanaticism? The TV show “Arrested Development“. (BTW, my brother Phil ALSO shares this fanaticism). So, when Elissa told me about Disney’s “High School Musical“, I figured I should rent it. Netflix delivered it to my mailbox yesterday. I watched it at 2:00 this morning.
Five stars! What a great production! Kitschy? Indeed. Cheesy? Most assuredly. And 100% worthy of being added to your personal DVD library. This movie is fun to listen to, fun to look at, and squeaky clean in a way I’ve not seen in a long time. The main character, Troy, is absolutely precious. I’m truly not sure how many young actors could have pulled this off without seeming, well, geeky and miscast!
This movie is not only fun, it actually has some really good messages that come across in a way that is actually effective. So many times movies or T.V. shows that try to get a message through make me groan with their awkwardness. Not this movie! It’s allllllll good.
So go rent (or buy) it! I give HSM my highest rating of No Blahs! Thanks Elissa!!!!
This is what happens when you start doing things like scanning stuff into your computer. You run across all kinds of stuff that trigger memories and then I’m compelled to blog on those memories. I have soooo many other things to write about, and yet, I am writing about THIS!
Five or so years ago, my friend Kevin and I took a trip back east. Our primary destination was Houghton College in Houghton, New York. Houghton is a small town about an hour south of Buffalo. We both started out there as freshman back in 1983. I only went for one year, but Kevin went on to graduate. We were going back for our 15 year reunion. I’m not sure how I ended up on the alumni list, but I am, and as such, I get invited to all the alumni stuff, like reunions.
I meet up with Kevin in Chicago and we fly to Buffalo where we rent a car. As we are driving through town, we pass this funenral home that caught my eye. “STOP THE CAR!!” I yelled. “We’ve GOT to take pictures by that sign.” I thought at first it was a joke. But it wasn’t. This funeral home was called Amigone. Am I gone? HA!
This trip also took us to the Anchor Bar for some Buffalo wings where Buffalo wings were invented. (Back in 1983 wings hadn’t yet become ubiquitous, in fact most people didn’t yet know what they were, and I discovered the delicacy in the basement snack bar of our student center.) And we went to Niagara Falls. While in Niagara, we decided to take a spontaneous trip up to Toronto since I’d never been there only to find that we arrived on the same day as the POPE and that it was World Youth Day in Toronto and there were tens of thousands of people in from out of town, and just TRY to find any hotel vacancies! Good timing, huh? Didn’t get to see the pope, but Toronto is sure a lovely town. Had some really good Japanese food there, too.
What a fun trip that was!
Hey! That was five years ago. I guess I missed the 20 year reunion this past summer!
Ian is a particularly amazing person. He was one of the members of my team this past summer. For the first few days of Boot Camp, Ian was pretty certain that he was going to go home. It wasn’t exactly his choice to be there in the first place. But he changed his mind and decided to stay. So he sent for his guitar. And when that guitar showed up, so did the real Ian. Music makes Ian alive.
Even blurry, this picture is worth the cost of admission!
Ian is the front man for a band out of Chico, CA. The band is called Everyday Hero. It’s like a retro christian punk rockish sort of band. I’m not sure how Ian would describe his band. (Here’s a link to Everyday Hero’s MySpace page – click HERE to go there!) But Ian and his guitar are comfortable in more than that genre.
I spent the vast majority of my awake hours in Sicily in the kitchen. Some of my favorite times were when Ian was out in the big hallway or down on the porch playing the guitar. His music would keep me company and make me smile. Ian’s music was, I think, my favorite thing about this past summer. There was one song in particular that I could listen to him play for hours. I’m not sure what it is I love about it so much. It’s lyrical and delicate and makes me want to close my eyes and lose myself in it. I asked him to play it for me one last time at the airport in Orlando while we were waiting for flights. He obliged! Even though he is “competing” with a hundred other voices and overhead announcements, his talent and the beauty of this song is unmistakable. I hope that maybe some day he records this. I’d pay goooood money to get my hands on it. Here’s Ian’s command performance.
Thanks, Ian, for staying and sharing your summer with me and the rest of the Sicily team. And thanks for sharing your gift with us and for being soooooooo generous in that sharing.
Twenty five years ago this month I embarked on a journey. I had no idea the profound changes that this journey would bring to my life when I got on a plane and flew to Florida to go on my second Teen Missions team. I would have posted this on the actual anniversary of my first day on that team, but I can’t find my journal or my “scrapbook”, so I’m not exactly sure what day that was! So I am randomly picking today to celebrate that day!
I had gone on a team to Haiti the year before. And I left some business unfinished when I was there. Other than I had a great experience and wanted more, that bit of unfinished business was the primary reason why I was going back on another team. I felt that the Lord had asked me to dedicate my life to His service. I assumed that meant the mission field at the time. But I had resisted making that dedication. And I knew I needed to do it. So, when the brochures came out for the 1982 teams, I immediately started to think about where I should go. There were a half dozen or so teams that caught my attention. But ultimately I wanted to go to Papua New Guinea or South Africa. There was another team though that I couldn’t get out of my head. A team that would take me to the Philippines and Red China. I couldn’t decide. After some thinking and praying, I decided PNG was not the right place. But I couldn’t decide between the other two. So I got a coin. Heads South Africa. Tails the Philippines. The instant that heads came up I knew where I was going. In the brief moment when my eyes first registered it was heads, I was disappointed. So I knew. I was going to the Philippines!
I was the last person on my team to arrive. I had met one of the boys on my team, Matthew, the summer before on the bus from LA to Florida. The team was starting to wonder if I was coming at all, but Matt knew that I was going to be late due to having to take finals, and assured them I was coming. I am told he was dancing through the jungle singing “Linda Lou, where are you?”. So, although no one had ever called me Linda Lou, or Lou, or anything even remotely like that, by the time I arrived, I had a nickname. A nickname with many variations which has stuck to this day.
And I met Connie and Kevin that summer. Actually, I met lots of people. But I never could have dreamed of how important Connie and Kevin would become to me when I first met them. I didn’t even LIKE Connie when I first met her! Who knew that by the end of the summer I would have two best friends in the two of them? Lifelong heart kind of friends.
A woman by the name of Marilyn Lazslo was the boot camp speaker that summer. Oh. My. Gosh. What an amazing woman. In the 60′s she went to the head hunting jungles of New Guinea with Wycliff as a single woman and lived in a village called Huana. She learned the language and translated the Bible. (They called her Mama Marilyn). Over the years I have run into Marilyn here and there. She most recently shared an evening with friends of mine in Pasadena. Boy, was I jealous of them! Another amazing thread which started that summer and has continued through my life to this day.
Our project was to build a church on the beautiful island of Bohol, in the city of Duero.
Here’s CHI PHI. And that’s me, on the scaffolding on the left of the photo, blowing a bubble.
What is CHI PHI? Since the team was going both to CHIna and the PHIlippines, we called it “Chi Phi” for short. (Note: although Chi and Phi are both greek letters, we didn’t pronounce “chi” the Greek way, we prounounced it like it sounds when you pronounce “CHIna”.)
I had the very unusual opportunity to get baptized while I was in the Philippines. Because the church we were working with was my home denomination (Evangelical Free), those of us on the team who belonged to an EV Free church at home were allowed to be baptized if we wanted. And I wanted. So, I was baptized 25 years ago on August 18th in the South China Sea off the coast of Bohol by Reverend Cennit along with three other teammates of mine and a dozen or so church members. God could have led me to be baptized anywhere and at any time. But He made it so I could have the most special baptism experience that I could ever have imagined. And I think that the four of us are the only four TMIers who have ever been baptized while on a team with Teen Missions that didn’t have permission from our parents beforehand. I thank God that Bob Lane was listening to God’s voice that day by allowing US to also listen. That baptism was a turning point in my life. Well, it was my “no turning back point”. God met me that day in Bohol. And He’s continued to meet me in ways I could never have imagined since that day. (If you are a Christian and have not been baptised, do it. Pray about when and where, and listen for the answer and do it.)
And, at debrief, in Cebu, I took care of that unfinished business I was talking about. I dedicated my life to full-time ministry. And the funny thing is, God hasn’t taken me up on that promise I made to him. At least not in a vocational way. Perhaps someday He will! I’m still willing!
So, unbelievably, it has been 25 years since the above picture was taken. We had a ten-year reunion to which fifteen or so people came. But I have lost touch with most everybody on this team over the years. This picture is on my bookcase in my bedroom so I think often of “Chi Phi”. And I wonder where Don is and if he and Narges have children. I wonder what ever happened to Stacey. I wonder why Matt is so elusive. And Judy? Where’d life take her? Eric. And Roby. They lived then not far from where I live now. Last I knew of him, Roby was married and had a bunch of kids. And Eric was living in Los Angeles being an actor, or something. Cricky. I’d sure love to see her. And freak-me-green Gordy? What did he grow up to be? And I wonder if any of them besides Matt and Kevin, and Bob and Betty, know that Connie died.
My head leaders that summer were Bob and Betty. They were pretty new to the Teen Missions organization back then and had only been staffers for a year or two. They were soooo strict! At least it seemed then like they were. I had such a chip on my shoulder back then that I think I wrote that Bob and Betty should never be allowed to lead a team again! Well, Bob and Betty are still with Teen Missions. I’m glad TMI didn’t take MY advice! Time has mellowed Bob and Betty, as it has mellowed me. I enjoyed every minute I shared with them at boot camp last summer and I’m certain I’m enjoying seeing them again this summer. I guess they’ve forgiven my rashness.
I was seventeen back then. Twenty five years have absolutely flown past since then. That summer, the people I met, and the experiences I had resonates throughout my life stronger and stronger every day. What a summer that was.
I hope you are celebrating well! I’ve been at Boot Camp in the swamps of Florida now for nearly a week, and by now I’m probably pretty stinky and full of mosquito bites and wishing I was having ice cream and dinner out in a nice air-conditioned restuarant in your honor!
**Funny story….as I was busy getting these “in absentia” posts ready in a rush before leaving for Florida, I wasn’t paying too close of attention to the details when I was doctoring the musical score in PhotoImpact. And when I saved it (thus merging all the elments forever into one picture) I didn’t see that I had left the cursor floating over the first Happy at the bottom! Oh well! I don’t have time to go back and redo it now! Wabi-Sabi! (Sort of, without the nature)**
While channel surfing the other night, I stopped to catch some of Jeopardy. I don’t know why I like the show, I feel hopelessly ignorant when I watch it.
Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been watching TV and seen someone you know?
Wellllll, he was 13 the last time I saw him 22 years ago, but the smile was unmistakable! That smile belonged to a gangly kid who was on my Teen Missions team to Tasmania back in 1985. And here he was, the returning Jeopardy champion! In the introductions, his place of business and his job title was mentioned, so I did a quick internet search, and found an e-mail address!
I e-mailed him and I heard back. It sounds like his life has turned out GREAT! I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.
Nice to hear from you, Marty (I guess you’re Martin, now!).
Teen Missions recently updated their website with recent reports (this month) from a number of the ORUs (Orphan Rescue Units) in Zambia. Please take the time to read about all the good things that are happening at these units. And you can read about some of the sad things, too.
MY heart is overwhelmed to read about children (and grown-ups, too) a world away whose lives are being changed because of Connie. I will find out much more when I arrive at Boot Camp and talk to the Petersons who run the Zambian ministry. It sounds like perhaps the Foot Washing team might be visiting “Connie’s Heart” this summer! I can hardly wait to hear first hand what is happening there!
Sigh. In my teens it was getting my driver’s license. In my twenties it was graduating from college and getting a real job. In my thirties it was having a career. I’m now in my forties, and I am getting vision changes. Yea. That’s me. Wearing reading glasses. Scott took this picture when we (Scott, his wife Joanne, and I) were lately snowed in in Denver and having to spend the night in a hotel. (See previous post for the whole story!)
Last month when I was reading I was finding that my vision kept blurring. I thought it was because I was tired. But that’s not all it was. I’m finding that reading glasses really help me to focus, especially when I’m tired. There’s something sooooo wrong about having to wear both retainers AND reading glasses.
It pretty much started Tuesday morning with a phone call from Joanne. Scott had his first appointment with his new oncologist in Denver and I planned on attending with them. I’d been watching a morning show and there was a news crawler at the bottom warning against severe thunderstorms in the eastern plains. “Cool”, I thought. Diane should be getting a great show out where she lives today. Joanne was calling to find out if I still wanted to go with them even though the weather was bad. I peeked out the window and it was overcast but that was about it. Thinking, “I can handle a severe thunderstorm or two” I said “sure, of COURSE I still want to go!”.
I got in my car and started to drive to Scott and Joanne’s. Not far from my house it started to graupel. About halfway there (hmmm, less than five miles from my house) the snow started to come down. It was coming down heavy as I neared their house and there was already many inches of accumulation of very soggy snow. It was wet and sticky and clung to everything – signs, poles, whatever it came up against. What a mess. But now I knew what Joanne was talking about! Less than ten miles away and they were in the middle of a very wintery storm. But this was a very important “time is of the essence” sort of appointment, and we couldn’t be deterred by a little weather, now could we?
We started the climb up I-25 into Monument Pass. It was really dumping snow by then. I feared that many of these trees would lose branches, or come down completely under the sheer weight of all this soggy snow!
At times almost zero-visibility. On the other side of the freeway traffic had stopped. Miles and miles of south-bound traffic going absolutely nowhere. Hope nobody needs a restroom.
We were able to proceed with caution. We made it through the pass, albeit slowly, speeding up when the visibility occasionally improved. Once we got through the pass, the snow abated and turned mostly into rain and sleet. And we arrived at the appointment with time to spare. Such adventure! It tends to find you when you least expect it!
The oncologist’s office shares a waiting room with the surgeon’s office. We walked in and immediately headed for the same spot we’d sat in before. Why is that? Is there some measure of comfort in having a “usual seat”? Dunno! As we sat, Joanne started the daunting process of filling out the 217 pages of required forms and releases. Way across the room one of the staff called “John….John…John…” and looked about the room. For some reason she then headed all the way across the room towards us. “I’m not John”, Scott said. And then he said his name. “Mr. Cuddles?” the staff member queried? We all laughed. While it’s similar in part to his name, and while I’m sure he IS cuddly, it just sounded so funny! Mr. Cuddles. And Mrs. Cuddles, apparently(!), filling out forms!
Rewind. In his last appointment with his surgeon Scott was given some options in regards to follow-up treatment. The option which seemed to offer Scott the best chances was also the one which is very rigorous and difficult to complete. And it was a clinical trial. A clinical trial in Houston. And it was months (6-8) long. The thought of temporarily relocating to Houston wasn’t a good one, but if that was where the best treatment was, that seemed to be the way to go. Houston.
But then the oncologist started to delinate options. The first option, do nothing, wasn’t where Scott and Joanne felt that God was leading. On to the second. As she started talking, we all started to look at each other. This option sounded EXACTLY like the Houston clinical trial! Scott pulled out the paper on the trial and showed it to the doctor to confirm that we were hearing correctly. Yes. It’s the same thing. Only it’s not a clinical trial where she practices. And not very many people are offered this option. Dr. Kane wants anyone who goes on this regimen to be young, and other than having pancreatic cancer, to be healthy! She was offering him the identical treatment that he would have gotten in Houston, only he could stay at home. What a blessing. He will be able to stay in his own house, in the middle of his support system, and near his beloved trees and front-range. “Why,” Scott wondered out loud to the oncologist “did the surgeon not know you have the same regimen available here?”. Her answer was that it was probably because she offered it to so few people.
And so, there is a plan now. Scott will hopefully start his chemo and radiation regimen in two weeks. He has to have a PET scan and have a long-term vascular access device (port) placed through which he will received his chemo, and he has to see the radiation oncologist so that she can create a treatment plan. And then he can start. Selfish note: I am glad that I will be able to be here for the first few weeks of his treatment.
Appointment completed and spirits much lifted we head out to the car. It’s raining fairly heavily so we dash into the car hoping to get back home before the I-25 is closed due to icing in the colder temperatures later in the day. Turn the key. Click click click. Yup. Dead battery. I run back into the medical center to see if there’s anyone who can jump us. As it turns out, it happens often enough that it is a service that security offers! I dash back to the car to let S&J know that security will be coming shortly and I find that Joanne has been on the phone listening to road closures. And every possible route back home is closed. Snowed in! Or I guess it would be “snowed out”!
Time to find a hotel room before every other stranded passenger snap them all up! The first hotel we stopped at was full already. The staff at that hotel graciously called three other hotels before finding an available room for us. Excellent. We at least didn’t have to sleep in the car. Time for a coffee or a latte. Barnes and Noble has Starbucks inside. Hot Chai Latte in hand, I decided to buy a book to read that night. Abner had recommended two books by the same author to me. “Velvet Elvis” and “Sex God” by Rob Bell. I picked up a copy of “Sex God”. Abner says “I don’t read Mama Lou, and I read these books almost without stopping!”. We had both greatly enjoyed “Blue Like Jazz” and Abner said if I like that, I surely like these. Rob Bell is a Christian, an author, a speaker, a film-maker, and the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan. This book is a frank look at sexuality and Christianity and how we are sexual creatures and how that sexuality plays into all aspects of our lives. I am sure I will posting on this book in the near future.
With the acquisition of comfort beverages taken care of, it was off to shop at CostCo. Do you shop at CostCo? Does it give you palpitations? It sure does give them to me. I go in there and feel a sudden need to purchase a 500 pound bag of rice and a case of 8 gallon bottles of extra virgin olive oil. And it’s sort of hard to just walk past the bag of a hundred shiny red Baby Bel cheese wheels in a net bag. Well, it is for me. Pallet of Splenda anyone???
Poor Mew Ling. I had fed her breakfast. And she wasn’t going to eat again until I got home, whenever that would be. A quick call to my sister and I find that she is in the middle of a blizzard! White out. (I didn’t even ask if going to my house to feed my precious was EVEN a possibility…I knew it was not.) She wouldn’t starve. But she would be lonely (or I would be, for her, anyway).
We slogged back to the car with our CostCo purchases. Among other items, Scott and Joanne bought a twin-pack of memory foam pillows. Scott had tried a couple of styles of the pillow while in CostCo by laying down on pallets first and then on a cushioned deck chair. He wasn’t sure if he liked them or not. Heck! We have to spend the night nearby. Why not buy them, try them at the hotel, and return them if they didn’t like them! Such a plan! So, we slogged through the increasing slushy precipitation back to the car with the pillows and our other purchases and headed off for a nice dinner.
Which we had at J. Alexanders. Yum. It continued to snow. An hour from home and we are stuck. Go figure! We checked into the hotel, got toothbrushes and toothpaste from the front desk, and fell into bed, in our clothes. Haven’t slept in my clothes since Africa! We got a free movie. “Rocky Balboa”. Sly looked weird in it, but I enjoyed all the harkenings back to the original ”Rocky”. I watched some, fell asleep, woke up, watched some, fell asleep woke up, watched some, and fell asleep. I guess I missed more than half the movie. But I don’t think I’ll rent it. I hear it ends in a tie.
When we woke up yesterday morning, the sun was shining and the roads were clear. I-25 was open. Other than some accumulated snow, it was as though yesterday never even happened! We were good to go. When I woke up Scott had already brought breakfast up from downstairs. Thanks Mr. Cuddles! So we ate. And rested some more. And then headed out. Back to CostCo! The pillows didn’t end up exciting them! So those were returned and a few more items were purchased. One more stop at Starbuck’s for comfort beverages and we were on the road. The pass was still very snowy, but the road was clear. And most of snow which had burdened the trees to what looked like their breaking point had already melted.
Almost the same trees, not quite a day later. What a difference a day makes!
There was quite a bit of snow at Scott and Joanne’s still, but as I neared my own home, it appeared that it hadn’t even snowed! So odd. So very odd. I spoke with my sister last night, and she still had 3-4 foot drifts up against her house. I talked with a neighbor today who told me “we had a few flakes of snow here, but that’s it”.
And Mew? Let’s just say she told me all about it when I got home…
All this snow on Tuesday. More maybe tomorrow. And come Sunday? It’s supposed to be in the 80′s. Weird place for weather this Colorado place. Weird weird weird. It’ll probably snow in May, too!
Doncha just love how adventure finds you when you least expect it?
