Reminders
Sometimes I need to be reminded of things I already know but somehow misplace in the process of day-to-day living. Those reminders are especially important now, given the unpredictable time I have left. Yesterday Bob’s sister sent a brief e-mail to let us know of the death of her best friend’s husband. He died of cancer. The significance of this event is that the husband’s cancer diagnosis (esophagus and liver) had occurred within days of my own stage four cancer diagnosis. He is gone and I am still here… For that I need to be grateful and not take for granted the good days and months I continue to enjoy.
And today I received an e-mail from our good friend Melanie. She described the spontaneous ‘mountain adventure’ that she and her husband Lee had recently taken… “Just because the sun was shining when we got up Wednesday morning.” Hey, that’s a good enough reason.
“Since hiking was not on the agenda (Melanie fell recently and has to wear a leg brace for the next six weeks), we decided to drive old logging roads and explore the steep mountains between Winthrop and Mazama. The ‘roads’ were one-lane dirt, with tight switchbacks strewn with occasional large rocks fallen from the mountains above. WOW! Such gorgeous scenery!” They saw no other cars, just a “herd of eight Angus cows wandering down the center of the road in the middle of nowhere,” the herder - a very hardy older woman on horseback, and a rugged man collecting firewood who told them that to reach Mazama wherever there are ‘Y’s’ in the road, “keep turning LEFT.” When they finally came to an actual road sign for Mazama, it was at a Y in the road… and the arrow pointed to the RIGHT. Melanie concluded her e-mail with, “We had spent about four wonderful hours being ‘in the moment,’ and ‘not quite lost’ in those very beautiful hills. So we had two lovely, fun days. On the spur of the moment, just like old times. Life is GOOD!”
Yes, life is good. Thanks Melanie for that reminder. I think it is time for Bob and I to go on one of those spur of the moment adventures. It won’t be as far away as sailing up the Strait of Georgia, or driving cross-country like we did last fall, but there are adventures to be had close to home too. Stay tuned.
... PLM
And today I received an e-mail from our good friend Melanie. She described the spontaneous ‘mountain adventure’ that she and her husband Lee had recently taken… “Just because the sun was shining when we got up Wednesday morning.” Hey, that’s a good enough reason.
“Since hiking was not on the agenda (Melanie fell recently and has to wear a leg brace for the next six weeks), we decided to drive old logging roads and explore the steep mountains between Winthrop and Mazama. The ‘roads’ were one-lane dirt, with tight switchbacks strewn with occasional large rocks fallen from the mountains above. WOW! Such gorgeous scenery!” They saw no other cars, just a “herd of eight Angus cows wandering down the center of the road in the middle of nowhere,” the herder - a very hardy older woman on horseback, and a rugged man collecting firewood who told them that to reach Mazama wherever there are ‘Y’s’ in the road, “keep turning LEFT.” When they finally came to an actual road sign for Mazama, it was at a Y in the road… and the arrow pointed to the RIGHT. Melanie concluded her e-mail with, “We had spent about four wonderful hours being ‘in the moment,’ and ‘not quite lost’ in those very beautiful hills. So we had two lovely, fun days. On the spur of the moment, just like old times. Life is GOOD!”
Yes, life is good. Thanks Melanie for that reminder. I think it is time for Bob and I to go on one of those spur of the moment adventures. It won’t be as far away as sailing up the Strait of Georgia, or driving cross-country like we did last fall, but there are adventures to be had close to home too. Stay tuned.
... PLM
posted by Looking for Hope | 9:06 PM
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