Usually, I would beat myself up a little for updating so infrequently, but I must say that the reasons for my writing absence are all great.
1. We are busy! Elsa’s ANC has been high enough that we are exploring the world with very few restrictions right now. Aside from having clinic/chemo every 10 days this cycle, and going through 12 bottles of purell each week, we are living a normal, fun life.
2. I am busy Losing to Win! I joined a totally absurd (in a good way) weight loss program at the YMCA (Lose to Win!) with weekly personal training / weigh-ins and it has been just enough motivation to kick my butt into a healthier gear. I’m spending a lot more time thinking about/planning the foods that we eat and I’m making time for work-outs, even if it means peeling off some of the velcro that sticks Elsa to my body most of the time. Elsa hasn’t had much of a problem with the de-sticking process; the better she feels, the less she needs me so physically. Everyone involved feels better, I think. I’m packing in as much self-care as I can, while the waters in our life are calm. John, too, is trying to get to the YMCA more frequently and we are taking turns taking alone time for ourselves. Next phase of the re-building process should probably be that John and I take time for ourselves, as a couple. Slowly, slowly, we’re working on it.
3. Perhaps some of you may have noticed a new tab across the top of the blog that says “366 project.” I joined up with a Facebook group where we are all aiming to take a picture every day this year. I’ve been posting those photos over at:
It’s been a fun project and I’m enjoying knowing that, on days when I’m too tired to write anything, at least I have a tiny, flickering token from our day that reminds me that we were alive every day this year. Hopefully, I will turn them into a printed book for Elsa one day.
Life is great today. I have such a hard time not adding the caveat, “The other shoe could drop any second! She could be sick tomorrow! I know everything can fall apart at any second!” That’s something I’m working on.
Life is great today. There. That’s it. Done.
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Wait. Not done yet. Here is a funny little montage of approximately 45seconds in the emotional life of Elsa. If you’re wondering why we are eating hot dogs in the car, it was a little too windy for the picnic I had planned at the park, so we ate in the car instead. Minus the brief meltdown over a stolen goldfish, it was a lovely picnic (I couldn’t figure out how to make it bigger, but if you click on it, a larger version appears):
