Day 21: More Music, More Friendship, and Hugs

Day 21: Music, Friendship, & Hugs, oh my.

Christmas Eve, for the most part, was spent at home enjoying solitude, Christmas music, and baking cookies. We did, however, have to venture out into the world to get milk for our Christmas morning coffee. There was simply no way around it. We need coffee in the morning, and we were out of milk.

We set out for our corner Harris Teeter (a mile away), which of course was packed - seeing as it was Christmas Eve and everyone was getting their last minute items before the store closed for the Holiday. As we were checking out, a very familiar woman walked up to me and asked me how I was doing. For the LIFE of me I couldn't place her, but rather than ask 'how do I know you?' I just casually and cooly played along, answering her question - letting her know my status. At the end of our conversation we hugged, as if old friends.  It wasn't until I got out to the car that I realized she was the pathologist who did my biopsy & the person who had to tell me I had breast cancer!  I'd not seen her since that visit back in June (when I had hair). So I was terribly impressed that she recognized and remembered me.

That same visit to the grocery store, we also ran into our friend Mark who is the musical director at our church - more hugs ensued.

Of course, a few hours later we ventured out to the Christmas Eve service at our Unitarian Universalist Church (where we saw Mark again).  We got to sing (a lot) and got many hugs from friends (& even got some hugs from people I've never met, but who know me through my Carepages/blog).  I just love that connectedness that is always there even with people we don't know, or don't know very well.

We came home from that service feeling both rejuvenated and tired. We popped in It's a Wonderful Life, made some decaf coffee, wrapped some presents, and settled in for the rest of the evening.

Day 20: Reconnecting

Day 20: Reconnecting with Family and Friends

Magic #1, Family: While we were in Asheville, we stayed with my cousin Cheryl and her family. Now, the last time I saw Cheryl was several years back at her sister's wedding, and prior to that, I was probably 17 or 18 (so... 20+ years).  The funny & wonderful thing about my family is that when we're in the same room, it's as if we've never been apart - even if it's been decades since we last saw one another. It is really a wonderful feeling to be so surrounded by love and kinship. It is, I hope, what I bring to every single one of my relationships because it just feels, for lack of a better word, beautiful.

Both Tracy and I got the chance to reconnect with Cheryl and her family, over food (of course, because enjoying good food is in our genes); over music as Tracy and Cheryl's husband Monty played guitar and mandolin & we all sang along; and over conversation, in which even the youngest of us (Cade, soon to be 12) easily kept up with and sometimes drove the conversation.

THEN we got to reconnect with my Dad's older brother Walter, who has always been pure joy to talk with. Walter is THE storyteller in a family of storytellers, and I never get tired of listening to and learning from him.  My grandfather died when I was too young to know him, so I get a lot of his history through the stories that Walter tells (and, of course, I get the scoop on my Dad as well).

Magic #2, Friends: On the morning before we had to leave Asheville, we had tea with our friend Patti Digh - a wonderful treat, considering a). she is such a busy person and author (always working on something), b). it was so close to the Holidays, and c). her daughter was home from college.  We met at the Dobra Tea House and had the most wonderful tea and conversation filled with laughter.  She gave me a beautiful candle (which I ceremoniously light every day), and photographs she took of Beaver Lake (dubbed 'Low Blood Pressure Lake'), so that I may meditate on them throughout my recovery.  The photographs now hang on a ribbon that I can keep in the hospital room during my stay, then bring home to hang next to my bed.

Magic #3, Connections: Among the conversations we had with Patti, we'd mentioned my cousin Cheryl; and likewise we'd mentioned Patti to Cheryl.  The evening after we left, Cheryl and family went out to get ice cream. As chance would have it, Patti decided to do the same.  When Tracy and I got back to Greensboro, we both received text messages: Mine was from Cheryl, exclaiming that she'd just met Patti Digh! and Tracy's was from Patti, exclaiming she'd just met Cousin Cheryl! -- to which, I can only say, it's a crazy, wonderful world and I am honored to be a part of it.