March 30, 2010
Ah, summer! Our several days of spring were grand but by today, it feels as though nature is on “fast forward”. Sunday presented the first suicidal insect’s remains on the windshield of the car. Yesterday, after giving Alphie his daily “comb out” I discovered our first tick of the season. On our walk through Sanctuary this morning, I heard frogs chanting by the stream and a meadow lark singing up on the hill near the edge of the forest. As I came back, a medium-sized ribbon snake made its way across the path directly in front of me, provoking the little shot of adrenalin that sudden sightings of snakes seem to evoke. The temperature is at 72 degrees with the 80’s predicted for tomorrow along with storms and winds and wildly fluctuating barometric readings. It is all too much, too fast. Our atmospheric ambiance is likely one of the reasons that Nebraska is not considered a prime tourist destination.
Holy Week, and the church invites everyone to remember again the life-changing events that took place so long ago. Much of the 14th chapter of St. John’s gospel is devoted to Jesus’ words of comfort to his disciples as he prepares to depart the Passover supper and enter the Garden of Gethsemane. I particularly like to think of the words, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” because it addresses directly the hardest part of my own life – that is, the knowing and not-knowing about dying. I think about it a great deal since the arrival of the cancer. Plans are made for the future, but never for a long time, and always with a “maybe” lurking. I am now at the 46th day since the last transfusion; there were 56 days between it and the one prior to that; I hope to continue past Easter before getting another because we are planning a celebratory weekend at the end of April, and the blood is key to having the energy needed. As always, we are optimistic and we look forward to the days ahead.