Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Coming Home After a Long Weekend!


Oh My. Where have I been? Just so busy with the new house (the drywall is done and we've been priming which is a tedious job as the walls are still white after all that painting!) I'm still away 2 night s a week at the aide job and then there's the cottage! Been there the past two weekends and what a needed respite!


Last weekend we opened it for the season. Dusted the cobwebs -opened all the windows to let out the musty smell (7 months will do that) and checked for signs of mice, Nada! I socked the fridge and cupboards with staples and we got all the outdoor furniture out. The weather was great and it wasn't so hard to go home knowing we'd return the following weekend.


We got home last night and it was so-o hard to leave! My 2 older daughters were there for the holiday weekend along with one hubby and one boyfriend (who confided in me that he would like to ask my daughter to marry him!) Youngest daughter and her hubby couldn't make it - they had to attend an anniversary party in Long Island. We missed them!


I don't realize how much I miss walking around the lake until I get there each year. I never tire of it. The old dirt road hugs the lake and grants us a view of the water almost the entire round except the little jaunt that takes us through a well worn trail in the woods loops through the old abandoned Camp Fire Kids Camp.


Little grandson went swimming with my son-in-aw and they swore the water was warm - yet both were shivering when they got out and scrambled for their towels! My daughter got w hooked on the Twilight Books and brought the second one down for me to read so we spent many hours on the dock with our noses in the books.


I love the lake so much! Time stands still and I swear I can almost hear the laughter of past generations echo across the lake at night. The stars spill across the sky and campfires dot the shoreline. Nothing is sweeter...


I definitely have to get on the stick and watch my eating though. While my shorts weren't tight - they certainly weren't loose. I need to get my walking regime going full throttle and maybe even try the running gig again this summer. Ah summer! It's officially here and it feels so good to hear myself say that.


Hope you all had a glorious Memorial Day Weekend!



Saturday, May 2, 2009

Farewell Sweet Betsy....


Yesterday afternoon my late hubby's sister and her husband arrived here from Colorado. They came to town for a class reunion. When the plane touched down my sister-in-law turned on her cell phone to see a voice mail alert. The new message had been sent many hours ago. It was from her son-in-law. Their daughter Betsy, had died in her sleep.

Betsy was only 35 years old. She had been fighting breast cancer since she was 24 when a Doctor mis-diagnosed a lump in her breast. Told her it was only a cyst. She believed him until a year later there were more lumps and it was too late.
Betsy refused to accept this prognosis and decided to live her life. She continued on with school and became a Physician's assistant. Although her fiancee at the time of the diagnosis called off the engagement (he couldn't deal with the cancer and his dad was part of the oncology group that misdiagnosed her in the first place...but we won't even go there....) she went on to meet a wonderful guy named Jeff. Four years ago they flew to Hawaii with his family and hers and were married on the beach on New Years Eve.
Betsy continued to swim (she was an avid swimmer) and starred in a Nike commercial doing just that! She was featured on a television show a while ago about cancer survivors and Haley Berry read her story. She was so positive and so smiley and we all believed she would beat this. She never asked "Why me?" She just lived her life and wouldn't even consider the alternative. But last night the alternative came. And her poor parents had to learn the news as the de-boarded a plane in Rochester New York. Thousands of miles away.
Besty's wish was to donate her body to cancer research. She hated the disease. I hate it too. It took both of my grandmothers. It took my mom. It took two of my uncles and it took my late husband. The next time you have the opportunity to donate to the American Cancer Society...please do so. For Betsy. And all the other wonderful people that have been taken from us too soon.