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Wow, it’s been an exciting day here in So Cal! I know folks back east will laugh but you should have seen the rainfall we got today! I mean, there was a LOT of it! I had a very scary drive home from an appointment when I got caught in a massive downpour. My Mini Cooper behaved like a champ, fording all of the flooded highways, making its way past a lot of not-so-lucky stalled cars (wish I could say the same about my nerves – it was a white knuckle drive home, for sure!). The water was over the hood at a couple of points. Our yard was under a couple inches of water by the time the worst of the storm passed (we shouldn’t need to deep water the lemon or lime trees any time soon!). This is a photo of a street about 6 blocks from us. Our street is happily on higher ground and not subject to this kind of flooding (well, at least not so far). The weather forecast says that the worst of the storms will hit tomorrow. So much for the drought!
If you have some spare funds and would like to help the Haiti relief efforts, here are some easy ways: text YELE to 501 501 to donate $5 to Wyclef Jean’s Organization or HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.
I mean, the whole Punxsutawney Phil thing is cool and all, but this is a LOT more important.
Punxsutawney Phil, that inimitable little furry weather forecaster, is going to be texting his prediction this year! If you want to find out whether Phil predicts an early spring or six more weeks of winter you can text “Groundhog” to 247365. You’ll get a text message with the prediction on Feb. 2.
Okay, if this isn’t the sort of thing the Internet was invented for, I don’t know what is. I signed up. Will you?
I was tagged by the Lady Who Lunches to find my favorite photo. As Meagan predicted, I had to look long and hard however my quest made easier by the fact that the photos I would choose (since meeting Chuck in 2001) are all online. I have lots of photos from before I met him, of course, but to capture my life and who I am now Chuck has to be part of it (sappy but true). In the end I kept coming back to this one, taken in July 2006. That’s me reflected in Chuck’s sunglasses during the Napa-to-Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon. I chose it as my fave because we’re both in it (sort of), we’re doing something we both love to do (run) in a place that we both adore (Napa). Life doesn’t get much better than that, and every time I see this picture I smile and remember the joy of that day. You can’t ask for more than that, in my opinion.
So now I’m going to tag Marjorie and Carole see what they come up with!
This one slipped through my junk filter:
Hello,
How are you doing ? I hope you are doing fine, I’m sorry that I didn’t inform you about my traveling to England for a Seminar.I need a favor from you as soon as you receive this e-mail because I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money,and other valuable things were kept it, I will like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently. I will be needing the sum of $2,500 to sort-out my hotel bills and get myself back home.I will appreciate whatever you can afford to help me with, I will pay you back as soon as I return,I have trust on you,Please kindly let me know if you can be of help so I can send you my details to use when sending the money through western union today.
Any assistant you can offer will be greatly appreciated
Roberto
Thanks.
Sure, Roberto, no problem! But do you want an assistant, or some assistance?
Well, it’s 2010 and we have started it off with a bang – at least as regards our running & training. So far this year (the last five days) we’ve run 18 miles. What are we chasing, you ask? The Paris marathon in April, I respond. Oh, and another race is also looming: the Race on the Base, a reverse sprint triathlon happening at the end of February. Chuck is concerned enough about the tri that he has started swimming at the pool with me! Needless to say, all of this activity is making us feel quite virtuous.
Looming in our more immediate future is Chuck’s next immunotherapy appointment at City of Hope. This one includes a PET scan, and he hasn’t had one of those in six month. The PET scans are the pesky tests that show whether any lymphoma has reappeared anywhere. Late last week, without talking about it or even really acknowledging it, both Chuck and I started thinking about this – a lot. Generally at night. Late at night. And we were quietly laying there being kind of scared (but not getting that it was being subconsciously scared that was keeping us awake), trying not to wake the other up. More enlightened folk at this point might pipe up and say, “Hey, you guys should TALK about it!” But it took several semi-sleepless nights before we got to the root of what was wrong (I get credit for figuring it out first). Once again, the new reality of living with cancer reared its ugly head in our lives. And by just talking about it, accepting that it was on our minds and it was really scary, made it if not okay at least better. Okay, the bottle of wine helped, too.
So our strong start isn’t all about running, it’s about living!
Wiiwaa.
Turn your speakers up to really feel the joy of this, uh, thing.
 It has been pointed out to me recently (hi, Meagan!) that I have become a slacker blogger. This is in part due to to my focus on Facebook and Twitter and the fact that we have been busy entertaining family and doing the holiday hokey pokey. I know, lame excuses all. Oh, and also because I have just been lazy. So my New Year’s resolution will be to post to the blog at least once a week. We’ll see how long THAT lasts!
We really have been busy this past month. Two weekends ago we had three parties in three days (for some folks this may not seem like that big a deal but to me it’s a record). We also ran a 10K race in the pouring rain and I placed first in my age group (yay, me!) and Chuck, uh, didn’t finish last! He also managed to lose his Garmin 305 which deeply saddened him. My sister and brother-in-law arrived last Friday and we spent a fun week visiting with them and doing things that we never seem to make time to do when it’s just us (we finally made it to the newly remodeled Getty Villa and also went to the Petersen Automotive Museum). We had a bunch of people over and did a Naples gondola ride and wrapped things up with a big Christmas Eve dinner with family and friends. Louise and Tony flew home Christmas Day and we went spent the evening with friends. Yesterday was our official decompression day in which we chilled and did almost nothing. Pics of our adventures are here.
Today we’re getting back into gear, taking down the Christmas tree and taking advantage of post-holiday sales to shop for Christmas decorations. Chuck did a fabulous job with the lights this year, but feels that he needs, among other things, a sleigh and/or more reindeer for the front yard and more lights for the back. We became the place to see on the block, with lots of folks coming to stand in front and revel in the glory that is Chuck’s Christmas light extravaganza. Pics of our lights (and other lights) are here.
The other thing we did (for better or worse) this month was to watch TV coverage of the Hawaii Ironman (that’s the Big Kahuna of triathlons that is comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run). It inspired us both to train harder this coming year and set tougher goals for ourselves. In that spirit I gave Chuck a new Garmin 305 for Christmas to replace the one he lost at the 10K we ran two weeks ago and we’ve been doing at least one long run a week, and generally gearing up for the Paris Marathon in April.
So that was December. Reflecting on the year that was 2009, all I can really say to sum it up is, “Phew!” I just reread my last post of 2008, and chuckled as I read the words “as I thumb my nose to the year that was and bid a far from fond farewell to the pile of crap year that was 2008…” I’m glad that I couldn’t see into the future last Dec 31 and know how hard 2009 was going to be. Cancer and chemo, the realities the treatment and aftermath bring, and the struggle back to some sense of normal presented challenges the likes of which I have never before faced. I’m older and wiser now so I’m not going to go calling 2009 a pile of crap because there may come a time in our lives where we’ll look back at 2009 and think, “Hey, that was a pretty awesome year, all in all!” The thing is, you just never know, so seize all the precious moments you can and always, always, remember to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I think I’ll let Chuck close this post with some of his wise words from the year’s Christmas letter:
Some final thoughts on this past year. Family is everything. Don’t waste time being mad about things that happened in the past. Life is too short to dwell on the bad stuff, just move on to the good. Don’t spend too much time worrying about one thing or another (the small stuff), stop and enjoy what you have. It’s not the big things that make me happy, it’s the little ones. Connecting with others has been part of my cure. Some people were amazed at how open I was about the whole thing, but I can’t imagine keeping it all bottled up. Everyone who listened took some of the weight off my shoulders.
So from both of us: happy new year everyone – make 2010 a year that counts! Where you are right now, you’ll only be there for a moment so savor it! There’s a reason for the world: you and I.
 Dec 4, 2002 Today is Chuck and my seventh anniversary. It seems sometimes like we’ve been together forever, and then at other times it’s like it was yesterday that we first met. So much has happened in those years, both good and bad – but of course, that’s how life works. This past year has been full of special challenges. But here we are, still standing, and I’d marry him all over again. Here’s to seven times seven more years together! Happy Anniversary, big guy!
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