We got our lot fit for Lot #75, and then the developer called to remind us there is an active pipeline with a 20 foot utility easement running across the front of the property. When we had originally looked at the lot, he led us to believe it was close to the road, near the culvert. As it turned out, the easement was one foot from our front door, and the walkway was on top of the easement đłđł.
That set us on a journey of discovery.
The developer sent us an additional document from Explorer (the pipeline company) which said that if ever we wanted to do anything over the easement, including paved driveway, we had to send a proposal and they would have up to 180 days to review. SIX MONTHS! And then they could make you change your plan. We were calculating how much time the builder has to do their work, and now we are concerned they have not even started this process. Also, someone from the pipeline has to be present the entire time you do any improvements.
I reached out to my friends on Facebook, and those who have pipelines on their property (which is very common in Texas). They had a variety of things to say. One rancher in particular said he had some horror stories, as well as some not so bad stories. Our main concern was what would happen if they decided to come in and do repairs and broke up our driveway, or our walkway? Would they fix it? Would we have access to our house? How long could it take? Would they mow over any landscaping we might plant (they are responsible for mowing the pipeline easement)? How responsive are they going to be to our inquiries? So many questions raised our DefCon level a notch or two.
We decided to reach out to Explorer and ask some questions before getting too panicky. We called, sent emails, called again, tried and tried, and never could get a response. One guy finally sent an email acknowledging he had gotten the email, but that was the end of his communication. Needless to say, we were not feeling very comfortable about having an Explorer active pipeline on our property.
The builder suggested we change lots, so we started that process.
At this point we were very grateful they had not yet purchased Lot #75. It was still on reserve. The developer had gone up on their prices by about $20-30,000, so switching to another lot was going to be a challenge. Before we left Texas for our northern trip, we went back out to the property and looked at other lots. As it turned out they had just opened access to some other lots we had not seen before. Lot #84, just a few lots down from #75 but outside of the pipeline easement, was a bit smaller (1.0 acre) but it had some advantages over #75. For one, it is relatively square (#75 is a big trapezoid). Also, #84 backs up to some beautiful trees (more, in fact, than #75). It is a bit closer to the front, so they should start pinning those lots sooner đ€đ».
We can see progress is happening out there. Lots of heavy equipment are moving dirt around, creating retention ponds, placing culverts, etc. The roads have been graded, and it is easier to see where each lot is located (although still not accurately). We feel pretty confident they will be able to start building soon (hurricanes aside).
All that to say, we have officially switched to Lot #84. The builder CFO had to get involved because the developer wanted to increase our cost to current prices, but he did some magic and we signed the document this week to switch from #75 to #84.
We’ll keep you posted on further progress.
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
About 100 days ago we sold our house in Conroe, moved our stuff into storage, and moved into our Roam Home to begin full-time living, while waiting for our new house to be built. We are very blessed to have an Airstream that provides comfort and travel opportunities to live in while we are “homeless.”
A little background behind this decision might be helpful. We downsized in 2019 from a 4,000+ SF home to a 2050 SF home just a half mile down the road, in the same neighborhood. We loved the house, loved the builder, and loved the community. It met our needs on many levels. It was close to MD Anderson as well as other amenities, there were trees behind us, we had a nice sized yard, good neighbors, and a relatively quiet neighborhood. We thought this would be our forever “retirement” home.
Then COVID hit.
The RV Industry exploded. People were tired of staying home. Online jobs increased, which expanded opportunities. The whole world was buying RVs and moving into them at a pace greater than the market could support. We made plans to travel places the motorcycles couldn’t go, avoid hotels, and bought the last Airstream on the lot. After a year of trying to do both, we let the bikes go and Airstreaming became our priority. Each time we would hook her up and go on a trip, we started thinking about how we could store her closer to home when we weren’t in it.
Things were changing in the world, as well as in our own neighborhood. The trees started coming down between our home and the interstate, the road noise got louder and louder, multiple families (and their cars) were moving into the same house just three doors down, our family was growing and making our home feel a bit too small, and we wanted to have our Airstream on property with us. The only way to get around all of these issues was to look for some land where we could have some space between us and the road noise, a bit more elbow room between us and our neighbors, and a big enough lot where we could build an RV barn and keep the Airstream on property. An added bonus was a slightly bigger house and yard for when the family comes to visit.
We reserved a 1.24 acre lot (#75) in an acreage community called The Manors in New Waverly Texas (it’s about 15-20 minutes from our former home). It’s a High Meadows development; we toured their other properties containing multi-million dollar homes, and felt very good with how the final developments had turned out. The developer “promised” they would be ready to sell us the lot within a couple of months, but it’s taking a bit longer for them to get there. This is their first time developing in Walker County, so it’s going a bit slower than they originally anticipated. (For example, surprising to us is the requirement to have fire hydrants in Walker County, which are not required in Montgomery county.) That was a bonus in our eyes. We signed on the lot before they were pinned, while roads are still in the dirt phase.
After reserving the lot, we had to find a builder. We signed a contract with Gracepoint Homes, after interviewing many, many (did I say many?) builders over several months’ time. It’s been quite a process! This all took place before we sold our home in Conroe. My caveat for moving forward and selling the house was this: we choose a lot and builder first, so I don’t end up without a home or a home to move into đ€Șđ„Ž.
We chose Gracepoint for several reasons, not necessarily in order of priority.
First, they had the best price for a quality product. We picked one of their floorpans, which saved a ton of money, and then customized it to our needs. They are a custom home builder, so we could change anything we wanted (within reason). The next possible builder was $40K more expensive and their home was smaller by 300 SF. It was a no-brainer.
Second, Gracepoint offered a program where they bundle the house and land, meaning we don’t have to do the closing on the property or get a loan until the final product is complete. No other custom builder was offering this option. That was such a blessing, considering we were homeless and travelling until the house is built.
Third, we like the builder. They have a good reputation even with other builders. They are easy to work with, respond to calls and emails, and Tammy is always friendly when we talk with her on the phone. They seem to be genuinely advocating for our best interest.
This is our first time being one of the first, if not the first, to build a house in a community. Honestly, it scares the bejeebers out of us. It took a very long time to make this decision because of the potential risks involved. At the end of the day, the homes are so far apart we don’t feel like other owners’ home construction will be that big of an issue. We prayed about all the options and felt very confident this was the right choice, so we signed on the dotted lines.
We put our house on the market and within less than a week we had a contract for $20,000 over our (already high) asking price. Two weeks later we closed and had completely moved out. That very quick timeline, the purchase price, the builder bundling the loan, and other pieces were further confirmation we are doing the right thing. We feel very much at peace with this decision.
So, what’s the status on your house? How is your house coming along? When will it be done?
I fear this blog is already getting too long. You’ll just have to read the next one for a status update. đ€Șđ„Žđđđ
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Mara Molner was recommended by a friend. I thought about suggesting it to my book club, but decided to read it first. I will definitely recommend it when it’s my turn. I have grown to love historic fiction. This is an easy read, and it’s the third book I’ve read this month.
This book is about half fiction and half history, going back and forth in time. It follows the life of Emsley, an art auctioneer and granddaughter to Violet, a Hollywood Celebrity (current day, fiction). Her grandmother leaves a box to her, which contains an old diary, in addition to some letters written in Dutch. Â As Emsley is reading the diary, written in English in the 1800s, she realizes this is the diary of Johanna Bonger, the sister-in-law to Vincent Van Gogh. We are transported back in time to her life (historic and true with some fiction interspersed for the story’s sake). I learned a lot about the Van Goghs that I didnât already know, or had forgotten.
Tim and I visited the Van Gogh museum nearly 30 years ago when we were in Amsterdam. It was our first trip overseas as a married couple (not including our mission trip to Mexico, as that was not technically “over-seas.”) We were on a tight budget. We booked the cheapest flight and that’s how we landed in Amsterdam. We also booked an inexpensive hotel. We were so new to traveling at the time, we really had no clue how to go about finding the best locations.
Little did we know, we would have to walk through the red light district to get anywhere! I remember the smell of cannibus everywhere we went, being offered to buy it in the shops, and feeling a little unnerved by the women standing in the windows as we walked through the district (I had never seen glow-in-the-dark underwear before – wow).
I also remember the good things. The canals, the very old architecture, the trams, and the snowflakes. They were the biggest I had ever seen fall from the sky; I have never seen any to compare since that day. People continued to ride their bikes as a primary means of transportation, even in the snow, holding an umbrella with one hand and the handlebar with the other. It was surreal. We also took a day tour of the windmills and a shoe factory. Now that I think of it, our daughter was 3 or 4 years old at the time. I bought her a little Dutch outfit which she wore for the fall festival later that year. Good memories.
Vincent Van Gogh was Dutch, and his brother Theo believed in his brother’s talent, trying to sell his work. He only sold one painting while Vincent was alive, and that was to a family friend. You may remember from art history that Vincent was mentally ill, and eventually committed suicide. What I did not remember was that his brother Theo was so grief-stricken and filled with remorse that he, too, ended up in a home for the mentally ill. He died about six months after Vincent. That’s the sad part of the story.
Johanna, now a widow and mother to an infant, took on her husband’s baton. It was her way of keeping the memory of her husband alive in her heart. She was rejected many times, but did not give up. She finally decided to represent his work herself. She was the first female art agent, and was not taken seriously in the beginning. However, her persistence was largely responsible for making Vincent’s artwork famous. Johanna kept impeccable notes in a diary, which Emsley is reading. There is an actual diary, which has now been made public. However, the author published the book just a few months before they were made public, and had to get her research from numerous other sources, mostly out of print. Her recounting of Johanna seems to be spot on though, in my humble opinion. Regardless, The Secret Life of Sunflowers is a great story with a lot of uplifting quotes that encourages women to just âgo for it.â
Emsley’s life also provided some levity to the book. I think it added immensely to imagine that her grandmother had in her possession the diaries of Vincent’s sister-in-law. Emsley’s friends (and Violet) made me laugh, and her pet chicken was a great addition to the story.
Read it. You won’t be disappointed.
Vincent Van Gogh painted a lot of sunflowers, which provided some insight into his life. His addition of color amidst all the gray in his other paintings (as well as life) brought moments of happiness for the artist. Apparently, sunflowers will grow wherever they are planted, regardless of soil type. He believed sunflowers were stretching toward the sun in gratitude. The is a reminder for us to do the same.
Also, if you believe someone is suffering from a mental illness, please reach out and help them. You may be the only sunflower in their life.
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
I finished my June book early and started on my book for July (even though we will be traveling). I finished this novel fairly quickly as well. Itâs a pretty easy read, and the author keeps your interest as you seek to know more. We were still on Lake Livingston, staying in our Airstream, when I read this book. Lake living sure is relaxing! It’s like a perpetual vacation.
These Tangled Vines, by Julianne Maclean, starts with what we would all love to hear â you just inherited some property in Italy! At least, I would! Iâve never been to Italy but if someone wanted to give me a vineyard, I donât think I would turn it down.
But Iâm getting ahead of myself.
The book is set in Tuscany and primarily follows three women: Fiona, Lillian, and Sloane. There are spoilers in this review, so if you plan to read the book, SCROLL past the sections with “Spoilers.” đđ
The setting was beautiful, as the author described it. Iâve seen pictures of Italy and I would love to go there one day. It seems like such a serene, calm, and peaceful environment. The food would be a bonus! The author did a good job of including enough descriptions to make me wish I was there.
KEEP ON SCROLLING…
Fiona Bell is a young woman in her 30s (young to me, anyway). Her perspective is the only one shared in first person, and she is a likable character. She is single with some relationship issues. Fiona was 18 when her mother died, and on her deathbed her mother revealed to Fiona that her fatherâwho she has known these past 18 years as her fatherâis not her biological father. (What?? Can you imagine hearing that from your mother on her deathbed?)
Her biological father (Anton) owns a vineyard in Italy, but her mother makes her promise to keep this news a secret from her father, because it would devastate him. The father who raised her has been in a wheelchair her whole life due to a horrible accident in Italy. He had only bad memories of their trip. The dutiful daughter kept her promise for all these years. She didnât want to hurt her father.
Fiona receives a phone call from a lawyer in Italy, who tells her that her biological father had passed away. He urges her to be there for the reading of the will as she is named as one of the heirs. She was too late to attend the funeral, but if she hurried she could make it in time for the reading of the will. After much contemplation, she lied to her father and his caregiver, got on the next flight to Italy, and began to face her past. Her motherâs past. Her fatherâs past. It was quite a tangled story, hence the title.
Fiona had always believed Anton to be a man who took advantage of her mother, a womanizer, or some other connotation of negative relationship, so she never sought to know him or attempt to have a relationship with him. She also didnât want to hurt her disabled father by engaging in an attempt to know him. Little did she know she would be walking into a hornetâs nest with Antonâs two older childrenâwho only just learned that they had a half-siblingâwith all the implications of her âstealingâ their inheritance as an illegitimate child, manipulations by her mother, and other serious accusations regarding her character and her intentions.
The second woman followed in the book is Lillian, Fionaâs mother. She and her husband went to Tuscany for a season, while her husband was writing his first novel. She took a job at a vineyard in Tuscany, and the reader is aware that this is the same vineyard which is owned by Fionaâs biological father Anton. The author jumps back and forth in history to share details of the relationship Lillian had with Anton. It was clearly an affair, which both of them seemed to genuinely try not to engage in. He was the perfect gentleman.
Antonâs wife was living in LA with their two children and had recently filed for divorce. They rarely saw each other in spite of his constant begging for her to bring the children. Lillianâs husband was off in Paris writing his novel and was not staying connected to her because, âItâs long distance.â Throughout their marriage, she had put all of her attention onto her husband and his writing career, yet he did not support her desires or needs. One can see how easy it was for her to fall into the arms of another man, regardless of looks or status. She offers some business advice to Anton on marketing the Americans; he is very supportive and complimentary of her ideas and there is a chemistry between them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NO SPOILERS HERE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aside, thatâs how affairs usually get started. Another reminder to support and compliment your spouse. If you donât, someone else probably is! Give him or her the love they need.
In all my years of being a marriage therapist, I donât recall anyone who had an affair tell me they did it âon purpose.â (If they did, I would consider an even bigger issue than this.) Their typical response, âit just happened.â It started with a conversation, complimentary and support of ideas, a hand on the back, a lengthier conversation, brooding over the individual, and so on. It happened because they didnât guard their heart. Their spouse didnât guard their spouseâs heart either, and their spouse was not fulfilling a deep need in their life. Iâm not excusing affairs, so please donât email me and blast me about this. I am not in favor of affairs. And I am not in favor of divorce for the majority of marriages. God hates divorce. However, I do understand how affairs can happen when someone is living in an emotional desert. Perhaps because of my profession I am a bit more understanding of Lillian and her dilemma.
KEEP ON SCROLLING
Anyway, back to the story. Fiona learns through her research and conversations with various staffers that Lillian and Antonâs relationship went beyond a one-night stand or sexual offense. Anton did not take advantage of Lillian as she had previously thought. Their relationship grew over time, and they were very much in love. Lillian had not heard from her husband in weeks. She finally made plans to leave her husband and stay with Anton. But suddenly, her husband returns, was involved in an accident, and became a quadriplegic. I wonât tell you the details of the incident, so as not to spoil the entire story, but it is a juicy part of the story. After the accident, Lillian comes to her senses, says good-bye to Anton, goes back to America with her husband. She spends the rest of her life taking care of his needs. Recompense, perhaps?
The third woman is Sloane, Fionaâs half-sister. Fiona also has a half-brother, Conner. Neither of them stayed in touch with their father after the divorce, and they were both fairly spoiled and entitled individuals. I felt like Connerâs character was a bit one-dimensional as he remained the same throughout the book. Some people are not willing to forgive. Conner and Sloane (and their mother) never knew about Fiona until she arrived for the reading of the will, so they were justifiably angry. They believed she was there to manipulate and take over, and they thought she was there just for the money. She never came to Italy, after all. While Conner remains angry and maintains the bitterness toward Fiona and Lillian, Sloane begins to see the truth about her father, the vineyard at Tuscany, and the situation between Anton and Lillian for what it was. She also has a revelation about herself, her children, and her family. I liked seeing her transformation, which again reminds us that anyone can change, and anyone can forgive.
Even Fiona. After Fiona learns she has inherited the vineyard (yes, the whole kit and caboodle), she resolves the issues she had with her mother and learned to love her father (Anton). She then goes back home to deal with her stepdad. For her entire life, she had taken up the baton that her mother passed on to her. Just as her mother had given up on her own desires in life, Fiona sacrificed her life to care for her dad. He obviously needs care, but he has also used his disability (and other means prior to the accident) to prevent the women in his life from advancing their own selves. He was afraid of âlosingâ them, so he held them tight. So tight that Fiona was feeling smothered. She was bitter at him for losing an opportunity to connect to her biological father and wasnât sure she could ever forgive him.
I felt like the book wrapped up everything pretty well, but the resolution between Fiona and her dad seemed a bit abrupt. Within one chapter she went from âIâm so mad at youâ to âOkay, I forgive you.â It felt a bit quick after all the chapters that preceded that moment in time, like the author was tired of writing by that point.
Other than thatâdealing with her stepdad issueâI really liked the book. I liked the way it ended, and I liked the overall messages one can draw from it. Lillianâs affair could have been avoided, and this is something all couples should consider, but she would never go back and change it as she has a daughter she loves. While she could have justified leaving her husband, she made the choice of commitment to her wedding vows. Itâs way too easy for couples to give it up when things get tough, so I appreciated her decision no matter how difficult.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~YOU HAVE REACHED THE NO SPOILERS ZONE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lessons for couples? Love your spouse. Love is an action word, so show them love in the things you do, say, and time you spend together. Hold your spouse tight but donât squeeze the breath out of them. Encourage one another to have independence and reach their individual goals, all the while balancing it out focusing on the relationship. Most importantly (not necessarily in the book), developing a relationship with God as a couple will draw the couple closer to each other, and increase their love for each other.
I’m so glad I have a husband who has stuck with me through thick and thin. I’ve heard firsthand stories of men leaving their wives when they are diagnosed with breast cancer. But Tim has been with me, caring for me, and picking up the slack when I have been unable to follow through. He’s a champion!
We havenât had our book club meeting yet. I would love to be there for the discussion, but I wonât be able to attend this one because we will be traveling. If I remember, I will edit this to include my book clubâs review. I would rate it 8.5.
I know. I should be tired, right? We sold our house, moved all of our stuff into a storage unit, moved ourselves into our Roam Home, and now we are traveling all over the country pulling said Roam Home.
Whew! Who wouldn’t be tired?
But this kind of tired, apparently, goes beyond the normal temporary moving type of tired. I was tired before we started this whole move and Full-time Airstreaming process. It’s been ongoing since the beginning of this cancer journey. Wiped-out. Exhausted. Fatigued.
I’m the type of person who typically overlooks what my body is saying. I think of others, tasks to be completed, and ignore what my body is saying. I have to ponder really hard about what my body is feeling. Throughout the journey, I have pushed myself to keep going, and I could put being tired out of my head long enough to do what I need to do. So I could function at work, at home, on the road, and continue living each day effectively and enjoyably.
As it turns out, fatigue is an actual diagnosis for about 65% (or more) of cancer patients. It’s not just your every day, run-of-the-mill, normal tiredness. It’s fall asleep at the drop of the hat kind of tired. Narcolepsy kind of tired. Reading a book, my head starts nodding. Driving down the road, I’m drooling. (When Tim is driving, that is đ.) Practicing my foreign languages, I have to put down the phone and just go to sleep. My body aches. It tells me to sleep. If I don’t listen, my body does it for me.
I’m not complaining, mind you. If I need a nap, I just take one. This is part of the reason I retired early (e.g. went on disability) in 2020. I didn’t need the extra stressors, and I needed the ability to rest when my body says to. My full-time job is fighting cancer, so everything else is just doing what I want.
I finally decided to talk to my doctor. He sent me for a fatigue consult.
The first time he sent me was in 2019, a few months after I had Gamma Knife radiation treatment to the brain, if you recall my history. It made sense that I was fatigued at the time, as radiation can affect your whole body. I had to go downtown for that consult (ugh). But, I was still working full-time as a university professor, and fatigue/focus was a real problem. So I complied.
The doctor I saw at the time prescribed Ritalin, and it helped a lot. I had read where Ritalin is used a lot with cancer patients for fatigue. It’s not just for kids with AD/HD. It worked! I had the energy I needed, without going over the top. I was sleeping better, and I could do my job without falling asleep during the day. I could focus. It was very helpful, and I was glad I went.
When it came time to get the prescription refilled, I didn’t go back downtown. Some time had passed and I convinced myself I was doing okay. By the time my medication ran out we were living in Vero Beach Florida (Tim was doing a temporary interim assignment there). Besides, I was going to stop working soon, so I thought that would help and I might not need the medicine.
I retired in January 2020. Then COVID hit.
Fast forward to June, 2024. I’ve been noticing the fatigue again. Not just since the move, but for the past year or more. Tim notices it more than me. He looks over at me during a movie and my eyes are closed. He sees me walking slower. He observes my focus waning. I talk to my oncologist about it, and he sends me for another fatigue consult.
I’m so glad I did it. This oncologist and her mentor specialize in fatigue treatment for cancer patients. They are the only two around who do this specialty. They have done a lot of research in this area, and recognize how challenging fatigue can be for patients. She explained some things about cancer and fatigue that made a lot of sense. For example, she said that when we have a sinus infection we go on an antibiotic for a few days. We may have some side effects, but they are relatively minor. They pass quickly. An infection is like being on the far left side of the spectrum. Cancer is on the far right. They give us more than a simple antibiotic. They hit us with very heavy drugs to attack a very bad disease. Side effects are exponentially greater. Fatigue is one of them. It’s an actual diagnosis, and when there is a diagnosis they provide treatment.
She is also willing to work with me on the refills. I can meet with her via Zoom for many of the follow-ups (as long as I’m in Texas). Pre-COVID, doctors were unwilling to do this. They had to see you in person. If anything good came from it, we can be thankful for the pandemic changing this mindset.
Some things I can do on my own to help with fatigue include exercise and diet, but she can also prescribe medication to help with the fatigue. Since the Ritalin helped me before, she decided to use it again. She gave me enough to take morning and noon daily if I need it, but I mainly take one in the morning and I’m good to go. Rarely, I will also take one at noon to give me some energy for the afternoon. And, of course, we are exercising.
I was very grateful. I can tell such a difference when I take it. I’m more focused, I have energy, and I don’t find myself looking at the inside of my eyelids nearly as often. Even though I’m not working full-time, having a fatigue specialist sure does make living retirement life a bit easier.
I do still take some naps, but it’s usually when I’ve had an extremely busy day. And I use my essential oils (En-R-Gee in particular) when I need an extra boost.
Cheers! Iâm done with everything. Just in time for lunch. Bone scan, chemo and CT of the chest, abdomen and pelvis. They had my CT scheduled for 6:00 AM tomorrow so I was so happy they agreed to do it today. Whew! đ€Ș
UPDATE – My oncologist called, and all my scans are still coming back good. They are watching a lymph node in my abdomen which increased slightly, but they are not concerned. My body remains stable. Stable means there is no progression. But, stage four cancer (metastatic breast cancer) never goes away, so we stick with the program.
PTL . God is so good! I donât deserve it, but Iâm so glad Heâs not finished with me yet.
I am living John 10:10 (living life abundantly) the best I can. I believe God is healing me, keeping the cancer at bay, and giving me strength to continue. Could I choose to quit treatment? Yes. But we don’t know what that would do. No one has ever tested it, and likely never will because who would want the risk? My cells seem to attract hormone and protein driven breast cancer, so the treatments I get with infusions as well as a daily pill protect my cells from the invasion. I’ll never stop treatment unless the doctor says, “you’re cured,” (which doesn’t happen for the reasons I already stated). Instead, I get regular scans to ensure there is no progression, doctor visits to prevent complacency, and treatment to ward off the demons.
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
I love the cover, as the emotion is so evident in the lives of these children. I envision Rill on the left, who felt totally responsible for taking care of her siblings.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate was selected for our April book club. This one was much better than the last one, but it was still a difficult and sad story to read. The story is based on a real place called the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, whose owner Georgia Tann tricked families into giving their children up for adoption (and even stole babies who were born) so she could traffic them and make money. She made a lot of pretenses about helping the children and taking good care of them, and wealthy celebrities supported her endeavors, but the book reveals the truth about the woman and her place through the eyes of some (fictitious) children who lived through it.
The shanty boat families were intriguing. Families who could not afford proper housing lived on a house boat on the Mississippi River. They kept to themselves, to avoid problems with the law. The main family that was followed in this story loved living on the river, and the children didn’t have any inclination that they were disadvantaged. They fished for food, and rowed into town for other necessities. When their mother was in the hospital giving birth to twins, Rill and her four siblings were taken away and placed in the Tennessee Children’s Home Society; their one piece of comfort was dreaming of the day they would go get to go back to the shanty boat and live with their parents. While this family is fictitious, there are pictures of shanty boat families in the book that I would imagine this family to resemble.
The story doesn’t begin there. It’s another novel that goes back and forth in time (we seem to be reading a lot of those lately). In the present day, Avery Stafford is with her Senator father attending a lady’s 100th birthday celebration at the nursing home where her high society grandmother now lives. A new resident at the home named May Crandall comes up to her and grabs her by the arm, and calls her “Fern.” Although a bit startled, she is intrigued. This event leads her down a path to solve a mystery, especially when she follows May to her room and sees a picture of May and her own grandmother on a table in May’s room. The book really takes off toward the second half, as Avery is learning about her grandmother’s hidden past, while learning about her own heritage in the process.
I shared a personal foster story with my book club, based on one of the questions in the book. There were a set of boys at the orphanage, who reminded me of my foster brother Jerry Meyers. He lived with us for two years from the time starting when he was 11, the same age as my brother Shawn. I was 7. If you were friends of my family back in the late 60s early 70s, you may remember Jerry. The boys in the book’s orphanage were incorrigible, as was Jerry, and older boys were rarely adopted. They felt unloved, and therefore acted unloving toward others. Jerry had been tossed back and forth from one foster home to another so he never learned how to love or trust his family. My mother made it her mission to love Jerry with the unconditional love of Jesus, and he had a radical transformation under her care. After two years his father (who had basically disowned him) decided to take him back. Why not, he was much better now. We saw him once more when he turned 18 and sought out my mother, but then we completely lost touch with him after that. I often wonder what happened to Jerry.
Anyway, the book was very good. It touched on a lot of emotions. It was a hard story to read, but an important piece of history. We discussed human trafficking, and how it still happens today. It’s just harder to put a name or face to the perpetrators in our day. Somehow Georgia Tann got away with this for three decades, but she died from cancer before the investigation could result in a conviction. I wonder how many others are getting away with this today because people are desperate to adopt a child, and they put their faith in an entity that they know little about. Definitely food for thought.
On a lighter note, it has been two years since they started the book club at the Canopy, and thus it was time for a celebration. the Canopy provides a variety of support services to cancer survivors (and warriors), all for free. They also sponsor my Spanish class. Click the link if you or a friend want to know more about how to get involved in the Canopy.
Here is our fearless leader’s synopsis of our time together.
Eight of us gathered to celebrate our second anniversary of the Canopy Book Club. Â We all liked the book and thought it was an easy read and some of us would read it again!!!! Especially since the names of the children had changed at the Tennessee Childrenâs Home Society by the terrible Georgia Tann. Â We all couldnât believe that a Memphis woman could cause so much pain, death and child trafficking and people went along with it for decades. Â We discussed how Rill/May and her siblings were so poor on the Arcadia but were so loved by Queenie and Briny and they never forgot it. We discussed how the sisters kept their history to themselves rather than sharing it with their families. Â
One woman shared a family secret that she found out through researching her genealogy but kept it to herself. Â We talked about adoption and another member shared the journey of both her children who have adopted children and how different the birth mother’s stories were. Â This was such a sad and heartbreaking story but we all thought it needed to be told.
We rated the book 8.4.
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
I had my annual echocardiogram yesterday and saw my cardiologist. Everything looks good. Even my cholesterol is in the normal range. It’s a beautiful thing! She said I should exercise “150 minutes per week.” That could be 3 days for 50 minutes, or 5 days for 30 minutes, etc. We walk, but it could be a bit brisker for me and we probably need to be more consistent.
I wish I could say I was laying there taking a nap, but it’s impossible to sleep when the tech is jamming the wand into your ribs to get pictures of your heart. đđ„Žđ Fortunately I am only required to have this test annually now, and they no longer do contrast. So no pokes for blood, and a shorter time in the scan.
Today I gave blood for the second time in two days, then saw my medical oncologist. Tim went with me to that one “for quality control.” Dr. K. laughed and asked whose quality is he controlling, mine or his đđđ€Șđ€Ș. The doctor referred to me as “people like you” as we talked, meaning I’m off the charts in terms of lifespan with metastatic breast cancer. They don’t really know whether they are over-treating, and no one will ever do a study to determine that. As long as I am tolerating it, we are good to keep going. After this many years of treatment, he said it is easy for one to become complacent. He is always guarding against complacency, and I appreciate that.
Every time there is any little something that comes up, he sends me to see another specialist, just to be sure. First, the brain lesions are likely just increases in hot spots due to the radiated areas, but the specialists will determine that in April after my follow-up MRI. Second, I’ve had a little lung issue with spots showing up from time to time (coming and going), an ongoing cough, occasional shortness of breath and fatigue. My cardiologist said it doesn’t sound heart related. So, Dr. K. is sending me to a pulmonary specialist. No emergency. No rush. Just making sure he is covering all his bases. Third, I have had some headaches with an increase in double vision (not likely related to the brain spots). So, he wants me to see an opthalmologist. Not a bad idea; I was already considering it.
While I don’t look forward to adding more specialist visits to my list of providers, that’s what I love about my oncologist. He never assumes everything is just fine unless the specialists tell him so. He listens, and responds accordingly. It’s better to go see a specialist and discover nothing is wrong than to not go and allow it to escalate.
At this writing I’m getting my treatment (Herceptin and Perjeta), which I do every three weeks. That’s the last of my medical appointments for this week, and then we can play.
I’m wearing my Airstream shirt because we are hitching up the trailer right after this and leaving for a Bluebonnet Rally in Brenham. They got me in early today and I have a very efficient nurse, so that’s a double blessing! Looking forward to seeing some beautiful bluebonnets!
“Lord, You restored me to health and let me live.”
Isaiah 38:16b
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
Have you ever heard the expression, “The cure is worse than the disease”? This statement applies to our recent Airstream experience.
If you follow us on Facebook you will undoubtedly recall, last summer on our way to Oklahoma City, a rogue spaghetti jar and some of his hooligan tin-can friends decided to escape the confines of their luxurious pantry and dance about on our pristine white Airstream floors. Their party was so raucous that spaghetti sauce found its way into some of the most obscure parts of our trailer. Needless to say, the owners of said partiers were in shock, and ultimately deeply depressed. The brand new Globetrotter had been defiled. This is a poetic way to say that our Airstream suffered some serious consequences from that mishap.
After two dealer recommendations and five home remedies, the mess only seemed to get marginally better. Was this an insurance claim? Was this a warranty item since the pantry lock had failed to do its job properly? Was it the result of owner stupidity? A few days later and after some serious conversations with the warranty people at the Mothership, it was determined this was indeed a warranty item — a $15,000 warranty item. There was a sigh of relief that this problem could be solved and return our Airstream to her previous glory.
Fast forward a few months. We found ourselves at Foley RV Center and Airstream of Mississippi to get the repair. (Originally we were going to travel to Jackson Center, Ohio for the repairs, but Foley has been highly recommended and since they are closer to home we could drop it off and avoid paying for hotels until the repairs were done). Mind you, this repair is not as simple as it might sound. The warranty work required that anything touching the floor, or connected to anything that touched the floor, had to be removed from the Airstream, and reassembled after the floor was replaced. That meant removing all of our personal stuff from the rig. We decided to use this opportunity to do some reorganizing and cleaning when we got it back from warranty work.
After removing everything, the last things to come up were the rugs. We reexamined the floor. To our astonishment, the stains had largely and substantially disappeared! On the drive from Conroe to Gulfport, we came to the conclusion that the cure (tearing everything apart and reassembling it) might be worse than the disease (some residual, very light staining). We spoke to John, the service manager, and while he would have loved to receive the $15,000 revenue from warranty work, he also felt that leaving it as is was likely the more prudent course. Decision made.
You have to look really closely to see the spaghetti sauce stains. It should look even better after we clean it a few more times.
We are returning home as we write this blog from Gulfport, on TX SH-12. It’s a beautiful, sunny, 71 degree Friday morning, a perfect day to clean the rig and put everything back where it belongs. All the additional warranty items have been repaired, and Roam Home seems to be feeling pretty good. Surgery was avoided and she will just have to live the rest of her life with only a small scar as a reminder of a piece of her journey.
Isn’t this much like us? We begin life with hopes and beliefs that our journey will be blemish-free. Then real life happens. We too find ourselves with the residue of regrets and bad choices, bumps and bruises, with scars along our path. But once we meet the Divine Service Advisor, we learn that we can be whole again even if not perfect (until we meet Him in eternity). The damages that we once had so much sorrow over become tutors to a better future.
(Thanks to Tim for helping me write this blog on our journey home from Mississippi. He has also started learning Spanish with me using Duolingo, so we are honoring our language studies at the end of each blog.)
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
Foley RV Center and Airstream of Mississippi (above). View from our hotel window (left).
It’s a bit daunting to have scans, only to be told I need to do it again in a few weeks. I was just getting used to having annual scans *sigh* đ . I’m not nervous or scared, mind you. Just annoyed that I have to take the time out of my busy retirement schedule to go back to the clinic (đ€Șđđ).
You may recall I had an MRI of the brain last year, as I do every year. It was in February (2023) and nothing was found. Well, I DO have a brain. They found one (contrary to some opinions đđ€Ș), but there were no lesions noted. Still stable!
Shortly after my annual MRI in 2023, I had a routine vision exam. The exam showed a significant increase to my double vision, which was concerning to my eye doctor. He can’t add enough prism in my glasses to fully correct it, so my eyes fight to bring the objects together. I’ve had double vision for about 2+ years now. I can see perfectly clear; I am just doubly blessed with whatever I see đ€Šââïž . In some ways it’s easier to wear glasses all the time instead of always looking for my readers, so I don’t mind that too much.
I shared the vision issue with my oncologist and he repeated the MRI of the brain in April 2023. In those results, two very small lesions showed up. But, they didn’t see any cause for concern. These are in the exact same location as two of the lesions we had radiated with gamma knife back in January 2019. My oncologist said they likely showed up because of the way the MRI slices. I wrote a blog about that in May 2023 if you missed it.
My follow-up MRI for this year was done last week on Valentine’s Day, along with a follow-up CT of the chest (because of some new spots noted on the lungs in my last CT scan).
Before you read the following, please note that any hot spots in my brain are likely due to post-radiation effects. I think that means any lesions are just showing where my brain was radiated with the gamma knife, and therefore will keep showing up on the scans. There doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about, and they are still calling my body stable, but they do watch these hot spots closely in case there is progression of disease.
Bottom line, those little punctate lesions in my brain have grown since April of last year ever so slightly. Here’s the medical lingo from their impressions.
Irradiated Lesions: * Interval increase in size of an enhancing lesion within the right cerebellum status post radiation therapy which now measures 0.7 x 0.5 cm in axial dimensions (series 26 image 32), previously measuring 0.4 x 0.4 cm. Similar minimal associated T2 hyperintense signal without significant mass effect. * Interval slight increase in size of an enhancing lesion within the cerebellar vermis status post radiation which now measures 0.4 x 0.4 cm, previously 0.3 x 0.3 cm (series 26 image 36). Similar minimal associated T2 hyperintense signal without significant mass effect.
Comparison: MR brain with and without contrast dated 04/20/2023, MR brain with and without contrast dated 02/21/2023.
MRI Brain with and without Contrast Collected on February 15, 2024 8:25 AM
(It was on the 14th, not the 15th.)
What does this mean now?
They still think these spots are most likely “post-radiation” effects, rather than disease. I have had several conversations with the radiation PA, who has also been in contact with my radiation oncologist (who did the gamma knife). They want me to follow up with another MRI in 6-8 weeks (scheduled for April 3). I can do that in The Woodlands.
After the scan, I will meet with my radiation oncologist on April 9th to discuss “treatment options.” I don’t like the sound of that, but I did ask a question about treatment if there is progression, so perhaps she is just responding to my question. I’m glad she is willing to do talk with me via telehealth, and I’m happy they have MRI in The Woodlands now. It’s so much better now that I don’t have to drive downtown.
I have been five years without any progression, and it’s not uncommon to have some spots show up when you have metastatic breast cancer. I’m not worried, and I think it’s going to be fine. Having said that, just in case there is something else going on we are praying for a miracle, e.g. these spots will all vanish in the next scan. Please join me in prayer for that miracle. Either way, we trust the Lord with whatever comes our way.
As for the CT of the chest, all the lesions they saw in the last scan are gone đ . I believe it was the cold I had at the time. They found some new spots, but are attributing it to “inflammatory,” meaning I have another cold. Surprise đ đ€Šââïž. So that’s good news.
Ă la prochaine…hasta la prĂłxima vez…until next time!
(I started studying Spanish as well as French, beginning in January of this year. I’ve been studying French on DuoLingo for more than four years now.)
