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I had an enjoyable, if brief, trip home for Christmas, although I spent just as much time en route as time actually *being* anywhere. I flew into Duluth but then my family drove down to Iowa to spend Christmas with my grandparents. My grandmother is recovering from a bout of pneumonia that she contracted halfway through her chemo treatments for lymphoma, so we simplified the festivities a lot this year. Most of the changes were for the better; I especially appreciated getting fewer gifts. More stuff just means more stuff to trip over, take up space, and require fixing. The food mostly worked out well, even though some of it was gifts from other people and the rest was either prepared in advance and/or designed for minimal prep work.
I suppose I never officially announced to the internet that my grandmother has cancer. She was diagnosed a few months ago and treatment has been unusually successful so far. She's about halfway through. She's about 80 (I can't remember exactly) and is otherwise in quite good health. I attribute this primarily to her overwhelmingly positive attitude, her faith in her Lord and the people around her, and the inner strength that northern women learn. I am mostly at peace with things, because she has led a full, good life and at her age, entropy being what it is, it's basically inevitable that some kind of health challenge will present itself. It's hard to resist asking the 'what if's, though: (a) evidently one of the medicines she's taking as a result of her cornea transplant (a treatment she said for years she didn't want, then finally changed her mind about a few years ago) has been linked to incidences of lymphoma, and (b) she's lived in the heart of corn country all her life--most of her adult life in the same city where she currently lives--and one of her doctors said that her type of cancer is unusually common in their region. It's hard to imagine that she doesn't have quite a lot of pesticides and herbicides built up in her body.
In addition to sitting in cars and planes a lot, I went for a couple of walks on Lake Superior, actually did a little Christmas shopping, spent quality time with Thunder Bunny (who I fear is also reaching the close of his life), and went to the Solstice festival in Two Harbors. They had a bonfire of precariously-balanced shipping pallets, kick-ass Norwegian accordion music, and a variety of little presentations. It was also a good opportunity to stroll around Lighthouse Point and take in the cold, the lights, and the quiet.
I'm going to end here because there is something confusing and wrong with my left pinkie involving it bleeding a little and not moving well.
I suppose I never officially announced to the internet that my grandmother has cancer. She was diagnosed a few months ago and treatment has been unusually successful so far. She's about halfway through. She's about 80 (I can't remember exactly) and is otherwise in quite good health. I attribute this primarily to her overwhelmingly positive attitude, her faith in her Lord and the people around her, and the inner strength that northern women learn. I am mostly at peace with things, because she has led a full, good life and at her age, entropy being what it is, it's basically inevitable that some kind of health challenge will present itself. It's hard to resist asking the 'what if's, though: (a) evidently one of the medicines she's taking as a result of her cornea transplant (a treatment she said for years she didn't want, then finally changed her mind about a few years ago) has been linked to incidences of lymphoma, and (b) she's lived in the heart of corn country all her life--most of her adult life in the same city where she currently lives--and one of her doctors said that her type of cancer is unusually common in their region. It's hard to imagine that she doesn't have quite a lot of pesticides and herbicides built up in her body.
In addition to sitting in cars and planes a lot, I went for a couple of walks on Lake Superior, actually did a little Christmas shopping, spent quality time with Thunder Bunny (who I fear is also reaching the close of his life), and went to the Solstice festival in Two Harbors. They had a bonfire of precariously-balanced shipping pallets, kick-ass Norwegian accordion music, and a variety of little presentations. It was also a good opportunity to stroll around Lighthouse Point and take in the cold, the lights, and the quiet.
I'm going to end here because there is something confusing and wrong with my left pinkie involving it bleeding a little and not moving well.