Thanks for all the check-in emails, texts, and gentle reminders to update the d*mn blog already. Abby is finally seeing the end in sight for chemo: five rounds down, three to go, with the last infusion scheduled for October 10th. After that a few weeks of recovery and then it will be time for fun with surgery…but hey, no more barfing! Yes!
As you may recall, Abby started a new type of chemo last week, and while of course being bombarded with poisonous chemicals is never exactly a picnic, we are glad to report that at least the side effects of this new infusion were no worse than the previous one. Within a few days she was up and back at work, hanging with the kiddos and the rest of the family, and even held down the fort with a dear friend’s help so Merlin could make a quick trip to New York to do technical and aerial design for the new Julie Taymor Midsummer Night’s Dream show (woo hoo!).
Family snap from this past weekend at my folks’ above – Abby is rocking the fedora (although with 100 degree heat in LA these days, it’s a good time to be bald). Owen, meanwhile, was cleverly making a play for the iPad while the rest of us were distracted…and then Julia decided to do a little escape of her own:
Dear Abs, Here on the first coast, we are thinking of you and wishing you well. It is a long haul for you, but the end is in sight and so many friends and family members love you and are cheering you on. This ordeal will end and you will be back to normal, but with a greater appreciation of “normal”. I love you, and Pat and I are sending our good vibes to you. Can you feel them? Love, Uncle Dave
Wow, what beautiful joyful photos… and speaking of joy…
Someone in this Sangha I sit with (a Zen meditation group) shared a reading that distinguishes between happiness (which has an opposite) and joy (which does not), that “Joy is who we were when we’re not preoccupied with something else,” judging or evaluating ourselves or our circumstances.
Don’t mean to get all Zen on you but, to me, these photos capture the joyfulness you are sharing in the midst of this very challenging journey. As Abby texted me recently, “We’re feeling the love.” Me, too. I’d prefer it if I could wrap my arms around all of you, live and in person, but I am definitely feeling the love… all the way from Jersey City <3
Abby,
You are beauty incarnate in that photo! Oh, those beautiful half-moon eyes! I can’t wait to get Indy and Julia together. Indy is such a trip. Super strong and strong willed. Challenging me in wonderful ways and sometimes really, really challenging ways. I sent you a succulent thingy-ma-bob. Hope you guys got it! I think of you guys often and send love pretty much every day. Love, love, love, love, love, Amanda and Indigo