A Special Day

Today has always been special to me. I’ve always looked forward to it! This morning, it started out around 3:45 as my alarm rudely awakened me from a great dream. Looking out the window, I saw darkness. Opening the door and stepping outside, I was treated to a view of numerous stars in a cloud free sky.

    Oh Yes!!

    I could’ve set up the telescope but I thought watching the planets come up over the horizon might be a better, and easier, way to go. I opted for a short drive to the near-by hill top with the camera, tripod and my binoculars. The view there is always superior to my front yard.

    About 20 minutes later with a warm drink in hand I was parking the car. It was quiet and there were stars everywhere. My observing spot is fairly light free. I could see stars pretty low to the horizon and that’s tough here in Shaler!

    I set up the camera and took a couple test shots and then scanned the stars with my binoculars. The moon had set about an hour before I arrived so there were no problems with it hiding the stars.

    Jupiter had just risen above the horizon when I arrived and Venus would soon be breaking out so I concentrated on that section of the hillside. It was easy to see where it would be rising, the other three planets, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter made a straight line right to where it would be showing up.

    Venus showed up a couple minutes after its predicted time of arrival. Suddenly…there it was behind the trees and then it was shining free. It is amazing how quickly they rise when you have a reference point to compare them to! I snapped a few shots and then went back to exploring the sky with the binoculars

    As the sky brightened, the International Space Station passed off in the north. I had hoped it would be close enough to Venus to get a picture but by then the sky was too bright. Watching it in binoculars would just have to do.

    The birds were starting to wake up, soon joggers would be out and I was ready to refill my coffee cup. I made it home in time to see the sunrise.

    I said this day was special to me. It isn’t because of the stars or the planets. Not even the ISS made it special. It’s because on this day my daughter Chelsey was born!

    She just had a new son, Nico, who arrived a couple days before Mothers Day and her birthday. Yes, I’d have to say that our lives are truly blessed. It’s going to be a great day. This day always is!

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A Wonderful Week

               Like the rest of the country, we have been restricted from visiting family and friends for the past year or so. One of the things I missed most was my grandson who was only around 5 months old when I saw him last. This was a constant ache in my side!

                Zoom meetings are great but as I’m sure you know, IT JUST AIN’T THE SAME!

                Ann Marie and I were both vaccinated and so were his parents, Chelsey and Jaime. After our two week safety period had passed, AMB and I were on the road. Heading across the state to see Mateo! (and his parents…)

                I wasn’t sure how he would react to me, a flat face he had been seeing on a smart phone or lap top. I shouldn’t have worried. He was open to us as soon as he saw us! I imagine he was just as starved for human contact as everyone else!

                We played with my notebook and pen first. I let him draw in it and both of us were happy! Then he discovered my watch. When he pushed the stem, the dial would illuminate. (Plus I made a funny (?) sound…well, he thought it was funny and that’s what’s important!)

I showed him my camera and how it worked. (You’re never too young to learn old technologies!) He looked a little puzzled, “Don’t pictures come from your phone?”

                Over the next couple days we read books and we told each other stories. We built things with his blocks and played with his stuffed animals. He showed me how to cut the grass. We laughed a lot!

We explored the near-by cement overflow structure and discovered if you bang on the grates with a rock, it makes a ringing sound. (Won’t Mom be proud?)

We watched movies, he helped his Mom cook lunch and I took lots of pictures. The days sped by!

                I don’t want you to think that we ignored Chelsey and Jaime while we were there, far from it. I missed seeing them also. It did my heart good to sit and talk with them, to catch up on all the things that have changed in their lives since we last were together. It made me so proud to see what great parents they are and how well they are raising their child.

Before long it was time to go and we packed the car and said our good-byes. With every fantastic memory there always seems to be something sad included. I hated to leave! It is tough leaving the ones you love!

                We left Sunday morning and spent the day driving to New Hampshire to visit with Jim Clark. It was a long drive but it was worth it! Sitting in Jim’s living room we talked about “the good old days” and our thoughts about the future. We talked about Pam, his wife who had recently died. Even though she wasn’t there bodily, she was definitely there in spirit. She is a part of Jim; I’ve only known the two of them as a pair, a couple. I really miss her.

Jim was watching the neighbor’s chickens while they were away.  We picked eggs after we fed them. Do you have any idea how many eggs 26 chickens lay a day? (LOTS!) Do you have any idea how difficult it is to count 26 moving hens? The morning count was easy; I’d count them as they walked up the ramp and out the door. It wasn’t as easy when they were rushing to get back in or scattered around the feeding trough.

 I made friends with ZoZo, the farm dog. He has to be the friendliest dog I’ve ever met. I took a walk around the pasture and into the woods, he would follow close by, coming at a run any time I’d call him. He was happy to be outside and running around but still he stayed near-by. Oh, how I wish Red had been like that!

                All too soon it was time to get ready for our return journey. I got up early and went outside to watch the International Space Station pass almost directly overhead. It started its flight in the west beside the full moon and disappeared into the brightening dawn behind me.

                Even though the moon was full, a Super Moon no less, I could still see more stars than a dark night in Glenshaw. The weather and the scenery in New Hampshire and Vermont were spectacular, but the best thing about this part of the trip was seeing Jim again. You just can’t beat the feelings you get with close friends!

                It was a long trip back, a little over 11 hours total. Surprisingly it was one of the fastest trips I’ve taken there or back! The weather was wonderful, the temperatures were in the 80’s and almost all the way across the mountains of Vermont, we chased a rainbow! It was just that kinda trip!

                Now we are back, the “real” life begins again. But we are both renewed. Refueled, ready to tackle the world and anything it might toss our way. Perfect weeks have a way of doing that!

The Long Walk, Ten Years and Counting!

                There are a lot of things I am thankful for. If I really set my mind to it I could fill pages, but there is someone I’m especially thankful for and I’d like to tell you about her.

              I’m looking at my calendar, reading the notation under November 27^th,  the day after Thanksgiving. The scribbled note at the bottom of the date reads  ”Chelsey  -  Diabetes (2010)”.  I’ll never forget that weekend!  My daughter wasn’t feeling very well at Thanksgiving and eventually ended up in the ICU of a local hospital, taking some of her first steps in her journey into the world of diabetes.

                At first things went slowly, we were all concerned, of course.  But this woman pulled up her boot straps and started the walk. I’m sure she was scared, how could she not be? Being told that her life as she knew it would be changing. Without knowing any details about her condition other than she was now a diabetic. Her world was tumbling. There was so much unknown territory ahead. I remember being told my own diagnosis and thinking that my current lifestyle was over. (Over 40 years ago and I can remember it like it was yesterday!)

                Two days later on the 29^th, she gave herself an injection, the first of thousands she would be delivering. Fighting to overcome her fear of needles she managed to do it! There were so many steps she was taking in those first few days, first steps in a very long walk.

                Over the past ten years her walk continues and she constantly shows me the power she holds within herself. Studying and researching various pumps and manufacturers before deciding which pump to use, managing her college courses and later her job. She managed her pregnancy by keeping her A1c levels extremely close to normal, a difficult thing to do! She and her supportive husband are raising a wonderful little boy and they both are maintaining jobs and dealing with the various restrictions of an ongoing pandemic and remaining healthy while doing it! They are living normal lives!

                No one has ever said that being a diabetic is easy, for the patient or their support members. It is an ongoing fight to stay healthy, eat properly, exercise and deal with the stresses of everyday life. Diabetes is a mental game also!

                I look back at these last ten years and I can’t help but be proud of the way my daughter has handled herself. She has helped others with their diabetic journeys. She has shown me more than once her inner fortitude and has pointed me the way to go through example!

                So, on this day, the 27^th of November 2020, I have to remember some of the important things I’m thankful for. Family and friends, we help each other through the tough stretches. Our health, we need to try our best to stay healthy, do your part!  The fact that we have a roof over our heads and a way to pay for the expenses we encounter. I’m thankful for the current state of technology; thanks to it I can see and talk with my grandson (and his Mom) via the internet. I’m so thankful for all the people I love and hold dear to me! I hope we all had a chance to think about all these things which fuel our lives before we dove into the Thanksgiving meal. (sequestered of course)

                 I just have to say, again, how proud I am of my daughter's achievements. They are too numerous to count, every time she stops to do a blood test, another small achievement is reached. 

                 I think back to some of the many adventures we had together, the Diabetes Tour in NYC,  http://booksadventuresandlife.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-york-city-diabetes-tour-2011.html , to name just one and all the great times we had together, they make me look forward to the ones we will take in the future.  Keep walkin’, stay strong and stay proud!

                I’ve told you this before, but I’ll say it again, “Chelsey, You make me so proud!”.

 I love you!

 As Mr. Rogers would say…”IPOY, 143!!”

Happy D-Day!!!

 

            Sometimes it looks as if the stairs go on forever...but once you get to the top and look back, you find out that the time has flown by and it was all worthwhile! 

*          And lastly… thank heavens for the "handrails"!