Monday was the 10th anniversary of Mike’s passing and I had conversations with both of my sons and took the time to look at photo albums and reflect on the years that we had together. I got a heartfelt ‘thinking of you today’ text from Patty first thing in the morning and my reply was that it seemed like yesterday but in reality was ten years of yesterdays. I look back in wonder at who I would be today if I hadn’t had the stable influence of him and his family.
And then there was Valentines Day, and Ben’s 46th birthday. He had the day off, but it was full of appointments and I was at their house cleaning, so other than the birthday cake that I made for him, we didn’t celebrate together.
Our temps have been kind of a roller coaster this week but Joey and I have gotten out for walks. One day, I clamped on my Yak Trax (there is still a thick layer of ice on the sidewalks and the edges of the roads). I noticed the many different sounds that were coming from my steps that were hitting different depths of ice, sometimes slushy, slurry sound and other times crisp crinkling sounds. It’s too bad that I didn’t try to record it. No, I wasn’t stoned either.
Yesterday was full of happy and sad moments. The sad news was that I learned that it was confirmed that Rita has lung cancer and will be facing surgery to remove one tumor and radiation to tackle two others. This didn’t come as a complete surprise as they have been monitoring a spot on her lung for many years and there have been changes recently. It is in an early stage, so her prospects of favorable results seem very possible.
The happy was that I went to St Paul to visit with my cousin Dawn who is visiting her long time friend, Randy Sabien. It turns out that their friendship has turned into a relationship that has gone from annual checks to see how she is doing to frequent meetups. Randy is a musician who plays many instruments but mostly the fiddle and Mike and I saw him perform many times back in the 90s. We had a great visit and I watched several of his You Tube videos when I got back home. I’m so happy for them both.
I finally explored the walking trail at Marsh Lake Park, it’s been on my list of places to check out for a long time and it proved to be well worth it. The trail is covered with a very thick layer of wood chips and it’s about a mile long through the woods and along a small marshy area. There were a lot of trees cut down and I learned from another walker that they are clearing out the invasive Buckthorn and the Ash trees that are infested by the Emerald Ash Borer. Even though there were a lot of trees cut, it seems there will still be lots of nice ones along the trail. It sure is nice to find these great natural spaces right in the middle of the city.
