It’s Been a Minute
Phew, ever look back and marvel at the journey? Like, "I did that. How did I do that?" 2021 is that for me. I'm not quite through the call to be courageous, but this year should see me finishing active treatment for cancer.
I felt like one Life Altering Diagnosis was enough for one lifetime. So I was surprised to learn, In late winter/early spring, that I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The past year has been a lot of research, treatment, and healing. Having Charcot Marie Tooth (hereditary neuropathy) complicated timelines and my reactions. I did well with some things while other things ended up with time in the hospital. My white blood cell count was actually 0 at one point. From then on, we made sure I had the medications to help build up white blood cells after chemo. I’ve lost my hair but found fantastic blue-purple wigs.
Meanwhile, I find myself feeling (slightly) creative again. Feeling like visiting photos and sharing stories. It's tremendous progress for me, because I did not feel like editing or posting or doing anything except healing (and that is totally fine). I still have days of Quiet. But I also appreciate the beauty and inspiration that comes from sharing stories. The way photos feel like time traveling. I have bunches to edit. Community support has meant the world to me. Thank you! I appreciate you ❤️ What a thing, that we are all traveling together through these times. We're doing this. And we're going to marvel at ourselves for the strength, creativity, and courage we brought to this time of history.
*photo by Ian in the passenger seat
December had an adventure to Lake Tahoe for a few days because our summer was such chaos. We managed to time the drive between two winter storms. We watched snow fall from the warmth of our hotel room. Super fun to be at the crest during a snowstorm. I have lots of photos of course.
Then, the day after Christmas, an intense snowstorm arrived overnight. The snow fell fast and heavy, cracking trees all over the county. Our trees did fine, but the power went out for five days. And the battery start on our generator wasn’t working, so Ian had to yank the manual start over and over to get power going to our few extension cords. And it was cold. Beautiful, but cold.
Polar bear swim, anyone? We hope you’re doing ok after Snowpocalypse 2021. Sending good energy out to everyone cleaning up after the storm. It’s a little easy to forget, in the sunshine, that folks have downed trees, damaged homes, and wrecked cars to fix. Then managing restoration and clean up after days or weeks of power outages. Thank you to everyone that stepped up to help friends and neighbors get through the rough days after the snow. And extra thank you to all the folks still helping out there. We appreciate the community coming together to literally weather the storm. Hopefully cleanup isn’t too overwhelming. Wishing you a day of calm and sunshine ☀️
More snow photos, though I find I’m randomly dipping into an image here and there to edit. Hopefully I find sustained attention to finish batches this week :)
