posted Thursday, 14 July 2005
So, Tuesday, I was driving into the office and all of a sudden had this desire to be at home, in Rochester... so I turned around at Harrison Rd (after a 30 minute drive) and drove back home, packed a bag and headed north. My father recently accepted a job in Lancaster, PA, so they are in the process of getting our house ready to sell. With so much uncertainty of where things are headed in my near future, I felt like I needed to be sure to get home and spend some time there. I have my first oncologist appointment this Friday and if he says "let's start next week", I don't want there to be anything that I was wishing that I had taken the time to do (though I can think of a thousand things I'd rather be doing than starting chemotherapy!)
As I headed home,to pack a bag, the radio pronounced "it's not a good day for travel, with the turnpike closed in both directions on the northeast extension..." sweet... the drive took just over 6 hours from my new place... so add to that the 30 minutes into work & 30 minutes home and I was in the car for well over 7 hours. I must have been holding my left arm on the wheel funny, because I got a funny spasm in my left shoulder/back, right around Allentown (which is not even halfway home)... made for a pleasant trip!
There were so many people that I wanted to see in Rochester... and so little time (I had to be back Friday to meet Dr Cairoli). Tuesday night, I walked in the door and mom told me we were going to dinner with the neighborhood. Lovely - but I was exhausted. I mustered up some energy and headed out. It was really great to see Barb, Rick, Jon, Margie and especially Bob Long :) Somehow, despite the fact that 3 of them work evenings, all of them were available at last minute notice to visit...
So it turns out that my new space foam mattress has totally ruined me... I could not fall asleep in my parents rock-hard guest bed to save my life. Around 2am I relocated to the couch downstairs and managed to get a little bit of sleep.
Wednesday, I went to my cousin Jaclyn's 4th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. Now, amazingly enough, Chuck E Cheese's has come a long way since I was a kid. I remember this one ride that was basically a little seat, stuck onto a big wheel... that you put your token in and it just rotated... the chair went up around and down... wheeee! Now, they have all these rides - Bob the Builder, Barney, Airplanes, Cars... the rides even take your picture and spit out a computer photograph.... it was crazy... the pizza is every bit as good as I remember and the prizes every bit as lame. With 30 tickets, we managed to win a packet of smarties (15 tickets) and a cheesy plastic bracelet (15 tickets)... 15 tickets for 1 packet of smarties?!?!? what a scam.
Afterwards, Donna (my cousin), and her 3 daughters: Jaclyn (almost 4 yrs), Lauren (2 yrs) & Ashley (6 wks) came back to my parents house. My friend Katie also came over with her daughters: Emma (4 yrs) & Bridget (6 months)... all I can say is that it was total craziness...little girls everywhere! I also got to visit with our dear friend Peg. Peg shared a duplex with my parents in Hawaii, where I was born. As the stories go, I used to go over to Peg's as a child and she fed me crackers. I got to catch up with Griff on the phone, but didn't have time to see him in person, which was unfortunate... if only his 3 daughters had been in town, we could have made it into a real party! Though it was tiring, it was fantastic to spend time with such great friends and family and to spend time with their families... it is one thing I miss about being so far away... watching one of my closest friends from adolescence be a "mom" was touching in a way i will not easily forget. i wanted to hug her children tight and say - "do you know how lucky you are to have such a terrific mom? she's one of the dearest friends in my life... and you get to have her take care of you every day!"
Thursday I slept in a bit and then headed back on the road. I stopped to see an old friend who I haven't seen in many months, to give him the news. I guess there were just certain people in my life (even those from my previous lives...) who I wanted to give the news to personally. I'm not sure why. I guess I just thought about how I would feel about hearing the same news about them "through the grapevine" and I didn't like how that felt. No matter how hard it is to actually break the news (there's no good way to do it... at least I haven't found one yet and I've been practicing for a month now), it's always harder to watch their reaction. I hate to see people I care about upset/distraught/sad.... and I'm always so tempted to say "don't be sad... don't cry..." but I guess I have to let everyone react and let them feel and try to reach in and feel it myself...
Links:
• http://www.visitrochester.com/
• http://www.chuckecheese.com/
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