Sunday, December 8, 2013

The holidays are almost here!?!?

It's hard to believe that it's December and we started decorating the house for Christmas today....didn't school just start?  Time seems to be flying by, certainly the last few months and the last year for that matter.  We seem to be keeping ourselves busy, mostly good busy with some challenging stuff mixed in along the way, thus the lack of a posting for a while.

The fall has seen a lot happen - Jen's been to middle school camp and choir camp, I've been to Toronto for a week long conference, choir is in full swing with one concert behind us and another coming up, both kids are in the school choir and have been to Choralfest and are preparing for the school Christmas concert, Christmas piano recital was last week, we closed up the lake, curling has resumed for the kids and Kris has started hockey, I seem to have been taking a lot of training courses (that time of the year) and even presented part of one, Grandma's visited us each month for a few days each time (took in Grandparents chapel, hockey, curling and whatever else was happening) and will be back again soon, the kids joined me for the Recognition dinner when I received my FCA certificate, we spent a long weekend in Minneapolis (shopped and visited cousins), had cousins in to visit from Montreal and managed to make it to work and school on a regular basis (and based on the first term report cards and teacher conferences school is pretty normal and going well).  Wow - no wonder why I'm tired!

It's also been challenging at times - November is one of the big months for remembering things over the last few years - between the 21st and the 24th we had the anniversaries of Karen's seizure and hospitalization last year and her initial diagnosis three years ago.  Our trip to Minneapolis earlier that month was our first time back there since our last trip with Karen just before her diagnosis at a time when we were starting to begin to notice something was not quite right.  Each of us deals with all of this differently and it's sometimes difficult to always be able to support each other the right way while dealing with your own emotions at the same time....we all try to remain patient with each other and find our way through.

Today we were the readers/candle lighters for the Advent candle at church and after a quick lunch we went to Chapel Lawn for Christmas cookie decorating and a Holiday memorial service - it was much smaller than the Mother's Day one we attended in May but we were glad we went none the less.  I passed on the office Christmas party on Friday - not quite ready for that kind of event solo just yet.

I still follow the blog that inspired this one (a man with a brain tumour and his wife we met at CancerCare) - he passed away 2 years ago but like us, his wife maintains the blog.  Her latest posting struck a familiar cord with me - she also experiences many milestones in the fall each year and wrote about her feelings - check it out at http://ramsyshannonunruh.blogspot.com.  I also visited last week with another client/friend who lost her husband to a brain tumour last year.  Both that visit and the blog posting helped me know my experiences this fall have been pretty "normal".  It's good to have these supports and reference points as we find our way.

I need to thank all our friends who help out and check in regularly - whether it's helping get the kids off to school when I have an early meeting, chauffeuring from choir, going for lunch and letting me bend their ear, making a regular phone call to check on me, planning get togethers including the kids for a fun dinner/evening or just the check ins to see how we are doing - it's all appreciated more than you know.

The kids will likely have more to say so hopefully we'll get another posting up soon as the holiday season moves along

Thanks again for all the support and caring.  I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and we'll see or talk to you soon!

Love
Doug and the gang