More fun times

Today started off sunny and clear; a beautiful day.  I spoke with my boys, who are starting to count the days until I get home to them, although Jerry is not sure if he wants me back.  He just gives me a little schnauzer side eye and turns his back on me!  Don is looking well, although this morning I woke him out of a sound sleep… I’d forgotten that the clocks went back on the weekend, so it was still very early there while I was thinking that I needed to get a start on my day here!  

I did the presentation to the school’s cancer club.  My brother drove, and we went into the AV room at the school.  I was having moments of reminiscing about my time there, and it was somewhat of a shock to see the “new” building that had gone up in my last year there as being weathered and obviously well used!  The new building is in another area of the school, which has grown quite a bit since my friends and I were students!  Anyway, I spoke briefly about my own cancer experience, then focussed on what they — kids aged 14-18 — could do to support cancer or other chronically ill people in their lives.  I was delighted that several of them asked questions, and one girl shared that she was a cancer survivor herself, and she echoed my sentiments.  Another asked how do I deal with my down days, and for tips on managing uncertainty.  They enjoyed the talk — they stopped to express their thanks when leaving at the end of lunch, and shortly after I left, I found that the club’s IG page had been updated with photos and a video of me!  My brother commented that it was a good experience for him too, and he said that he thought it went well.  I’ve been invited back anytime I’m available, which I thought was very kind.

Then later, the hairdresser came over and she tidied up my pixie cut, so it now looks like a pixie cut.  I’m not totally adapted to having such short hair, but I’m playing with it a bit.  I also saw another of the older aunts, and it was such a blessing to see her looking so well!  I almost couldn’t stop hugging her!   She said that she had to come see me, since it had been so long.  I just held her hand and hugged her as much as I could.  It was just wonderful.  Then my friends started arriving.  It was supposed to be 3-4 people dropping by to see me, but it seemed that there was a funnel of people!  I saw some of my teenage friends who I haven’t seen in many years, and we spent some time catching up and making sure that we now have everyone’s contact info!  The guys started talking about a reunion, but I’ll see how far they get with organizing before I jump in 😂  Three of my high school friends came by, and it was fun saying, “Meet A, we were in school together; this is S who I know from church,” and so on.  We had a beautiful time of “Do you remember?” followed by a few photo shoots to capture everyone (we had to do more than one as people came and went). We had a great time looking at puppy photos, and I called Don to introduce him to my friends and he was part of the overall fun. Finally I said that I needed to rest, so they trickled out with a couple of exclamations at how late it had suddenly got.

This was  lovely evening, and I wouldn’t trade those friends or our memories for anything.  We did joke that there had to be a time to retire some of the old, embarrassing stories that come up when old friends meet and they remember the silly things that you did as a teen.  All before the advent of social media, so there’s no proof!  Plus all this fun, I was able to chat with some cousins on video and get updates — one was recovering from a cold, so we limited our chats to video.

After all that, I need to go lie down.  My back is giving me a few twinges to let me know that I’m red-zoning.  I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy with kind thoughts for everyone, so it’s great.  I think that I’ll get a lot of pleasure from rereading this week’s entries, just because they’re so full of love and friendship and kindness.  Just the thing to help overcome a bad day!!  I’ll leave you now and get some sleep.  Tomorrow is another full day, to be crowned with packing for the trip back to Canada. Good night!