posted by Mary Lello, Monday, February 16, 2009, 6:09 AM
Many folks are asking how my 'day off' was. It was fabulous. To head to the mountains with 3 wonderful women was just so much fun. Of course we didn't get away nearly early enough and so we knew we had a shortened time to do anything. We got to the trail head of the Bald Faces in Evans Notch and realized we had brought 3 pairs of snowshoes for 4 gals. Oops. So I wore my stabli-icers over my hiking boots and hoped for the best. The trail was hard packed so the stablicers actually worked great provided I didn't step off the trail - then I could sink in to my knees.
It was a gorgeous day, cold with a strong wind but we were in the trees and could see the peak as we got higher. I'm suppose to make up some fantastic story as to why we didn't actually summit, but truth be told ... we wanted enough time to get to the brew pub!
It was fun and I have to thank Leanne and Art so much for offering me an entire day to go off like that. And on Valentines Day too!! Thank you Art and Leanne!
Yesterday Maureen left. She is the first person to come and spend a week here and not feel ready to go home. I'm not sure how it happened but we didn't exhaust her and beat her up energetically while she was here. The woman is made of steel!
It was a great visit and we loved having her here.
After we left Maureen at the airport Jim and I headed out to Scarborough where my mum and my sister, Karmo, live (not in the same house!). Karmo's hubby, Jerry, had created the annual "BUST YOUR BOOTY" sledding course in their backyard. Not a huge hill but one that had bumps and twists and turns and if you didn't ride it right you could fly into the outdoor fire pit (yes, with a fire burning!) or onto their deck or smack into a tree. So the course had it's exciting moments. My youngest sister, Sara, came down from Orono with her family (Shep and the 2 boys, Sam and Joe), and other friends of Karmo and Jerry's had also come over for the day so there were lots of kids and adults all busting their booty's on this course. It was a lot of fun.
Jerry took Jim for a long walk down to the water where they were invited in by the new neighbors - who have built a mansion down where we always have walked to the rocks. The whole neighborhood has been developed and there are HUGE houses out there now. Jim said the house was gorgeous and they had an amazing view looking out towards Scarborough beach. My blah blah sisters and I were jealous of this as we've wanted to get into that house and see the inside now that it's finished.
Jim was pretty tired after that long walk so he took a nap upstairs at Karmo's house while some of us continued to do 'one more run'. We headed home around 5:00. Our good friends, Matthew, Alice, Todd and MaryMargaret showed up and cooked us a lobster dinner with all the butter Jim could eat! AND they stayed and cleaned up after too!!! Amazing.
Jim is becoming more and more independent which offers more and more of some form of a 'normal life' now ... but we have a bit of a long road ahead still. And it still hits me hard at times and at odd moments that "JIM HAS CANCER!", and sort of takes me down, like being hit in the back of the knees by a fast moving dog. It can't always be predicted but it can't be ignored when it hits me either. Last night was one of those times. I used Ella, our dog, as an excuse to leave the dinner party as "she had to go out" and I just sat in the dark on our deck for a few minutes. My eyes would not stop tearing up - no big sobs but just my eyes filling up and spilling over.
The stars last night were astoundingly bright and beautiful in that cold winter sky. I was glad I had stepped away from the dinner party for just a moment and had the gift of seeing those stars like that.
Loving you all back,
Mary
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