Oh the places you will go....

Picassiette in Chartres, France

When first faced with a scary diagnosis, the mind quickly goes to unfinished business and goals left unfulfilled.


I can't die because.......


In my case, my number one thought was that Naomi, although 17 and technically near adulthood, needed a lot of mothering before becoming independent. I read many blogs and a common thread among the newly diagnosed with children....

I just want to live to dance at my child's wedding.


Well in my case, I've been asked NOT to dance at my child's wedding based on my dancing at other childrens' weddings. Somehow I missed the opportunity to dance with my son at his wedding though at least some of his buddies asked to dance with me. He did make a point to dance with me at Shanna's wedding. Shanna had an Arab wedding complete with Arab dancing, which seems to involve lots of dancing with ones arms in the air..hard when I still had a good case of frozen shoulder left over from breaking my humerus (not funny) 3 months previous. BTW, the treatment for a broken humerus head is this...suck it up and take some pain meds. No surgery was offered and it is impossible to cast. There is a certain irony in this. But the upshot of it was that I looked especially ridiculous dancing..fueled in part by Arak, the Arab version of Ouzo. There is a video of me dancing with Shanna's mother-in-law. Oh the indignity! Naomi, however, had no arak to cloud her memories. The other kids are well beyond their teenage years in which every silly thing their parents do is seen as some reflection of themselves. I should live so long that I am no longer an embarrassment to my children.

Well I have bigger dreams than to dance at weddings. I want to see all my grandchildren, even the unconceived, grow up.

There are so many places I would like to see. One of them is pictured above. This house and its surrounding gardens and its inside are completely made from intricate mosaics. I actually was in Chartres almost 9 years ago on the way to the Loire Valley to see its huge cathedral. We could see it twenty miles away, very impressive. Inside the cathedral, there is a labyrinth that sinners are to walk on their knees to receive penance. I didn't know about the Picassiette house or I would have certainly gone there.

Again it is slippery out, so much for winter going away. I could wait until this afternoon to run but I need to help Naomi. Also, for whatever reason, I have more energy to run in the morning and it has been a while since I lifted weights.