Blog #31

August 24-September 2

It’s been a while.  It’s Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year. We’re making amends, asking forgiveness from people we may have wronged.  If waiting a long time for an update on the blog is considered a wrong, I apologize. Seriously, if I’ve offended you in other ways, I ask for your forgiveness.  

This is a REALLY LONG blog post. So long in fact I am going to split it in two parts: one released today and the other later this week.  Still, you may want to skip to some info about a wedding or a funeral or another wedding, I won’t judge. Just read the headings. You’ll know.  Here’s the main thumbnail

• Walked the Susan G. Komen 3Day 60 walk against breast cancer
• Mom fell and cut herself badly
• Back in Asheville for a hot minute
• Drove to Boston to pick up Brianna and her car
• Drove to the East End of Long Island for a Wedding
• Back to Asheville for a Short Bit
• Toby
• Crash
• Rachel’s Wedding
• Happy New Year

In the meantime, moving in is a process. There are fewer boxes waiting for me to unpack. I finally found my spices today. Now I’m at the part of the process where I’ve put things away but I can’t find them in the house because I haven’t been here long enough.  Where’s the can opener? The kitchen shears? Scissors? I had 3 pair but now — nada. On the good news side, you can actually see the rug in front of the couch. Small steps. 

Walking the Susan G. Komen

But big steps happened too.  As you may remember from previous blog posts, I have been training for my big annual(ish) event, the Susan G. Komen 3Day walk against breast cancer.  Sixty miles over three days is an aspirational goal. The walk itself is hard, but the training time really is the battle.

My younger sister Linda is our team leader and somehow corralled me, my mom and my daughter Brianna throughout the training and the walk weekend. We all had our challenges with raising the minimum donation of $2300, but somehow made it. If I haven’t thanked you as one of my supporters, let me do it now.  Brianna raised money by giving jars of honey (thanks Cliff!) in exchange for donations. Go Bri!

Linda flew in from CA on the red eye on Friday and I met her in the early afternoon. Our room wasn’t ready, but we got a chance to enjoy the “pink bubble” and say hello to some crew members and other walkers. Later, we met Brianna in the North End – the Little Italy of Boston — for dinner. She got us an outdoor table in an area that you could swear was lifted out of Rome. It was a warm, lovely summer night with the sun slowly sinking in the sky. Linda’s college friend joined us and my mom took a cab right from the airport to meet us.  To top it off, it was the beginning of their big Italian festival, St. Anthony’s Feast. Mario Puzo would have been proud of the special parade that marched right by our table to the church 100 feet away complete with the brass band and people carrying a Madonna statue, decorated with streamers clipped with cash. Eat your heart out GodFather. We ate our hearts out as the food was delicious. And then we shared cannolis. You might like Mike’s but we went for Modern Pastry’s. Those of you who know, know. 

We woke up early the next morning to start the walk and participate in the opening ceremony at the hotel ballroom. It is very moving and fairly indescribable. We started off through special cheering sections, banners and the starting line where they scanned our bar-coded credentials. We didn’t go far when we had a hiccup. 

Ghastly Gashes

My mom fell. It was just dumb luck that she caught some uneven pavement. Linda and I were right next to her but couldn’t stop the slow-motion fall. She skinned her shin and elbow pretty badly. The problem is that at her age she has skin like paper and she’s on blood thinners. The gash looked pretty bad. Luckily, there were a million first responders on the walk. First off was a fireman who was walking the 3Day in full dress and had supplies to help stop the bleeding. Two steps behind him was a registered nurse who helped further. Then the Komen walk sent a van to get us to the medical station at the first rest stop. 

The medical personnel looked at her wounds and cleaned them up as best they could. Then it was rock, papers, scissors to decide who would accompany mom to the Urgent Care. The medical director for the event also went, but I pulled the short straw and Linda went with mom. It took a few hours but they fixed her up. And pulled her card so she couldn’t walk again the next day.

Brianna and I had our own adventures, trying to help a fellow walker who had lost her phone. We met some great people (one man who travels to all the Susan G. Komen 3Days from Atlanta on his motorcycle just to cheer on the walkers, for example.) The end of the day was a literal wash out as there was thunder and lightning and all the walkers were ferried by vans back to the hotel.

We met mom after dinner, and she needed to return to Urgent Care as her wrist was really hurting. We got an x-ray and all was fine, except for getting to bed late. 

After the Fall

The second day of the walk, Linda and Brianna and I walked first through Brianna’s home turf. We walked right by the beach she takes her dogs for walks. We walked by her block and the Southie pub made famous in Good Will Hunting. Southie is much more gentrified than when the movie was made. Brianna was having moving out challenges. She had to be out by Wednesday but actually was leaving early Monday to visit grandparents in Sag Harbor. David and I planned to meet her there on the weekend for a wedding. The big hurdle was her classic Mustang which needed a lift to Long Island. She was working to get a car hauler from UHaul, ferry tickets from New London which required exact dimensions from UHaul and various other moving issues. Still she walked. So proud of my girl. 

My mom managed to meet us at one of the pitstops to say hi and went back to the hotel to raise her leg again. She is such a trooper.

Snitches Get Stitches

Meanwhile, we were trying not to tell my older sister — who was on a much-needed vacay in Italy — that mom had fallen. Mom did that work for us by posting something in our family chat about going to the medical tent. She thought Anne wouldn’t catch on… (full disclosure: after that I posted a pic. I didn’t get stitches though.)

After many more miles, we made it back to the hotel to meet my mom in the medical room set up at the conference area. Her wound was still actively bleeding. We concurred with the staff that mom should return this time to an Emergency Department. Since Linda had gone the first time, she joined mom to give continuity of care. This time her skin looked better and the gave her a few loose stitches. Brianna went back to her apartment to pack some more and I waited in the hotel room for their return. Mom and Linda came back none worse for the wear and we went to sleep. 

The Final of the 3Days

We got up early (again) sans Brianna who was still trying to finish packing. Linda and I walked all over Boston. We walked past the Boston Public Library (as a former local library board member and president, I’m always on the lookout).  We passed the Boston Marathon finish line. And yet we kept walking. By the Seaport, by the statue of Paul Revere, the Freedom Trail, gorgeous Beacon Hill town homes, the Seaport again – basically everywhere.  Meanwhile, Bri had car issues – as in hers wouldn’t start. She arranged different place to stay and negotiated a couple more days for her parking spot. David and I would be picking her up later in the week.

 My mom and Bri met us at the closing celebration and we were able to walk (or hobble) through the finish line. I wanted to add more photos here but the website said it has no more room so You’ll have to imagine how amazing it was.

We saw the closing ceremony, had some dinner near the hotel said goodbye to Bri – until Thursday.  Mom, Linda and I packed and got ready for a truly early start. I rearranged my flights so I could go home with mom since she couldn’t carry her bags with her injuries.  I got on her 6:45am flight. Which meant we had to leave the hotel around 4:45. Yikes.

Going Home-ish

When we landed in Raleigh, I accompanied mom to her previously scheduled rhematologist appointment. In the meantime, her internist was able to connect Mom with a surgeon to inspect the wounds. Since that appointment was Tuesday morning, I stuck around another day and had some fun with mom. After the surgeon gave mom the thumbs up, I rented a car and drove back to Asheville. Why not? It’s only 4 hours. That’s like a hop, skip and a jump for those of us who drive across country!  I got home in time to help David install a winch on the car hauler so we could Brianna’s non-functioning classic Mustang on board. This trailer is getting a LOT of use.

I had a day to regroup. We decided to head out after work on Wednesday with the trailer. We could get 5 hours in on our 15-hour drive. We made it to Staunton, VA with our dogs in the back. Did I tell you that Toby is doing better?

On Thursday we did what we said we would never do again – a 12 hour driving day. Yes, I said we had 10 hours to go, but with stops for diesel, bathroom breaks (we had to go to gas stations as we didn’t have the Airstream with us. Oh! the humanity!) and construction delays, it was 12 hours. Ugh. We felt so wonky.

Mustang Needs a Ride

But our day was not done. We had hoped to meet Brianna with her AAA towed vehicle at a hotel outside Boston proper. Driving our big F250 and a car hauler through the heart of a city is not my idea of a Sunday drive. But we got a teary phone call from our daughter that the tow truck never showed. And wouldn’t for another 3 hours. And we had a ferry reservation at 7:30 am in New London, CT.  PARENTS TO THE RESCUE!!

So, we drove in to Boston. What is the phrase? A camel through the eye of a needle? That’s about right. Miraculously, Bri’s car started for a hot minute when we got there and she was able to drive it into the trailer.  No winch needed.  We still had to secure it down and load the rest of her belongings into the truck. And her dog.

We bedded down in Foxborough, MA for a hot minute and got up early (seems to be a trend recently) to catch the Ferry to Long Island. We caught the 7am boat and had a beautiful ride.  It was all worth it to know our little girl, her dog and her prized 1967 Mustang Shelby repro were safe and sound with us.

Well that’s it for Part I.  Obviously I have to end, as WordPress says I’ve done enough. The drama and roller coaster ride that is life continues with a wedding, a visit, a state fair, a funeral, a car accident and the best wedding of the summer – because it’s our daughter’s!  Hope that is a cliff hanger that will keep you reading in a couple of days at the next posting.