Noon Sunday, July 17, 2011

What a glorious day today - the sun is shining and not too hot, the birds are singing, Ed is home dozing in his easy chair and there's just a gentle breeze outside!

Yesterday was an amazing day for sure..... my youngest daughter Lindsay turned 21.   Unfortunately, Ed is still pretty housebound and taking it slow which is exactly what he needs to do so his Mom came over and stayed with him for the day.  My daughter, my son Tyler and a longtime girlfriend Lenore celebrated Lindsay's 21st birthday by going skydiving!  We drove up to Lompoc early in the morning and when the clouds and fog cleared, we got into a perfectly good airplace, climbed to 13,000 feet and then hurled ourselves out into the wild blue yonder!  IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE AND FANTASTIC!  We all LOVED it, and as soon as my feet were on the ground, I wanted to go again.  It's nothing like you imagine it to be and very freeing and spiritual.  We have photos and video that are just hilarious and we can't wait to go again.  My son actually has been once before and yesterday did his jump from 18,000 feet, pulling his own parachute and passing the test to judge altitude and time the release, etc.  He wants to get certified, but it's a long and expensive process, with a jump required at least every 30 days and 500 jumps to be completed before you can be a tandem instructor.  I can absolutely see how people get hooked on this sport.  You see God's country from the perspective of a bird and the quietness and serenity of the float after the parachute is open, is a crazy contrast to the noisy speed of the free fall portion when you first leave the aircraft.  A symphony of experiences culminating in a powder puff landing that is no more jolting than stepping off the curb.  A rush and an empowering experience to say the least!  I highly recommend it!  We finished her birthday by having dinner at Mastro's Steakhouse where she ordered her first cocktail - an appletini.  They serve it with dry ice in it which makes for a great photo op.  The wonderful piano player had the patrons sing a great Elton John rendition of Happy Birthday and we had a decadent meal of rib-eye, salmon, and lobster mashed potatoes, asparagus and ended with chocolate ganache cake and whipped cream.  There were several Lamborghini's parked in the valet area, but we opted for the wheelbarrows to get us home as we were groaning and sated from our spectacular meal!  It was a wonderful 21st birthday by any measure.  We came home and watched our skydiving videos and laughed so hard at our funny faces!

Ed is sleeping right now but I'm going to wake him up shortly and take him for a drive out in this beautiful weather.  Maybe we'll find a little stretch of beach and sit on a blanket for a bit, but I have to be careful and keep him out of the sun for more than a few minutes, as he's still quite sun sensitive from the chemo drugs.  He's still feeling weak as a kitten and sleeping quite a bit, but so far his temps have been normal and he's not feeling any of the complications.  No headaches or nausea.  Just tired.  I think he's frustrated cause he loves summer so much and wants to be doing more, but he's hanging in one day at a time.  Not easy for him, but hopefully the last summer he'll have to do this treatment. 

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon and yeah......Carmageddon turned out to be another media frenzy that never materialized.  Enjoy the sun.

Love,
Liz