July's End: Celebrations

We closed out July with wonderful weather, work, swimming and celebration...and just a few more days at home to enjoy views like this. 

Sweet Euclid Beach.  You have my heart.

One of the reasons we had to be home from Farley's for a bit was so that could have my annual mammogram and my 5 (!) year check in with my oncologist.  Five years is a milestone and I approached it with optimistic anxiety, keeping my mind off things by kayaking and day drinking..

Here I am waiting for 2 hours in  hospital robe in between my mammogram and seeing my doctor...

(It wasn't as bad as it seems in the photo.  Chatted with some nice ladies about family vacations, and listsned to my book on tape and tried not to freak out...)

Thankfully, the mammogram was clear and the appoiment was easy and I was declared officially cancer free at the 5 year mark!  Time to breathe again.

I have a new oncologist.  Dr. LeGrand, tiny forceful woman that she was, retired.  She was the doctor I needed then.  No nonsense, reassuring, clear.  Dr. Kruse is the doctor I need now.  Chatty and thorough and ready to give the full explanations that my brain (finally, five years in) is ready to hear.  I'd been planning on stopping Tamoxifen this summer if all was clear.  But Dr. Kruse decided, since I have literally no side effects and also I am "so young" (I like her!) that I might as well continue to the 10 year mark.  So my daily pill routine remains unchanged and I get to live with the extra 15 pounds that I like to blame on the medication. But I don't even care.  It turns out I like this body exactly the way it is.  Which is strong and healthy and cancer free.

Nat and I went out and bar hopped to celebrate.

Cocktails at the Fairmount.

Then several margaritas and allllll the tacos at Barrio.  A beautiful day

Energized by good news, I spent the next day embarking on my first and only house project of the summer-  clearing brush and preppinf the space by the sunroom for a future deck and hot tub.  I am tired of waiting to have a hot tub.  Target date for acquisition:  my birthday.  I'm going to need to give 46 something special so it can compete with the loveliness that is 45...

Any time I've had an extra hour, I've been at the pool.  Drink in hand, working on my tan, pretending to read but really surfing facebook, and just soaking up the absolute blessing that is being on summer break. 

I've also been running in Forest Hill- and sometimes taking walk breaks by waterfalls.  Have I ever mentioned I love where I live. 

On the 28th, Nat made an overnight trip to NY to fetch back our girl.  Taller and tanner and more mature than when we left her 10 days ago- and full of sweetness and stories.  She even let me hug her, several times!  I missed this sweet face. 

Sunny missed her too.

Lucky for our girl, she arrived home JUST in time for Swin Championships weekend.  (much to her dismay-- "Mom, this was YOUR idea for me to swim, I did NOT choose this!")

Little did she know this would end up being one of our best Champs ever.  Just a wonderful weekend for our kids and our community. 

We had a great campsite for Tigersharks, right by the action.  What a gift to have our lovely parent-friends all gathered together, so you could wander from tent to tent and catch up and chat and cheer together.  I wish more of life allowed this sort of connection, that we were not always so separate in our private homes.  These people, they are what I treasure in this community, even more than the architecture and the gardens...

Coach Dan's wife wandered the grounds as the Heights Tiger and it almost made me cry (not for the last time). This is the view from the top of the bleachers, from which vantage point you could see over the barbed wire around the pool and use your camera zoom to capture your swimmer.  The only drawback to Champs- not being able to be right there on deck, yelling into the water at the turn. But there was a certain air of festivity and adventure about climbing around people up the rickety metal steps to get to the very top...And then climbing down as fast as possible to go meet your swimmer with a towel...

What made the weekend even better was that our Morehouse swimmers absolutely rocked their events.  A special treat considering they had just taken 2 and 4 week breaks from practice...

 

Here'ss Ivy after winning her 50 Back heat.  Yay for ducks!

And here she is when we were surprised and thrilled to hear her name over the loudspeaker for getting 12th overall (out of 64 swimmers in her group)! Definitely one of the prime moments in a marvelous weekend. 

Also prime:  These girls making up and playing repeatedly the game "Tiger, tiger, shark."  This crew of 11-12 year olds are something special. 

At the end of day one we let the kids decompress at home and spent a lovely evening at our friend Keith's house, enjoying his spectacular garden and some great company.

And the turkey he roasted, which was raised for him by a frient and is pictured on this Christmas card. 

Day two:  back for more!  Jack wore his tech suit- ready to take names in his IM and 100 Breast.

As is the way with our kiddos, they were much more at ease and independent on day two.  They knew the ropes and could really relax with friends and enjoy the experience.  Even caught them being supportive to one another a few times.  Just add water for my kids to be their best selves.

Here's the boy on deck for his IM.

He swam so hard he almost collapsed after- and came in 5th overall in his age group!  Second green ribbon of the meet for him after his surprise 5th place (24.03 second) 50 Free on day one. 

The girls were covered with sharpie drawings for day two.

They also took over our tent,  And I loved it. 

How do you make a fabulous weekend even better? A spontaneous conga line before the final relays.  Our big kids... are still just kids.  Heart. 

At the end of the meet as we were ready to leave, laden with chairs and towels and bags, Jack says "Hang on" and veers off to his teammates, where he stayed for a good 15 minutes more, just soaking up the good times.   Tigersharks swimming has been so good to our family. 

Upon arriving home from the meet at 5:30, I turned around, packed a picnic and headed to Blossom with a friend from COC, to hear the Broadway legends orchestra performance.  A night like this one at Blossom is another way to take a great weekend and make it even better. I'd forgotten what a treasure this place is.

 And then it was August!  And we had yet another trip to pack and plan for (I asked Nat, "Are we maybe kind of traveled out?  Is that possible?)  After these lovely days at home there was a part of me that just wanted to keep going with it all, the pool and the beach and swim practice and watering the plants.  Summer at home is so good!  But as you will see in the next post- so is summer in West Virginia....