Ethan’s Journey

 I worked outside at my little camp spot in my in-laws side yard. It was quiet. I enjoyed listening to the different birds chirping.  Here is a picture of my office. When I was walking the dogs this morning I was walking back to the camper with Jiminy happily prancing along behind me. I felt like I was being watched. I stopped and looked over my shoulder to see 4 sets of eyes staring at me from about 30 feet away.  There stood 4 deer, peering at myself and Jiminy. They were curious of him. They were cocking their head, stretching their necks out to get a better look at this one eyed wonder. I said hello to them. I was planning out my next move in case they charged us. Little Jim would be saved at all costs. I felt confident that I could fight off one deer, but 4? I was not feeling that confident. They slowly turned and meandered away. That was so cool. Later, I let Theo out to hop around my work space. He was so happy, eating clover and dead leaves. Then about 12 feet awa...

 I woke up at 3:30 this morning. Why? That’s a good question. I was having these realistic dreams that I was being presented one unsolvable problem after another. It was frustrating. I must have been so annoyed that I woke up. Ethan and I packed up to go to the hospital this morning. We had our computers, chargers, snacks and more. We arrived at the hospital and I pulled up to the little ticket booth in the parking garage. It shows you a video of what you look like as you grab your ticket. I was a little startled that my face looked like a crazed serial killer. I actually laughed out loud and how uninviting my face was. We got checked in and they took Ethan right back. They allowed me to go with him but did share that it is not the typical routine. Ethan did say that he would prefer me to be there. They had to give Ethan an IV.  The ladies were just fawning over Ethan’s veins and how beautiful they were. They hit the IV on the first try! The lady I had spoken to regarding coll...

I really feel some people are placed in my life to teach me something. Some are excellent and I want to be more like them. Others are horrific and I wonder why I had to even cross paths with them. I have wonderful role models for friends, and others that are someone that I used to know. Ions ago, I had a boss that was awful. Unfair, narcissistic, and a lot stirrer at best. At the time I wondered why such a person would be in a leadership position. I walked away from that position defeated. It took months to recover from.  Years later I would discover that I didn’t like the way they spoke to me. I didn’t like their tone. I didn’t like the way they worded things. I didn’t like their negativity. I certainly didn’t like the way they had a knack for making me feel stupid. It has led me to be more thoughtful about my interactions with people. I never want to make someone feel the way that person made me feel. I had a coworker share some excellent feedback with me today. It had me reflect...

 All day felt like a Monday to me. So I was off a little bit.  The hospital called to go over prep for Thursday’s appointment. As they were telling me everything, I asked if he was getting bloodwork. This is our first annual exam in Rochester. She was really friendly and nice. She was patient with my questions and I liked her kindness. The lady said “nope” and I asked “why”? She couldn’t give me an answer, but just said he “wasn’t on the schedule” for bloodwork. I had the gut feeling something was going to be missed and pressed a little more. I explained that typically at his annual Ethan would get extensive bloodwork. Since we were new to this facility, I asked when all of his extensive screening would be done, that has historically done at his annual exam, just so I could understand this new timeline/process. They shared they would be putting in an IV ( what a perfect time to collect blood and save Ethan a poke). After more pressing, I was given 3 numbers to a Transplant Nur...

 What a long day. I had a boatload of meetings today. It was nice to look at the beautiful glass like state of the lake. It was a perfect temperature to work in. Another day with a lazy co-worker. I had a couple breaks every few hours to run inside and get the camper ready for relocation. We are taking it for the weekend to the in-laws in preparation for the epic “Cousins” Weekend. Cousins Weekend is where family gets together, along with non family that is considered family. We eat, watch the cousins mingle, play bocce, swim, enjoy a campfire, drink and be merry. It is spent with lots of fun people that we don’t get to see very often. It is a highlight of our summer. We worked and packed, worked and packed. We finally were off “like a prom dress” around 5:30. Our drive was mostly uneventful. We did hear a loud thud of something the hit the camper above the truck cab. We assumed it was a bird. Poor bird. We arrived at the in-laws around 9:00 pm. We were dropping the camper off and ...

 Happy birthday to me! What a great day I had.  This morning the weather was calm, lake was smooth and it was warm. Thank’s Mother Nature! I had my coffee and talked to my mom on the phone. While I was on the phone, I was scanning the ground. Grass, clover, dandelions, more grass, and then I saw a 4-leaf clover. Wow! It brought me luck all day. My dad was really good at finding them. Paul went out and got me some breakfast treats. Yum!  We took the dogs for a run. To be clear, I was not running, but we let them off leash. They run really far ahead and I call them back. We practice the command “come” (don’t have a dirty mind) and they end up running twice as far. Penny runs the most. She goes 0-100 in less than 3 seconds. After we tired the dogs out, we prepared to go out on the boat. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Penny wasn’t overly tired, so we had to decide if she could go with us or not. We finally decided YES, and Penny was so happy. The trouble with taking a “not ...

 Today started out like another Saturday should. I slept in. It was until about 6:30 am, but I woke up on my own accord. When I rolled out of bed, I took the dogs for a walk up the street. They get to be off leash. Moe and Penny go hog wild but have really good recall. We are just working on “come” and “sit”. Jiminy and Ferguson were also off leash, and were running along with no care in the world. We went out on the boat. We went to our favorite little cove. All 4 dogs came. We parked the boat and sat in the sun and got nice and warm. I went in swimming in my tube and paddled around a bit. Then I gave all three little dogs a bath. They were so hot, I think they welcomed the coolness of the lake. As I was handing Jiminy back to Paul, Moe decided to jump in onto my tube. That didn’t go well for him. The water was belly button deep or more. He panicked for a second. But I held onto him. Since he was already in the water…he got a bath too.  He swam a little bit to get the shampoo...