Blog 30: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Hi again! Here we are already Friday afternoon. Jan came home from work late this morning not feeling well which is rare for him. (I had good intentions to blog last week Friday.)

Let’s try to blog again. It’s been at least a week or more since the last entry. Natalie, my main blog helper, and Daniel are on vacation in California and will be returning next Friday. They both deserved this vacation and I hope they are having fun!

Getting back to last Friday, Jan came down with the stomach flu and was bed bound for three days. Just so happened that Malia was helping me that day and ended up taking care of Spike, Jan and me. What a handful we all were! She scurried around the house all day making sure we were all watered, fed and comfortable. We then packed my things for the weekend to go to the North Shore with my sister in law, Nancy who was coming from Maui for the weekend. I had to leave the house to be away from Jan as to not to get the flu which if caught would have been disastrous for me. Don’t worry, Malia made sure that Jan had homemade chicken rice soup, fruit, lots of liquids and all the flu and cold meds out. Jan is now better and back to his usual. Thank you Malia!

Nancy and I spent a quiet weekend at our Mokuleia beach condo watching movies, eating and enjoying watching the ocean and the colorful parachutes as they floated back down to earth at Dillingham Air Field. Malia and Spike came over a few times to swim and hang out. We had a nice girl weekend. Thank you Nancy for coming over to care for me when Jan was down and out!

We’ve had two swim days. As usual it was beautiful and fun. However this past Thursday, we forgot to bring the water belt. We (Kathy, Peggy, Karen, Malia, Spike and Michelle) sat at the beach talking and catching up on each other’s lives while enjoining the ocean, warmth of the sun and happy beach goers.

Congratulations to Punkin, Bill and Kathy Q for completing #3 of the North Shore swim. Congratulations to Peggy and Stote on placing in their age group for the Tinman triathlon and a big one to Roy for completing his first triathlon with little training. I think he is hooked on triathlons!

The last two weeks have been the initiation of our two new caregivers Lisa and Michelle who are the replacement for Glizza. They are both caregivers that give from the heart. I feel totally blessed to have them in my life. We are at the stage of getting to know each other and learning my daily needs. As time goes on things will get better and better. One day a week, Malia and Spike will be here for me. However it would be nice if we had someone to carry and hold Spike.

With summer, comes many friends and visitors to Hawaii. In the last two weeks, we have visited with a few friends. We were reacquainted with Dean and Elaine now living in Oakland after not seeing them for nine years. They now have two children.

We had dinner with Andrew who once worked at Jan’s office. We also met his girlfried Amanda as well. Both Andrew and Amanda live in New York. So nice seeing them and catching up with these young people.

We had an enjoyable dinner with Buzz whom he and wife Nell are dear friends of ours. Nell is on the mainland.

On Saturday morning, my friends from my old school dazes in Hilo like elementary to the 9^th grade stopped over for a visit before returning to Hilo. Randy and Bobbie from Hilo, Harriet who now lives on Oahu and I had a fun morning going over our classmates. This is the first time meeting Harriet since the 9^th grade and that was in the late 60’s! Wow! I don’t fell that old. Harriet is the same today as she was back then….funny. She can really make you laugh! As for Randy, we were reacquainted a few months ago in Hilo with classmates Brian and Les. Randy is also funny. I can’t believe how many of my classmates I have connected since the diagnosis. Thank you Randy, Bobbie and Harriet for taking the time to visit. I totally loved every minute with you!