NEED TO RELAX? TRY FISHING

On Bill's way to and from work, he always crosses the Rappahanock River. The shad are running right now. The heron, osprey, and humans are out fishing in hordes. Of course, as every true fisherman knows, it is past time to join the fun!!

Thursday evening we went fishing. The man beside us was reeling in a fish about every five minutes. It took me that long just to get my pole ready to cast. You have to understand, putting a worm on a hook is not my idea of how to spend my day in the park. By the time Bill got our poles baited, and our lines untangled from the bushes, he had very little time to fish. I decided to fish with a lure so that that baiting the hook with worms was no longer a problem. I managed to catch an eel, and about a four-inch sun fish--both returned to the water. Bill caught about four fish that he returned to the water as well. Maria caught two fish that were worth saving. We thought we would probably have them for breakfast the next morning.

When Maria was carrying the tackle box back to the van, it spilled, not being latched correctly. I helped her return the contents to the box. I did not realize until later that one of lures (this one had six little hooks attached to it) had snagged the hem of my dress. The harder I tried to get it out, the more entangled it became. I was feeling rather sick by this time, since I have a crises in the dress department already, and this was my best in-between going away dress. Bill tried valiantly to help me out of this pickle. The pliers he was using didn't work. In fact, it got stuck on the lure. Great!! Now I could walk around the rest of the evening with a lure and a pliers hanging from my hem. He finally pried lose the pliers, unbent the hooks, and released me from my prickles. What a guy!!

You may wonder--how did the fish taste? That is something we never know. Unfortunately, when we got home and were unpacking our gear, we discovered that we had the left the cooler with the fish in them on the dock back at the river.

What a relaxing way to spend and evening!! We really did have fun, in spite of everything. And we had some really good laughs. I am wondering, however, if this may not be one of the times that Bill secretly wishes that there would be at least one other male in the household to kind of help him through some of these trying times.

We have to go again. Somehow, I need to redeem the money I spent on my fishing license.

Harley in Heaven?

We have been studying Revelation in a Bible study I am a part of. During one of our breaks we got into a discussion about whether there are pets in heaven. My friend said that there had to be dogs in heaven because Harley, her recently deceased dog, is going to be there.

Is she right? I don't know. I do know that the Garden of Eden had animals. In my mind, heaven will be a lot like the Garden of Eden--only a lot better.

Of one thing I am sure--everything will be there that I need to be eternally happy!!

Ten Years Ago & Last Week

It's a girl!! Ten years ago today I arrived at the Fauquier Hospital to give birth to our daughter, Maria. I can hardly comprehend that it has been ten years ago. Parenting is one of the most satisfying things I have done. It has also stretched me in ways I hadn't been stretched before. As Dr. Dobson says, "Parenting isn't for cowards."

We plan to take her to a restaurant of her choice (within a budget:). Then, maybe at a later date we will have a few friends over to celebrate at the house.

I never wrote about last week. We so enjoyed having Marvin and Lois and family back in Virginia! Maria just loved having her cousins (adopted siblings) back to play with. The hours in their days were just not quite long enough. I felt like the time just flew. I told Bill that Lois and I never really got caught up.

My cousin, Ellis and Mary and their children were also here last week. That was such a special treat as well! It was great getting reacquainted with Ellis and Mary and getting to know their wonderful family. We enjoyed the late nights of chatting and playing Boggle. They spent three days touring D.C. I think their feet got tired before the sites all were seen. But they had nice weather, for the most part, and saw lots of things.

We headed up to SMBI for a couple of hours to celebrate graduation with my nephew, Hans. Follow his worldwide adventures at hansmast.com.

On Saturday afternoon we went in with Dave and Vonnie to a kite festival in D.C. We weren't the only ones there enjoying the hundreds of kites and the cherry blossoms, but we had a lot of fun. A highlight was running into some other friends, Tim and Brenda.

Now we are bracing ourselves for another busy and fun weekend at the Byler Reunion.

Day-brightners and Curls

I had two day brightners in the recent past. My cousin and his family are coming to see us (and the sights in D.C.) over spring break. We are excited about that! He told me in the course of conversation over the phone that he was training to participate in a bike run as a fundraiser for American Cancer Society. He and his wife are giving a donation to the organization in my name. Thanks, Ellis and Mary!! You don't know how that blessed me!


Accountability goes a long ways in helping me to accomplish goals. So I signed up for an online exercise training program. I told them my goals--how often I wanted to exercise and how much weight I wanted to lose. They sent me a heart moniter, some DVD's, and are giving me online support. I report to them when I exercise, how much I weigh, etc. I had a question about how to use the heart moniter, so I e-mailed the owner of the company, and got back an immediate response from him. We had discussed the fact that I had just completed treatment for breast cancer. He told me that he had lost his mother to lung cancer when he was twelve years old. In April he plans to run in his 11th Boston Marathon. His main sponsor is the Dana Ferber foundation, which is is a cancer treatment center where his mother was treated when she had cancer. He asked for permission to run a mile in my honor in the Boston Marathon. He puts everyone's name on his shirt who he honors but running for them. For more details about this exercise program go towww.momentumfs.com.

Curls--Who would have thought that I would have ever have curls. But my hair is coming back curly. Yes--it is even more gray then before--But it is honest to goodness hair, and I am grateful. I have just enough to keep a veil attached if it isn't too windy. I still reach for something more secure if I am outside too much. I am guessing the curls will leave when it gets longer, but it is kind of fun for a change.

Marathon Completed

I talked about a marathon in my last post. I realize it is high time to post again. That marathon is completed. My last radiation treatment was on Friday, the 22nd of February! It seems so strange to actually be able to stay home all day long. That fact did not really sink in until yesterday since I had spent a lot of time running the last number of days.

I am extremely relieved to have it over--chemotherapy, surgery, radiation--No more watching the machine drip poison into my body--knowing that it would make me sick, hoping desperately, that in the long run it would make me well. I remember so well the uncertainty of going into surgery--not knowing what he find, and the relief of the results that no lymph nodes were involved. No more watching the radiation machine pass over my chest, slowly burning it into a painful burn that is now healing and feeling better every day. "The benefits outweigh the risks and the pain," I would tell myself almost daily.

I expected to be immensely relieved to have life go back to normal. It suddenly hit me about Monday--full force that normal will need to be redefined from here on out. There is no going back to the innocence of life before cancer. I am forever changed. I struggled with a paradox. I felt a lot of sadness for the things to return like they were before. On the other hand, I treasure life, relationships with people, and most of all my relationship with God in ways I felt incapable of treasuring before. Do I want life to return to normal in that sense? Absolutely not. Again I need to tell myself almost daily, "The benefits outweigh the risks and the pain."

In an e-mail to my supporters, I hinted at the terror that wants to consume me when the ugly head of recurrence wants to taunt me. The emotional toil of scans and additional Dr. visits can almost paralyze me. Rosie, a dear friend, responded like this, "I will pray that you live gratefully rather then fearfully." Thank you, Rosie. Those were the exact words I needed to hear.

Today is a gift. Have you remembered to thank God for it!

Marathon

We had a wonderful Christmas-New Year holiday season. It flew by much to rapidly. I expected to have things calm down to a nice slow crawl, as they are supposed to after the holidays. So far, we are still waiting for that to happen. There have been dinners to go to, dinners to host, hunting season to wind up, stomach bugs to deal with, and yes, Dr. appointments.

2008 has started out with a bang!!

Oh yes, the marathon--I started my radiation treatments yesterday. I am scheduled for 33 treatments, going five days a week. That means I will be done in 6 1/2 weeks! It doesn't take long when you get there--maybe 15 or 20 minutes. It takes me a good twenty minutes to get there. So I need to figure a good hour out of each day. So far, they have quite pleasantly uneventful.

It's Beginning to Feel Like Christmas

I'm not sure when I have a more relaxing holiday season. I actually sent out a Christmas letter. I have my shopping done. I baked some cookies. We put up a few decorations. We went several Christmas concerts. The handbells at the Kennedy Center were especially good.

We also went to several Christmas parties. On Tuesday, I went to a Christmas brunch with a bunch of ladies with whom I am in a Bible study. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was back in the hills of Northern Fauquier Co. in horse country. The view from the front porch was breathtaking. If laughter is truly the best medicine, I should be in the peak of health. We had a marvelous time.

Not having a job outside the home has been a lot fun. I am getting so spoiled.

A Merry CHRISTmas to you all, and a blessed New Year.