Merry Christmas!! 2018
One of the best things about this time
of year is the chance it gives us to connect with you, our many friends and
family that we don’t get to see or chat with all that often. It’s no secret, I LOVE writing and receiving
Christmas letters. Something about condensing an entire year into one letter is such a challenge for me.
We started the year off
on a sad note in January when our sweet Mr. Smoke kitty was diagnosed with a cancerous heart tumor. He hung on for 7 days after the diagnosis but
then it was his time. We enjoyed him for 11 long years and he left a little
piece of empty in our home. Gypsy on the
other hand, does not miss him at all, and has become much friendlier.
March started with a long overdue visit with my friend Patti who was down from Kelowna. I was not working at the time and we were able to finally connect after how many years??
The first big news of the year was in March when I finally made the
decision to resign from my job of 20 years. It wasn't really planned,
but I just woke up and realized that I wasn't going to commute any more,
and the work stress was not worth the health risks. So, I gave a
month's notice and the entire month of March flew by as I rode the
emotional roller coaster of fear, joy, detachment, sadness, elation and
fear again. The best decision I’ve made in a long time and I have no
regrets (other than the pay cheque). Freedom! The worst part was 4 days
before my last day, I stepped on a rake and got a really nasty black
eye. So, all my colleagues now have a black-eyed Josie as their last
memory of me! But the upside is since leaving, I’ve managed to lose all
the weight I needed to lose, simply because I now have time to exercise!Unemployment led to discussions between Chris and I about finances and the future. We agreed that the time was right to sell our home on Bowen, pay off our mortgage, and with the leftover proceeds from the sale, we would actually be able to buy a new home outright if we relocated to Vancouver Island. This led to a frenzy of projects, like repainting the siding of the house, and re-staining all the outbuildings; we fixed up all the driveway landscape ties and re-landscaped the driveway garden; painted the ensuite, and so on. It was fun.
Between April and June, we had a few getaways. My friend Bonnie (across the road) and I went to Tofino for 3 days to take in the story telling presented by one of my favourite west coast native artists, Roy Henry Vickers. The weather was fantastic and it was a great trip. In June, Chris and I went to Vancouver Island to look at some real estate with my friend Kelli in Parksville, and then we made our way up to Campbell River to stay a night with Mike and Shae and see the grandkids. Another perfect weather road trip. Chris took his motorbike and I took my car.
It was another drought this past summer, the worst one yet. The koi survived again, the veggi garden produced lots of beet root, chard, runner beans, and green onions, but that was it. We had a bumper crop of Italian prune plums – picked over 100lbs. The 4 apple trees were equally productive.
Ajax is close to 2.5 years now. In June we
boarded him with the breeder when we went to Vancouver Island. She had
not seen him since he was 7 weeks old. She fell in love with him, and
said he had great show potential and encouraged us to let her show him.
So, we entered him in 2 dog shows this fall, and the handler did well
with him earning 7 points in total over the 2 shows. He needs 10 points
to get his Canadian Championship, so he’ll go into one more show in
January and hopefully get 3 more points and that will be the end of it.
Funny, I said he has never been trained to be in a show ring, he is a
leash free trail dog – heck he won’t even walk on a leash, but the
handler said he was born to show, and he did exactly what she wanted him
to do!
So this brings us to Chris. The dear heart had not been feeling well
since before last Christmas, and into the first half of this year.
Without too many details, and after many, tests and procedures, we got
the news that the colon cancer he had in 2016 had returned and
metastasized to a couple of other spots. Not the kind of test results
that anyone wants to here. So it’s been a long journey this year to get
to where we are today. A lot of it has been “hurry up and wait”. Chris
had surgery in September to remove the tumor but they couldn’t remove
it at the time because it was stuck between his pelvic bone and iliac
arteries and the surgeon felt it was too risky. They had to do a
temporary loop colostomy. The plan is to radiate the tumor to shrink it
enough so a new team of cancer surgeon specialists can attempt the
surgical removal and then remove the colostomy. In the meantime, Chris
is on oral chemotherapy which he seems to be tolerating pretty well, all
things considered.
Radiation will likely start some time in the new
year now that he’s healed from the first surgery, and after a couple
more scans are completed. He has a new team of specialized cancer
surgeons who are looking at some radical surgical options, but this is
still down the road after more scans have been done and radiation
completed. It’s also just a maybe at the moment. We are in this together
and optimistic that, God willing, he will be in remission by this time
next year.
Perhaps on reflection, my quitting my job was actually a
godsend to be able to be with Chris over all these months and through
all the appointments and tests and biopsies. Needless to say, if you
want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans. Selling our house and
moving to Vancouver Island is obviously on hold right now and until
things are good and stable with Chris. I like to think that the real
estate plan in 2018 was just not meant to be anyway.
So that’s our year in a short 2 pages. We hope this letter finds you and yours in good spirits, good health, and ready for Christmas and to ring in the new year!.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
with love from
Chris, Josie …… Ajax, and Gypsy
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