Bucket List + Buckets of Love

Hi everyone,

Today is the 13th anniversary of the day Andy and I first met.  Back in 1999 when we were working at Raytheon; I was sitting at the front desk and Andy was being toured around as a new employee.  My first words to him were, “good morning, do you have a badge?” This is an example of a wonderful and happy day.  An anniversary to be celebrated.

We have passed several milestones since mid-April, ‘anniversaries‘ if you will.  I wanted to post on the 15th of April.  The 27th of April.  The 3rd of May.  The 5th of May.  But I couldn’t find the will.  Each of these days marked an anniversary of a significant date in this horrifying journey.  April 15th, 2011 was the day Andy and I experienced the first symptom, although, we had no idea what it meant at the time. The 27th of April was the day we were told we had a brain tumour and Andy was admitted to the hospital.  The 3rd of May was the day of surgery.  The 5th we were released to come home and recuperate. We can’t believe it has been over a year since this all started.

Every time I went to start a post and speak of an anniversary, it left me feeling repulsed and exasperated.  Anniversaries have always meant good things.  It seems like something to be celebrated.  I think the ‘anniversary‘ of a bad thing should have a different name. Like, ‘crapiversary’.

Anyway, as we mentioned in the last post, our goal has been to focus on the positive and make the most of the time we have left.  We think we have made some fine accomplishments.

Cyndy came to visit immediately, as soon as we called her.  We had a lovely weekend with her and reminisced and laughed and enjoyed.  She will be back for another visit next weekend.

We have spent some wonderful time with my parents and my sister; we had Easter, Mother’s Day and a lot of other days in between.

Best Man Bob {as you all know him} and his lovely wife, Marianne, flew in to visit and we were both spoiled by them and joined by them in crossing something off the bucket list. For those of you unfamiliar, Marianne is originally from France and she has introduced us to the most amazing culinary treasure: Foie Gras.  They brought foie gras to share with us which was sent all the way from France, accompanied with homemade onion jam all the way from France, and love, love, love all the way from France.

Then we went to Banff for a day, we made it up the gondola on Sulphur Mountain and then went to the Grizzly House {famous for fondue} on Main Street.  This is something we have always meant to do and we were thrilled to share it with our wonderful friends.  We felt adventurous and shared some exotic meat; we dined on alligator, shark, rattlesnake, frog’s legs, bison, wild boar, and then good old lobster, scallops, prawns, beef, and chicken.  And, of course, we completed our evening with a Toblerone fondue.  Delish!

We have ventured out on several walks around the neighbourhood, we’ve been trying to get out once a day.  We finally received our new wheelchair so Andy is much more comfortable hanging out in the chair.  One night we had an impromptu gathering with the neighbours in the garage – just like old times.  It was fantastic.  Dave + Kris, Jonas + Lindsay, and Jack + Linda pictured below.  (John + Heather joined in later but missed the photo.)  We have the best neighbours.

Another request Andy had was to have a fondue at home.  So, we asked Jodi to pick up some groceries and we had a “Sunday Funday Fun Fondue Day”.  For those of you that don’t know, Jodi comes over every Sunday to help around the house, and she usually brings lunch or dinner.  My Aunt Rosemary learned of our special days and being that she is far away in Vancouver and unable to visit she has become our Sunday benefactor.  So, she is the finance behind our feasts.  Thank you Auntie Rosemary!

We started with a cheese fondue mid-afternoon, then we had a broth fondue {oil is too fattening!} and we finished up with a Toblerone chocolate fondue {of course}.  I’m not sure which one was our favourite because they were all pretty great, but a special mention goes out to Jodi for picking up alligator and lobster meat as part of the main course.  So good!  {Thanks again to Jonas + Lindsay for lending us your fondue set!}

Most of you saw on Facebook that we were able to spend an evening out at a Van Halen concert.  Van Halen is one of Andy’s favourite bands and we were so disappointed months ago when we found out they were coming and we probably wouldn’t be able to go.  A few days before the concert we decided we would give it a try, I was able to score some tickets and Jodi booked us a super stretch SUV limo. We had a fantastic evening, enjoying a few drinks, just about all the food at the Saddledome, we bought a few shirts and rocked it out to Van Halen.

These are just a few of the fun things we’ve done in the last six weeks, at least those with photographic evidence.

We would like to say thank you to so many of you that have left comments, sent messages, and contacted us.  It has been so wonderful to hear from all of you.  Please, please, please, if you are reading this blog, please say hello, or email us (lisagenest {at} shaw {dot} ca), we would love to hear from you.  Even if you don’t know what to say, just let us know how you’re doing.  It adds to our days, it gives us something to do. We don’t feel so alone.  Please.

We also need to thank countless friends and family for goodies and gifts and cards and love.  We would like to name everyone that has done something but the list would be incredibly lengthy.  But,… thank you for dropping off meals, doing yard work, sending cookies, flowers, baskets of goodies, presents, cards in the mail, thank you for muffins and banana bread, and Starbucks, and buying us groceries, and taking the time to drive or fly all this way to see us.  Thank you for fish and chips, and dim sum, and Guiness, and La Brezza, and burgers, and sushi. Thank you for Skypes, and texts, and emails.  Thank you for supporting us and being there for us and not letting us feel like we’re alone for one minute.

Love to all,

Lisa+Andy

xoxo

p.s.  As you can see, most of our fabulous experiences have centred on food – our next challenge?  A crawfish boil!