Dece4mber 25, 2008 9:45

Christmas night of a wonderful Christmas day.

First of all, going to church last night was the bittersweet experience that I knew it would. Without the ability to commingle with people, I was frustrated that I could not connect with a large number of friends and acquaintances that I had not seen for 2 months. My wife and I left at the beginning of the last hymn in order to avoid getting caught up dealing with well meaning well wishers and creating something that might quickly get out of control. The frustrations were not solely mine, however, as a friend called today to say that he made a special effort after the service to try to see me - and I was no where to be found! This is one side effect of chemo that no one really mentions and yet it seems to be the most painful of all!

As for the service, it did its job and properly set the stage for the ride home. My wife and I commented on how different and strangely quiet everything seemed to be as compared to any other night of the year.

As for the day itself, all of our children and grandchildren were here for Christmas dinner. Including other family members, there were 20 of us gathered in our home. It was a family day to focus on the good things in our lives and we did exactly that!

But, as with all large gatherings, there is a lot of work involved and at this juncture my wife is very tired. But life goes on and we have to look forward to rising early tomorrow morning to be at the hospital by 8:15. We're counting on light traffic due to the holiday and we're also counting on my counts being where they should be so that we can go home shortly thereafter.

So I'll let you all know how tomorrow turns out. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as there is a long way to go before this journey nears completion. Your thoughts and prayers are the greatest gift that I have ever received and very much appreciated.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day!

Bob