Two ships passing in the night!
That's my wife and I on Thursdays for the next few months. She goes out to breakfast with friends, then I go t docent training, then she goes to knitting, and, finally, I go to choir practice. But, that's getting our lives back to the way that they used to be - always busy.
The docent training wa fun. It's for the Zimmerman House - a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home. I must say that some some people are passionate about him and his work - having visited many of his homes that are open to the public across this country. I cannot put myself in that category. I'm interested in what he did, why he did it, and, most of all, having an opportunity to volunteer to do something that is of benefit to so many, many people - the museum itself and the people who wish to see the house. But, from what I gleaned today, even though you are giving, the rewards from doing so far outweigh what you contribute. That's nice, but not necessary.
As for the rest of the day, it was back to the bathroom project. I've been on somewhat of a hiatus - what with our Norway guest being here the past week. She is a remarkable person and I am so fortunate to be able to call her a friend.
Tomorrow, it's back to playing bridge with friends in the afternoon.
We have such an active social life and I love every bit of it...
Bob
February 24, 2010 10:40 PM
Time to say goodbye and start something new!
Tomorrow Janne from Norway goes on to Rhode Island to visit friends down there. We said our goodbyes tonight. Certaining a bittersweet moment as it has been such a blessing to have her here since last Thursday but, with all good things, they must come to an end.
Tomorrow, I embark on a new endeavor as I start a training course to become a docent for the Zimmerman house which is owned by the Currier Art Museum in neighboring Manchester. The uniqueness of the house is that it was designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. From what I hear, the training course is very good and it's quite comprehensive in that it runs for 10 weeks with each session being two and a half hours.
Hey, it's time to start giving back and reaching out to do new things. I think that it will be fun and certainly a new experience for me as I have never done anything like this before in my life. This whole journey has involved so many things that I've never done before in my life(both good and bad) - so let's add one more to the list.
Tomorrow looks to be exciting...
Bob
Tomorrow Janne from Norway goes on to Rhode Island to visit friends down there. We said our goodbyes tonight. Certaining a bittersweet moment as it has been such a blessing to have her here since last Thursday but, with all good things, they must come to an end.
Tomorrow, I embark on a new endeavor as I start a training course to become a docent for the Zimmerman house which is owned by the Currier Art Museum in neighboring Manchester. The uniqueness of the house is that it was designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. From what I hear, the training course is very good and it's quite comprehensive in that it runs for 10 weeks with each session being two and a half hours.
Hey, it's time to start giving back and reaching out to do new things. I think that it will be fun and certainly a new experience for me as I have never done anything like this before in my life. This whole journey has involved so many things that I've never done before in my life(both good and bad) - so let's add one more to the list.
Tomorrow looks to be exciting...
Bob
February 23, 2010 11:15 PM
Seeing stars!!
In not one way but two! I went out to breakfast with Janne from Norway today and she certainly is a star in my eyes for being a bone marrow donor and then for being such a good sport to be interviewed on American television when she got here. I know that she was very nervous yesterday - but she did an outstanding job.
With it being school vacation week, my wife and I took Janne and two of our grandchildren and a friend of our grandson's to the planetarium in Concord, NH. Not a whale of a lot to see but the film that they showed was worth the price of admission and I learned some things in the process. It's always good to continue to learn things.
Dinner tonight consisted of leftovers from the party on Sunday - what a surprise! Fortunately, there was not a lot of food leftover so we won't be eating leftovers until Summer arrives. As a defense mechanism, I probably should have given up leftovers for Lent then I would not have anything to worry about.
Time is flying fast. Tomorrow is the last Wednesday off of our 5 week wait between doctor's visits. It seems like only yesterday that we were there. But, I can't complain when the next visit is at the end of May.
Tomorrow is also Janne's last day here with us before she heads to Rhode Island to visit some friends. It seems like only yesterday that she arrived here. She keeps wanting us to visit her homeland of Norway and I would love to do so but I have no idea when foreign travel will be allowed for me and I only want to visit when the weather is good. Norway in the winter may be beautiful - but I'll let others be the judge of that!
Not to bad an entry for someone who had no idea what he was going to write...
Bob
In not one way but two! I went out to breakfast with Janne from Norway today and she certainly is a star in my eyes for being a bone marrow donor and then for being such a good sport to be interviewed on American television when she got here. I know that she was very nervous yesterday - but she did an outstanding job.
With it being school vacation week, my wife and I took Janne and two of our grandchildren and a friend of our grandson's to the planetarium in Concord, NH. Not a whale of a lot to see but the film that they showed was worth the price of admission and I learned some things in the process. It's always good to continue to learn things.
Dinner tonight consisted of leftovers from the party on Sunday - what a surprise! Fortunately, there was not a lot of food leftover so we won't be eating leftovers until Summer arrives. As a defense mechanism, I probably should have given up leftovers for Lent then I would not have anything to worry about.
Time is flying fast. Tomorrow is the last Wednesday off of our 5 week wait between doctor's visits. It seems like only yesterday that we were there. But, I can't complain when the next visit is at the end of May.
Tomorrow is also Janne's last day here with us before she heads to Rhode Island to visit some friends. It seems like only yesterday that she arrived here. She keeps wanting us to visit her homeland of Norway and I would love to do so but I have no idea when foreign travel will be allowed for me and I only want to visit when the weather is good. Norway in the winter may be beautiful - but I'll let others be the judge of that!
Not to bad an entry for someone who had no idea what he was going to write...
Bob
February 22, 2010 11:35 PM
From tears to TV star!
This morning's funeral was a tearfilled, heartbreaking affair for me. The lady who passed away from leukemia on Friday was exactly that - a lady! What a wonderful person she was. And this was only underlined by the wonderful words that one of her sons and his wife had to say about her. If we could all be remembered in the fashion that she was remembered - we would have no problems in this world.
After the funeral, I made a couple of DVD's of my speech yesterday. Actually, it was my speechES as both the 8:00 and 10:30 services were recorded. I made sure that my friend from Norway(Janne) got a copy.
Then it was on to our TV interview for our local channel 9 ABC TV affiliate. It really wasn't as much an interview as it was a time to retell my story. The interviewer(local newscaster Jennifer Vaughn) only asked a few open ended questions which justed revved up the engines and got you going. It was a very unassuming entrance as she arrived in an unmarked vehicle with just a cameraman. She kind of starts with a lot of small talk that I sure is just to calm your nerves somewhat. Both Janne and I were admittedly a little on edge about this as neither of us had ever been interviewed for television before. Then I was done first with Janne being second. They did not want a joint interview. It lasted for about an hour.
It's amazing, though I do not consider myself to be the very talkative type, I did kind of ramble on when given the opportunity. The focus of the interview was more on how important it is to get your name onto the bone marrow registry, that there are truly very successful stories(my story), and it's exceedingly rewarding for the donor(Janne's story). How can you place a value on a life? And how would you think of yourself after having donated your bone marrow to save the life of another?
In any case, Jennifer walked away with a copy of my talk from yesterday, a video of my 10:30 perfomance, my approval to use any part of this blog for whatever purposes she deems ncessary, and a couple of pictures of my stay in the hospital. It will take a few weeks to digest all of that and then they will air it at some time. When they do, it will also be made available on their web site so that everyone of you will have immediate access to it should you ever be in the need for a good laugh!
Lastly, we ended this day of up and down emotions by going out to dinner with friends who are now calling me a TV celebrity. I can only hope that all this fame goes to my head! I tell you, it didn't shorten the wait for us at the restaurant nor did it get us any free drinks or anything - I'm not sure what all this new found celebrity status is really good for!
Thus ended a reall good day...
Bob
This morning's funeral was a tearfilled, heartbreaking affair for me. The lady who passed away from leukemia on Friday was exactly that - a lady! What a wonderful person she was. And this was only underlined by the wonderful words that one of her sons and his wife had to say about her. If we could all be remembered in the fashion that she was remembered - we would have no problems in this world.
After the funeral, I made a couple of DVD's of my speech yesterday. Actually, it was my speechES as both the 8:00 and 10:30 services were recorded. I made sure that my friend from Norway(Janne) got a copy.
Then it was on to our TV interview for our local channel 9 ABC TV affiliate. It really wasn't as much an interview as it was a time to retell my story. The interviewer(local newscaster Jennifer Vaughn) only asked a few open ended questions which justed revved up the engines and got you going. It was a very unassuming entrance as she arrived in an unmarked vehicle with just a cameraman. She kind of starts with a lot of small talk that I sure is just to calm your nerves somewhat. Both Janne and I were admittedly a little on edge about this as neither of us had ever been interviewed for television before. Then I was done first with Janne being second. They did not want a joint interview. It lasted for about an hour.
It's amazing, though I do not consider myself to be the very talkative type, I did kind of ramble on when given the opportunity. The focus of the interview was more on how important it is to get your name onto the bone marrow registry, that there are truly very successful stories(my story), and it's exceedingly rewarding for the donor(Janne's story). How can you place a value on a life? And how would you think of yourself after having donated your bone marrow to save the life of another?
In any case, Jennifer walked away with a copy of my talk from yesterday, a video of my 10:30 perfomance, my approval to use any part of this blog for whatever purposes she deems ncessary, and a couple of pictures of my stay in the hospital. It will take a few weeks to digest all of that and then they will air it at some time. When they do, it will also be made available on their web site so that everyone of you will have immediate access to it should you ever be in the need for a good laugh!
Lastly, we ended this day of up and down emotions by going out to dinner with friends who are now calling me a TV celebrity. I can only hope that all this fame goes to my head! I tell you, it didn't shorten the wait for us at the restaurant nor did it get us any free drinks or anything - I'm not sure what all this new found celebrity status is really good for!
Thus ended a reall good day...
Bob
February 21, 2010 10:30 PM It's here!!!
What a day!
I am really speechless! Kind of ironic since I did the sermon at 2 church services and then spoke at our party afterwards. But it's true! The number of you who showed up for the party was tremendous and, yet, there were a number of you who didn't make it for one reason or another which would have pushed the number that was close to 100 over the top. A few people said that if they gathered all their friends together it wouldn't have come near to the number of people who were there.
I know that we have a lot of friends and acquaintances but we kind of consider that our situation is the norm and, I guess, maybe we shouldn't. To be sure, we certainly count each and every one of you as a blessing in our life.
Fortunately, my talk went over well at both services. The story(our story) is a gripping one because it is so unique and people want to hear it so it is easy to tell. To be so blessed as to come through all of this so unscathed is not the norm by any means. And to be finally able to communicate that to so many others was removing a burden from me because it had been bottled up inside for so long - it had to get out.
I want to thank those of you who made donations in my name to my church or the Bone Marrow Foundation. I appreciate it and I know that the organizations do also. I want to thank all who worked so hard to make it happen - especially my wife, Nancy. It was a lot of hard work - even though it was a work of love.
But there was one thing today that I found to be very moving and humbling. Remember that I commented to you the other day about this friend of ours who really wanted to be at the church today didn't make it because she passed away of leukemia on Friday. She had asked me beforehand that if she didn't make it to the church could I please forward her a copy of my talk. Obviously, I would gladly have done so. With her passing, I thought that that was no longer an issue. I was wrong!
Between services, her husband cornered me and asked if he could have a copy of the talk so that she could be buried with it. As I write this, I still have tears in my eyes. I gave him the actual copy that I used this morning when I went to the funeral home during calling hours tonight. At the funeral home her family said to me that she had said to them so many times that she wanted to be at the celebration today. I am sure that she was there in spirit but she was missed by all in body.
Lastly, the weekend of celebration has one more event before it concludes and that is the TV interview tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. I am much more nervous about that than I ever was about giving my talk - especially since I have never been on television before and I had already done the sermon a few years ago.
In life, we all need to experience new things...
Bob
I am really speechless! Kind of ironic since I did the sermon at 2 church services and then spoke at our party afterwards. But it's true! The number of you who showed up for the party was tremendous and, yet, there were a number of you who didn't make it for one reason or another which would have pushed the number that was close to 100 over the top. A few people said that if they gathered all their friends together it wouldn't have come near to the number of people who were there.
I know that we have a lot of friends and acquaintances but we kind of consider that our situation is the norm and, I guess, maybe we shouldn't. To be sure, we certainly count each and every one of you as a blessing in our life.
Fortunately, my talk went over well at both services. The story(our story) is a gripping one because it is so unique and people want to hear it so it is easy to tell. To be so blessed as to come through all of this so unscathed is not the norm by any means. And to be finally able to communicate that to so many others was removing a burden from me because it had been bottled up inside for so long - it had to get out.
I want to thank those of you who made donations in my name to my church or the Bone Marrow Foundation. I appreciate it and I know that the organizations do also. I want to thank all who worked so hard to make it happen - especially my wife, Nancy. It was a lot of hard work - even though it was a work of love.
But there was one thing today that I found to be very moving and humbling. Remember that I commented to you the other day about this friend of ours who really wanted to be at the church today didn't make it because she passed away of leukemia on Friday. She had asked me beforehand that if she didn't make it to the church could I please forward her a copy of my talk. Obviously, I would gladly have done so. With her passing, I thought that that was no longer an issue. I was wrong!
Between services, her husband cornered me and asked if he could have a copy of the talk so that she could be buried with it. As I write this, I still have tears in my eyes. I gave him the actual copy that I used this morning when I went to the funeral home during calling hours tonight. At the funeral home her family said to me that she had said to them so many times that she wanted to be at the celebration today. I am sure that she was there in spirit but she was missed by all in body.
Lastly, the weekend of celebration has one more event before it concludes and that is the TV interview tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. I am much more nervous about that than I ever was about giving my talk - especially since I have never been on television before and I had already done the sermon a few years ago.
In life, we all need to experience new things...
Bob
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