The In-Between

Where have I been, you ask? It’s been seven weeks since my last update, right after Pelotonia, which was right after I found out that “stable” sometimes doesn’t mean “stable.” You may remember that my clinical trial closed, meaning that now I only return to Georgetown every 3 months and don’t have to have labs every six weeks. I’m actually on my way back to Maryland right now and will find out on Thursday if I’m fine or not. But what I’ve been doing for the last 12 weeks is living. Living as well, as joyously, as adventurously, as defiantly as I can in, the in-between.

For the last three-ish years, that in-between has been barbarously short sometimes. There was that year when I was on a plane at MOST every 11 days. I think I navigated that fairly well, but I never really got traction with my Real Life. Every homestay was filled with appointments and catching up with friends and chores and reintroducing myself to my cats. I even had to shoehorn in four-day stretches when I could work, for God’s sake. Looking back, it was.. well, it was harder than I let on (although I loved reaching status on three airlines in the same year. I bet there aren’t many people who’ve done that).

At first, when Dr G said, “See you in September,” it threw me a bit off-balance, which I’ve said before. It seemed dramatically long to double the time between CT scans. Then you consider that not much has changed in my imaging in nearly two years and it doesn’t seem unreasonable. AND I’m getting less radiation from the machine.

And I have spent my first big in-between fabulously. I give myself an “A.”

I decided not to go to Jackson for the eclipse after hearing that a half-million others had the same idea. Instead, I accepted a last-minute offer to drive to Idaho Falls for 100-percent totality (redundant much?) (don’t you want to say that with a Keanu Reeves accent?). Holly, Doug, Patrick and I scored a great viewing site, thanks to Doug driving across the median (!) and hight-tailed it back home without hitting traffic. But my iPhone photos were sucky.

I tagged along with the family to Hawaii for nine days, which was almost enough time to hit all my favorite places and see my favorite people.

I even got to do some advance scouting at Lumeria, a yoga retreat on Maui that a few of us are retreating to next spring.

I saw several great concerts, my favorite being Sheryl Crow, who I’ve seen multiple times, this being the best yet (thanks, Doug and Chris!).

And a HUGE event: I got to be my sweet Daniel’s assistant in our first ever National Ability Center Horse Show. Daniel took third, which was AMAZING and FANTASTIC and an INCREDIBLE ACHIEVEMENT. And I had to try REALLY HARD not to tell his family he was ROBBED! Because really, I’m not that competitive.

There were also hikes and bike rides and dinners and lots of yoga and peaceful times NOT packing or unpacking.

It’s been a glorious 12 weeks, even though there were more than a few times I felt like I should be on this plane that I’m on right now. Before my appointments begin on Wednesday, I have a bit more to fill my in-between. Thanks to Mike, I have tickets to the African-American National Museum, which were a big score. There’s also a Capitals game AND tonight’s Redskins game, which I am super psyched to attend. I have been watching players and management, owners and fans rise up together to support each other all day long and am looking forward to seeing it for myself. I believe we are watching peaceful protest, not anti-American at all, in fact a symbol of the best of America: The freedom to express yourself, well, freely. Myself, I won’t take a knee during the National Anthem. Ever. But I respect that others have the right to do this and are standing up (well, technically kneeling) despite the uproar they are causing because here in America, they can. They are #defiant, too.

More to come after Thursday. I leave you with Pearl, the Kailua (Beach) pig. And a cheer for the pigskin: #HTTR