Not so easy....

Don’t get me wrong, I do not miss the good old days of standing in line to buy tickets to concerts. But the way we do it now can be so frustrating! We were actually able to get on Ticketmaster before the supposed on-sale time of 10 am, which made me quite suspicious. Was there a pre-sale before the pre-sale? We were on two separate computers, with Barry searching for fully wheelchair accessible seats and me looking for a seat that allows the person to transfer out of the wheelchair. I prefer the latter but either is fine: I need the wheelchair to get from the car to the seat but I have no trouble transferring once I am there. Barry was able to get seats while I was not. How can that be? How can every single such seat have been gone by the start of the pre-sale? This will forever remain a mystery.

So, I guess we will mostly be seeing the Eagles on the screen or through binoculars, but at least we will be there.

We are planning a simple and quiet Sabbath this week. We thought about inviting company but decided to allow some down time. Simmie and Ronen and the girls are in Israel, visiting relatives and friends and sightseeing. Dina and the children will be coming to New York first thing Sunday. Unfortunately the weather forecast does not sound great for next week, and we were planning to enjoy some amount of outdoor activities. We do hope to find a nice half-day for the Botanical Gardens, and we also hope to make it to the Bronx Zoo. We have a list of other fun things to do but we will have to see how the weather develops. 

On Wednesday, Dina and Ella will be spending the afternoon and having dinner at the American Girl Doll Store in Manhattan while Joshua, Barry, and I are going to a Mets game. You might be wondering how in the world it happened that I am going to the Mets game rather than the American Girl Doll Store. Well, the Mets tickets had been purchased a while ago, and we had ordered handicap accessible seating since I was planning to go. Ella did not want to go to the baseball game, so it made sense to book her visit to American Girl on the same day. So I find myself in the somewhat amusing position of having to go to a ball game and missing American Girl. Next Friday we plan to drive up to Sharon, and if the weather is good we will visit Mystic Seaport on the way.

Have a nice weekend!

Love,

Rebecca

Take it easy....and I CAN tell you why!

Look what I found in my inbox today: tickets on sale tomorrow for The Eagles at Madison Square Garden, Friday and Saturday, November 9^th and 10^th. So you know what we will be doing tomorrow morning at 10 am! Wish us luck - these will go very quickly!

Love,

Rebecca

Joshua Disney Trip 2013

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A simple question?

Over the past few months Barry and I have been working on organizing our finances. Both of us have had numerous employers over the years, which have generated a large number of retirement savings accounts that are difficult to track and manage. A friend recommended a financial advisor and we decided to work with him. This exercise was largely motivated by wanting to make things easier for the one(s) left behind, but looking at it more optimistically, it has been an opportunity to assess where we stand for the coming years. Transferring all the accounts that could be transferred (since Barry is still employed by Mount Sinai, some of his have to stay put for now) has been a tedious process. But finally we are just about all set, having moved everything we could into one main account, and our advisor sent us a quick note with a seemingly simple question:

Would either of you have any objection to owning tobacco-related companies in your portfolios?

I am reminded of the Arlo Guthrie saga, “Alice’s Restaurant,” in which Officer Opie asks Arlo whether he has “rehabilitated himself” after having illegally disposed of a truckload of garbage. I think I need to be singing a few bars of Alice’s Restaurant in order to answer this question. The song was not really about waste removal, and this tale is not really about our financial accounts.

As all of you reading this know, although I never smoked cigarettes, I have struggled with pulmonary disease for over twenty years, and have been on full-time supplemental oxygen for the past five or so. To say that I do not wish to support tobacco companies would be an understatement. And yet, it is likely that there are other companies that are part of the potential investment portfolio that may be equally distasteful to me. Is it hypocritical to single out the tobacco industry? They are surely not the only ones who are potentially harming our health and environment. I struggle with fragrances but I don’t think I would object to cosmetic companies being included in the portfolio. Oh, but wait, are they testing those cosmetics on animals? I am, after all, a vegetarian, so maybe I should steer (no pun intended) clear of them as well. Where does it end?

Perhaps the bottom line is that there is no perfect answer. Here is how I responded to the question:

We would prefer not to include tobacco-related companies in our portfolio. We recognize that this one small act will not have a major impact on the world, but as someone who struggles with pulmonary disease (not related to tobacco, as I have never smoked a cigarette in my life), I am hard pressed to think about reaping financial benefit from the tobacco industry.  

So much to ponder….meanwhile, stay cool. It is as hot here in New York as it was last week in Florida!

  

Love,

Rebecca

Fun in the back yard!

Just received this terrific video from Dina and had to share. All this fun, literally in their own back yard! 

Love,

Rebecca

An amazing five days

I barely know where to begin….what an amazing five days we had!

With a couple of exceptions, the logistical details all went pretty well. We stayed in a two-bedroom two-bathroom unit at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort, which is surrounded by Disney on three sides so a quick drive to the parks. There were a few glitches on the first day. First, as we left the airport in our rental car, the engine was making a terrible noise, and we decided to take the car back and exchange it. This turned out to be fortuitous because, for reasons we were never able to solve, our own GPS was not working, and the second car had built-in GPS.  Second, the local oxygen supplier seemed unable to provide the entire five days’ worth of supplies, so I found myself having to call every morning to arrange for more cylinders to be delivered. It came as no surprise when they delivered the whole weeks’ worth on the last day! Third, we arrived at Cohen’s Delicatessen only to discover that it had gone out of business. Note to self: never assume that restaurants you have patronized are still in business. Fortunately, there is a second kosher restaurant, Lower East Side Deli, and we were able to find our way there to pick up food. Joshua loved their fried chicken nuggets, and their chummus was really delicious.

Here is the list of the rides/shows we did. We are still working on our ratings, but I have put in bold the ones that were the biggest hits. Joshua doesn’t feel that he can pick an overall #1 – there are just too many contenders!

Monday 17 June – EPCOT

1.    Soarin’

2.    Living with the Land

3.    Captain E-O

4.    Canada

5.    France

6.    Innoventions East and West

7.    Spaceship Earth

Tuesday 18 June – Hollywood Studios

1.    The Great Movie Ride

2.    Muppet Vision 3D

3.    Studio Backlot Tour

4.    Indiana Jones

5.    Toy Story Midway Mania (Fast Pass)

Wednesday 19 June – Magic Kingdom

1.    Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

2.    Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (Fast Pass)

3.    It’s a Small World

4.    Peter Pan’s Flight

5.    Mickey Philharmagic

6.    Enchanted Tiki Room

Wednesday 19 June (Evening) - Hollywood Studios

1.    Fantasmic!

Thursday 20 June – Animal Kingdom

1.    Kilamanjaro Safari

2.    Kali River Rapids

3.    Flights of Wonder

4.    Maha Raja Jungle Trek

5.    Finding Nemo

6.    Festival of the Lion King

The weather was a challenge. It was brutally hot, and by late afternoon the thunderstorms began. In some ways this was just as well, because we were exhausted. But it meant that we only went back for the fireworks the one time. And that show was incredible!

But the true highlight of this trip, with all due respect to the Disney folks, was Joshua. This trip was a unique and priceless opportunity to really get to know our grandson independent of the distractions of his parents, his sister, and his friends. We could see glimmers of a really terrific young man ahead of us. He was the best travel companion ever! He was a good sport about everything, was helpful and funny and flexible - everything you want a travel companion to be! When our return flight was delayed by a couple of hours, he was the one who said “let’s play cards!” and managed to pass the 2+ hours delay keeping us in good spirits. We were so proud of him!

We arrived home in the wee hours of Friday morning, exhausted but already talking about the lessons learned for the next trip. #1: need to go during a less oppressively hot time of year!

Somehow, on the first day, spent at EPCOT, we did not find any of the Disney World photographers, so we were not able to get a picture of the three of us in front of Spaceship Earth. But I took a picture of Barry and Joshua, and we do have the professional pictures from the three other parks, which I have posted here.

To say I am exhausted is an understatement. But I would do it again in a flash, and I pray I will have the strength and good health to realize that dream.

Love,

Rebecca

A Magical Week

There is so much to tell about our amazing five days, but sheer exhaustion prevents me from doing it justice. So for the moment, I will just share an image that captures the spirit far better than any words I can pen, and save the details for later.

Have an enjoyable first weekend of summer!

Love,

Rebecca

When you wish upon a star…..

A friend of ours who has children 15 or so years younger than ours planted an idea in our heads some years ago. When each child was young, their maternal grandparents took them, one at a time, on trips to Disney World. From the day Joshua was born, we hoped some day we would be able to do the same with each of our grandchildren. Two years ago, as Barry reached his milestone birthday, we thought quite a bit about those plans but opted instead to take the whole family to Florida. It was an amazing week, but we continued longing to realize the “one child at a time” concept. A year ago that idea seemed the most remote of possibilities. But over the past few months, as I have regained my strength and the oldest of our grandchildren has matured, we decided that there is no time like the present.

So early this Sunday morning, Joshua, Barry, and I will be boarding a flight from Logan to Orlando for what we hope will be four fun-filled days at Walt Disney World. We think we have every possible detail covered: flights, rental car, hotel, park tickets, hats, sunscreen. Following our usual philosophy that “everything that can go wrong, will go wrong,” I have made countless phone calls to the Orlando office of Lincare, my oxygen supplier, to ensure everything is in place. I have letters from my pulmnologist for both Jet Blue and WDW; the latter is not essential but following that recent news report I shared here about people with disabilities at WDW, we figured it couldn’t hurt to have all the bases covered. Barry has been studying the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2013 during every free moment from completing a grant application. Most importantly, we have matching t-shirts in four colors (red, light blue, navy, and green): even a small party should be color-coordinated, right? 

I don’t know if I will have time to post from WDW, and in fact I am not taking my laptop with me, although Barry will have his. I plan to stay in the “real world” (as opposed to the cyber world) while I’m there! Okay, I know, there’s nothing especially real about Disney World, but let me indulge in the fantasy! Either way I will certainly share the highlights and pictures from the trip when we return.

Since we will technically be in Orlando before summer starts, we are hoping it will not be unbearably hot. Have a wonderful weekend and a nice last week of spring!

Love,

Rebecca

One small step

Early this afternoon I had an appointment with one of the doctors who treats my pulmonary condition for a monthly injection of a drug called Sandostatin LAR (octreotide acetate). Barry had learned to give me the subcutaneous injections of Neupogen (filgrastim) that followed each cycle of my chemotherapy, but the Sandostatin is a bit tricky to mix, and must be delivered as an intramuscular injection, which taxes the talents of most of us mere mortals who lack medical training. In recent months when we have been spending more time in Sharon, we have been fortunate to have a good friend who is an M.D. and has done a terrific job with the injection when the timing was such that I needed to be up there at the time one was due.

We are in New York today but Barry had a full schedule after my appointment which will not end until the annual Mount Sinai Radiation Oncology Residents Dinner this evening. So he was able to drive me into the City this morning, but he could not take me home after my appointment. When I was done, he walked me outside and helped hail a taxi and sent me on my way.

Fortunately the taxi driver was very nice and talkative. He told me that I was his first fare for the day, so I could not resist telling him that he was my first taxi ride in well over a year! He asked a lot of interesting questions and we kept up a lively conversation all the way back to Riverdale. I hope my simple math was correct because I certainly intended to leave a generous tip.

For a 61 year old woman this may seem a small milestone. But I have been increasingly troubled about having to be so dependent for everything. It was really nice to do something on my own. As they say, every long journey begins with one small step.

Love,

Rebecca

A new look

I mentioned in my last post that I had done some shopping at Talbots the other day. A couple of you wrote and asked what I bought.

The trip was prompted by an upcoming dinner for the MSKCC radiation oncology residents. In past years, spouses were routinely included in these events, but more recently budgetary limitations have made them faculty-only evenings. However, Barry is being recognized this year for his teaching, so I am invited to attend along with him.

Although I am sure Barry can testify that I have said this many times over the years, for the first time I can say in all honesty that I truly do not have anything to wear to the dinner! Having raised two daughters, particularly the younger one, I fully appreciate that "need" when it comes to clothing is a somewhat subjective term. But any appropriate clothing I may have owned for such an occasion is simply too large. I also remembered that the son of one of our friends is getting married in August. Realizing I would need something for that as well, I decided to go for it.

My beloved LL Bean and Lands End serve my every day needs, and I have bought some nice things on J Jill and Travel Smith, but none of these fit the bill. I saw a couple of items on the Talbots web page but I felt it would be easiest to go to a local store and try them on. I had shopped at Talbots quite a bit during my early years at Pfizer, the days before “business casual” became the norm and when I was going into my office every day. While I know the looks have changed, I still imagined it would be a good place to start.

As it turned out, the store had completely different items than shown on the web page, so I was essentially starting from scratch. I figured the worst that would happen was I could determine what size I needed and go back and order through the catalogue. The first item I tried, and I was really surprised that it was Barry who saw this and suggested I try it on, is a suit: a sheath dress with a long-sleeved jacket, in a yellow tweed that is somewhat shiny. It reminds me of Lisa DeAngelis (neuro-oncology head at MSKCC), who often wears these sorts of outfits (maybe that's what struck Barry as well). I have a pair of bone shoes from Dina and Aaron’s wedding that are barely worn and still seem to fit, so I'm all set. 

The other outfit is more vintage me: a long khaki-colored linen skirt with eyelet trim on the bottom, and a very cool white linen tunic.

I am 100% convinced that women's clothing manufacturers are making clothes larger than they used to. In other words, a 2013 size 8 is not what a 1980 size 8 was. I NEVER in my life bought a size 8 anything!  I have always said that I was born a size 12!!!! I know I have lost a lot of weight, but size 8? Really?

It's funny, because Barry has been on a campaign over all these months to get me to eat. Perhaps it has satisfied his need to do something: if he could not make the cancer go away, he could at least feed me. But for the first time in that dressing room, I think he really enjoyed seeing the thinner me. As I have been saying all along, although it is not a weight loss regimen I would recommend, there's nothing wrong with making lemonade when life gives you a lemon.

To complete the transformation, and hopefully to help improve my vision and functioning, I took my new eyeglass prescription to the optician. I had in mind to simply replace the lenses in my current glasses. But he looked up my file and it turns out I have had those glasses for quite a few years, so he enticed me to try on something new. I guess the frameless look went out of style a while ago. So I am making a rather radical leap to a dark reddish plastic frame. I will have to post a photograph when I get the new glasses.

It is a beautiful day here in New York, although they say the rain will return by tomorrow. Fortunately the weekend looks good.

Be well, all.

Love,

Rebecca 

Way too nice a day for a movie

The weather in New York was beautiful today – far too nice to spend time indoors. We spent most of the morning at the Botanical Gardens, and for the first couple of hours we had the place largely to ourselves. You can see on the NYBG web page that the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden is fully in bloom. I attach some pictures here.

After our visit, we stopped to do a little shopping, and had a late lunch at a restaurant with outdoor seating. All in all, a wonderful day!

It sounds like the good weather will be short lived, so I am glad we were able to take in a large dose today before the rain returns.

Love,

Rebecca 

No small miracles

We had a lovely Sabbath. The rain ended overnight and we were able to go to synagogue this morning. Friends joined us for lunch, and we had a lively and enjoyable time with them.

Our first daughter, Simmie, was born 12 weeks prematurely. After spending those months in the neonatal intensive care unit surrounded by sick and premature infants, the idea of a healthy full-term pregnancy seemed nothing less than a miracle to me. There is a part of me that has never lost the feelings of awe and wonder at a nine month gestation followed by the birth of a healthy child.

This morning I realized that I am having a similar experience at the other end of the spectrum. Barry was pushing me in my wheel chair, and along the way we ran into a couple we know walking to synagogue, fellow members who are quite a bit older than we are. She told us that she had hip replacement surgery about a year ago. I was left with that familiar feeling of how little we tend to recognize and appreciate the everyday miracles in our lives. These days, whenever I see anyone older than I am who is healthy and functioning well and able to get around on their own, I am simply amazed.  And perhaps we should all be.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day, so we hope to spend some time outdoors. The Botanical Garden opens early for members, so we thought we might pop over for a quick visit before we have various errands to run. We are also hoping to work in a movie tomorrow. So I will have plenty to write in my next post!

Love,

Rebecca 

More rain

It has been chilly and raining all day, with no sign of an end. That got me to thinking of a beautiful old Simon and Garfunkel song.

We have a quiet Sabbath planned. We are hoping that the rain will let up so we can make it to synagogue, and we have some friends joining us for lunch. Among other things, we made “Sri Wasano’s Infamous Indonesian Rice Salad,” a recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook that we haven’t made in many years. On our stop atTrader Joe’s the other day we picked up some of those fabulous dry-roasted cashews and yummy raisins.

We discovered that the Botanical Garden opens early for members, which should enable us to go on the Sunday mornings we happen to be in New York before the usual weekend crowds. I am not sure if my Pfizer ID would have allowed for this, but now we have joined on our own (since I am no longer a Pfizer colleague) and the early entry is one of the perks of membership.

I am quite frustrated at the moment because earlier today, or perhaps last evening, I had a very good idea for something I wanted to write here. I shared it with Barry and he agreed. And now, neither of us can remember what in the world it was that I wanted to share! I know I should just force myself to find a piece of paper when ideas come along, but I usually tell myself “that is so good, I will surely remember it.” And then, of course, it goes floating away. So if it does come back around maybe next time I will in fact write it down!

Meanwhile, have a nice weekend.

Love,

Rebecca 

Our budding scientists

Unfortunately, obligations in New York prevented us from staying up in Sharon for the First Grade Science Fair at our grandchildrens’ school. But I was thrilled to see pictures posted on the school’s web page this morning.

Although we cannot be sure that any of our grandchildren will actually follow in the footsteps of their maternal grandparents and pursue careers in science or medicine, it is heartwarming to see the joy they are clearly feeling here.

And speaking of budding, the seeds Maya planted last week are now little plants about 2 inches tall!

Love,

Rebecca

A fun morning at the zoo

Yesterday (Sunday) was a beautiful day, and Eliana and Maya had no specific plans for the morning, so we took two cars and met Simmie at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. The zoo recently opened a brand new children’s section that is really quite nice. It includes some water play, and it was warm enough by late morning that the girls were able to play in the sprinklers they have there. We saw about half of the zoo before the temperature became a bit too high and we had to leave to head back to New York. But we had a wonderful time.

We had an uneventful drive back to New York, and are busy playing catch-up from the wonderful five days with our family. Our car went in for routine maintenance, the air conditioning folks came to check out the system, and all went well.

The only annoyance was that we had received a checking account statement from the bank. Now I know many of you younger folk, and even the older ones, are thinking, “why in the world are they still having to reconcile their checking account?” Well, we just never got around to setting up the process on line, and in any case, old habits die hard. But the trouble is that I am not completely reliable at these tasks. We’re still not quite sure what happened, but I simply could not get the account to reconcile. We don’t drive ourselves crazy about small discrepancies, but this one was on the order of $300. Finally Barry convinced me to abandon this activity and turn in for the night. This morning, he discovered that I had made a mistake last month that explained the discrepancy. I don’t know how I managed to “balance” the last statement, but somehow I did. Bottom line: I guess I am not really quite ready for prime time. As I am typing this, Barry is looking over the checks I wrote for the bills that accumulated while we were up in Sharon. Yes, I know, we should have all that done automatically, but those old habits….

The rain seems to have moved out and it sounds like this will be a very nice week. Try to take in a bit of June if you can.

Love,

Rebecca 

Seeing ourselves

For most of my life beyond early childhood, like so many other people, I have struggled with controlling my weight. Although I never became morbidly obese, it was always clear that I weighed more than ideal for my height.

Despite all the downsides, this cancer has been a highly effective weight loss program for me. I now weigh less than I ever have during my adult life, even a bit less than I weighed when Barry and I were married almost forty years ago. I have had to buy an entirely new wardrobe in sizes I never dreamed I would wear. But still, when I look at myself in the mirror, I see the same person as before, and, odd as this may sound, she continues to look a bit chunky to me. My doctors keep telling me not to lose more weight, and I keep making jokes about how that is about the last thing I would have ever expected to hear from a physician.

A few months ago we had an opportunity to see a dear long-time friend who lives far from us. It was clear that he was quite taken aback when he first saw me. But I didn’t really think much about it at the time. So it was quite a shock to see pictures of me from the Grandparents’ Day events last week posted on the school’s website. The weather has grown warmer and I had on a short-sleeved crew-neck shirt. I keep staring at the pictures and wondering if I really do look that thin.

It has been enlightening to see myself a bit more the way that Barry sees me, and to better understand why he is on a mission to make sure I eat. Lucky for me he is a terrific cook and spends a lot of energy making sure we have things I enjoy eating. The new wardrobes I purchased for winter and now for summer are motivation to stay at this weight. But I promise to try not to lose more.

Love,

Rebecca