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 

Grandparents' Day

We had a wonderful two days attending Grandparents’ Day at the Striar Hebrew Academy in Sharon, Massachusetts. Thursday was the elementary school, and we did the best we could to juggle our time between our three elementary school students. Our grandchildren each had two other grandparents in attendance, Eliana and Maya’s paternal grandfather and Joshua and Ella’s paternal grandmother travelled to Sharon for the event. This morning was the preschool, and it was a fun morning filled with many projects and activities for the children and grandparents to share. It was a nice glimpse into their lives at school which we very much enjoyed.

On Wednesday morning I had gone in early with Barry so that I could meet with Heidi at 10 a.m. This gave me a chance to see his new laboratory and office, and I have posted a couple of pictures here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Rebecca

Boston Strong

What a night!!!! A far too late night, and mindful of the fact that we were walking out before Aerosmith, the “big name” performer, came on, we left at 11 pm, shortly after Carole King and James Taylor’s performance. Although we were not familiar with all the performers, and the volume was a bit high for us old fogies (even with earplugs), I am so glad we went.

Those of you who have been reading my blog over the past year may recall that I wrote about the three James Taylor shows at Tanglewood last summer, three shows for which we had good seats, and reservations for a charming bed and breakfast nearby, that we simply could not attend while I was still undergoing chemotherapy. Fortunately we had been able to send others in our place, including our two daughters who went to one of the shows. Seeing James and Carole thus had a special poignancy for us personally.

So perhaps I should not have been surprised when I became emotional when James and Carole came on stage. Having been through my own personal struggle this past year has, perhaps, made me feel the challenges of others more acutely. The concert was clearly intended to send a loud and clear message that we are strong and we will get past this horrific event. It is a message that undoubtedly resonates for many cancer patients.

Love,

Rebecca 

Beautiful trees in our yard

Here are some pictures of the trees in our yard from earlier this spring. Our visit to the NYBG reminded me that I had never downloaded these!

Enjoy!

Stories We Tell (2013)

What Maisie Knew (2013)