Coffee time!!!

My husband and I had a long awaited date this morning.  We have talked about this date almost non-stop for a few months.  We have envisioned it pretty much like it happened - the sun was "morning-new" and shining.  It was hot.  We were in the shade of the trees we planted a long time ago and begged to live.  Not many did.

We, we - he and I both - had coffee out in our garden.  Together.

I drank half of a half-cup of that forbidden drink, and it was so, so, so good.  My stomach was not so sure, so I did not finish it, but I smiled for three hours after that first sip.

We looked at each other and smiled, almost down right made my toes giggle.  He knew what I had waited for, for ever so long.  I looked at our pink perennial geraniums and remember planting them years ago, and liking them because they did well in our clay soil and multiplied.  They are dispersed everywhere now, and I looked at those blooms and smiled because we have looked at them every summer for probably ten years now.

Together. Out in the garden.  Drinking coffee.

Ten years ago, we didn't have the time to sit and talk to each other.  Ten years ago, he hit the pavement running as soon as that last bell for summer break rang in the school halls - he had things to pay for - like weddings and that first college tuition check that lets your kids back into school. Ten years ago, I was up and gone and driving to work watching the sun break in my rear view mirror a lot of mornings.

While he was recovering one summer from yet another surgery, he used to text me and tell me how the sunlight looked in the garden at that time in the morning, and how the birds were doing, and what the temperature outside was.

The last couple of years we have spent a few more mornings together out there.  And treasured it sweetly.  We knew it was a sweet time in our lives.  We knew moments like that don't last forever. We knew that we had waited for that for a long, long time.

We've had bad times.  I won't pretend like we haven't.  Even if I did, I have three kids that would line up as witnesses telling you what it takes to get to that point in life in a marriage.

Realizing that, we treasured this morning all the more.

And we are still celebrating.

Even though my hemoglobin is telling me I am dead tired.  But, even though I am having bouts of "just lay down and don't move for two hours" I am having "spurts" again, so I "spurt", then hit the wall and rest, it's kind of cyclical like that.

They have given me blood transfusions for higher hemoglobin, but I've had enough of other people's blood coursing through my veins - and even though I appreciate very much what the Red Cross does to get me that blood when I need it - I haven't liked it, so I was glad the discussion did not come up yesterday.

So, I'm kind of up to two hours of daily activity now.  That includes brushing my teeth multiple times.

***

A friend of mine from our House Church emailed me last night and said she was so glad I was done with chemo.  Then she told me that since I had started chemo, and had given up a lot of things like coffee, she had given up chocolate ----- what????!!!!

I couldn't believe it.  I couldn't believe how many times she had said "no", waiting, waiting.  And praying.  They have been incredible in their care for me on this journey, and then this - I didn't know what to say.

I'm still not comprehending it all.

But, this morning in the garden was good.  Lay down and recover is good.  Not having to worry about getting my blood work up enough to get back into chemo next week is very good - I can just stroll down recovery lane at a nice leisurely pace.

Imagining Linda eating her first piece of chocolate after six months - incredible.

Drinking coffee with my best friend this morning after six months of waiting - priceless.