Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers, and a special thanks to our friends who stayed with Peg in shifts so she was never without a friend in the room, 24 hours a day, for the entire stay. Angels, every one of them.
We're also grateful for the wonderful staff at Mercy San Juan/Catholic Healthcare West. Peg's care was stellar. Everyone there was warm, helpful and caring.
The world is a very different place for us before June 12, when Peg was diagnosed. Just 17 days ago-- just over two weeks-- we had no idea Peg would be closing her practice, going through major surgery and starting an entirely new chapter in her life and our family's life.
Peg doesn't call it cancer. She calls it "the shift." And shift we will. There will be many changes, and we know the road ahead in the next months won't be easy.
But we do know this: it's not the destination, it's the journey that matters. And we couldn't ask for more wonderful companions on our new adventure. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
5 comments:
What a beautiful post Eric...I am so, so glad our Peg is home...been thinking about y'all all day.
There's no place like home. Hospitals are no place get well. My thoughts and love continue to be with you all.
Thank you Eric for so sweetly welcoming us into this journey. Thank you Zoe for being such a blessing yourself. Thank you Peg for being a shining light lifelong friend.
love,
leann
I would like to thank the bedside angels for their gift of time and devotion to Peggy. To have such devoted friends and family members is truely a gift.
Peg, I am so glad that you are home where you can heal and get stronger in familiar, healthy, and loving surroundings. Please let us know if you need, want, or desire anything. I can have someone at your house in 20 minutes (15 if Joanna is driving.) No job is too big or too small. Let us know if you need anything.
Love, Dianne
Your posts are a joy to read. Witty and fun, moving & inspiring. Glad Peggy is home. Thoughts and prayers continue her way. Noreen
Had to comment about "The Journey"...
When I was courting Sun back in early '93, I was having an initial problem of connecting with her. Just wasn't getting through. (Turns out, she had two other guys on her mind plus me, so that explains the lack of positive response).
Anyway, I persevered, and one night she came to my home for dinner. She noticed I had a poem (below) posted on my fridge: it's a poem for which she also had a fondness and she had a copy sitting on her desk at work.
Connection made; mission accomplished.
I got the poem from a co-worker (who is now News Director at KTVU in San Francisco).
We had it read at our wedding.
Years later, I saw coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils talking on tv about how he tries to teach his players to enjoy the journey and not focus on the destination. It sounded to me as if he too had a copy of the poem, but I sent him one regardless. He wrote back and said that he did not have a copy, but that it expressed exactly what he was trying to instill in his players, and he thanked me for sending it.
This is for you, Warps:
THE STATION
By Robert J. Hastings
Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves on a long journey that spans an entire continent. We're traveling by train and, from the windows, we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at crossings, of cattle grazing in distant pastures, of smoke pouring from power plants, of row upon row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skylines and village halls.
But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination--for at a certain hour and on a given day, our train will finally pull into the Station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands playing. And once that day comes, so many wonderful dreams will come true. So restlessly, we pace the aisles and count the miles, peering ahead, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Station.
"Yes, when we reach the Station, that will be it!" we promise ourselves. "When we're eighteen. . . win that promotion. . . put the last kid through college. . . buy that 450SL Mercedes-Benz. . . have a nest egg for retirement!" From that day on we will all live happily ever after.
Sooner or later, however, we must realize there is no Station in this life, no one earthly place to arrive at once and for all. The journey is the joy. The Station is an illusion--it constantly outdistances us. Yesterday's a memory, tomorrow's a dream. Yesterday belongs to a history, tomorrow belongs to God. Yesterday's a fading sunset, tomorrow's a faint sunrise. Only today is there light enough to love and live.
So, gently close the door on yesterday and throw the key away. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad, but rather the regret over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.
"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars. Laugh more and cry less. Go barefoot oftener. Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry-go-rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we go along. The Station will come soon enough.
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