we moved!

Hello! I've been absent while in the midst of a move -- and we are finally in the new house, reasonably settled, and even connected to the Internet. It feels GREAT to re-open the blog, read back through all the old posts I have missed, watch all the fun video clips (congratulations to our fearless leader on her engagement! Lucky man), and mostly, Alex, to hear your voice and your updates and feel close to you, again. Man, I miss you. I wish you could come see my new house. I can just hear you telling me how wonderful it is, even the crappy parts. :-) There have been a few funny transition moments. Like...the former owners left behind the water test kit for the wee little hot tub on the back deck (this is the world's most basic hot tub; Chris calls it "The very first hot tub ever made"). The test kit kept telling us that the chlorine level was super duper low, so we kept adding more and more. Until one day we realized Liza's hair is GREEN. Seriously. Not just tinted a little bit green if you see it in certain lights kind of green -- actually GREEN. With a touch of turquoise to the shade. Luckily she likes the color. So, because of our very powerful deductive reasoning skills, we thought that perhaps our test kit was lying. We got a new one, and indeed, the chlorine levels were off the charts high. Ooops. Then there's the first time we used the fire pit. We sat around, happy family moment, and made smores over the fire. Did I say fire? That is a little bit of a misnomer. Ya see, we used these little handy dry chunks of wood that the former owners left behind. Turns out they were smoke producing, not fire producing...intended to be used in smoke cookers. Mmmmmm, hickory smoked smores! And then there is my foot wear. The two rooms I haven't managed to unpack are the office and the mudroom. Can't say I miss the, office, really, but I do rather miss my shoes. All of my work appropriate shoes are hiding somewhere in a box I can't seem to locate, yet. Well, ALMOST all my work shoes. Luckily one pair got packed in a suitcase and was readily accessible. Of course they are black velvet pumps and it's the middle of July, but I suppose they are better than my Chacos! I kid you not, I went to work all week in my black velvet pumps. Today I wore my summery, flowy khaki pants, a white tank top, silver jewelry, and my black velvet pumps. I'm pretty sure Prada wants me to come be their next runway model based solely on my magnificent display of fashion sense and flair, or is it flare? Ahhh yes, NYC, here I come!!! But luckily, that is the level of glitch into which we have run. All things we have enjoyed with laughter. And there are so many wonderful things...eating meals in the sunroom where it feels like we are on vacation; watching Liza ride her two wheeler up and down the dirt road with her buddies from next door; watching the sunset over our little tiny peek of a view of a ridge line; sitting in the wee little hot tub; settling into bed in a bedroom that is small but clean, simple, and refuge like (as opposed to my old autrocity of a bedroom with a turquoise rug, no closet doors, and a falling apart ceiling that always reminded me of my To Do list). Ahhhh. One of these days I'll manage to take some photos of the girls at play in our new favorite places, and I'll remember how to post photos. For now -- bed time. The push of the move, along with a busy work week and a couple of poor sleep nights thanks to the rash Tessa got from the chlorine (that was the less funny part of THAT story!!) have made me sssslllleeeepppppyyyyy.

But before I sign off...Alex, you amaze me. Your posts have such wisdom, such grace, such honesty, such power, such strength, such love, such intelligence, such tenderness, such intensity. You are astonishing. Those are all characteristics that I already knew you had, of course. But to see them shining through even in these hardest of times is still astonishing. Cancer sucks. You rock. I'm sending love and fight vibes that are going to climb into your bloodstream and join the fight with your immune system and the chemo and the radiation. I'm sending them so hard it is making me ache. I love you - Lindsay