It's pretty obvious I haven't been very good about keeping up the BVG blog. For six months I have been mostly silent online. I did take the time to commemorate our 35th anniversary on June 2. A month before that, on May 1, my husband and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary at our daughter's house in San Mateo, CA. Our children, their mates, our four grandchildren, my niece, and Cool and her husband joined together to note this momentous occasion with an incredible dinner prepared by our daughter, our sons, our daughter-in-law and our son-in-law. While they cooked all day, Cool and her husband and my husband and I spent the day in Santa Cruz, getting back just in time for that special dinner. I was feeling great and also overwhelmed by the love shown for us by our grown children. Several days later, after Cool and her husband had taken off driving back to Port Orchard, our son and his family had flown back to Seattle and our other son had flown back to his home in North Carolina, I had the joy of attending a Mother's Day tea at my grandson's preschool along with my daughter. Later that day I notice I was feeling chilled. The next day I was coughing a bit and feeling tired, but I was looking forward to spending Mother's Day with my daughter, our first Mother's Day together since 1995, when she was a senior in high school. Unfortunately, both of us woke up really sick. We managed to get pedicures, but I was so dizzy afterwards, she left me there while she walked the several blocks to get the car. I willed myself to be well because the following morning my husband and I were planning to drive north to our usual hotel in Grants Pass, Oregon, the first let of our journey to be beautiful place we spent our honeymoon, the Oregon Coast. Just like it was that week, the weather was predicted to be sunny and clear, with highs in the upper 70's. Well, I felt worse Monday morning, but off we went, me coughing all the way and with zero appetite. By the time we got to Grants Pass, my husband wanted to take me to urgent care, but I resisted, thinking all I needed to get better was to get to the beach, to breathe in the salt water air. I was awake all night coughing and spitting up gunk. In the morning, another plea was made to agree to go to urgent care, but I insisted no, and off we headed to Seaside. That seven hour drive was torture for me, and I just kept focusing on getting to the beach. When we reached the parking lot of the hotel I sicker but feeling relieved. That relief was short-lived. After removing his big suitcase from the back of our car my husband asked, "Where are your suitcases?" I asked him how I should know? Back in Grants Pass he said I was so sick, he would take care of everything. Here is where I need to shorten the story a little, but I must not leave out the part about how beautiful our hotel room was. It was on the fourth floor of a beautiful building right on the beach promenade. It had a king bed, fireplace, large tiled showed, flat screen TV, covered deck looking out on the beach, and the special treat, a Jacuzzi tub for two looking out on the beach. Too bad I didn't have any of my clothes or toiletries. Too bad I didn't sleep one single minute that night but rather sat up coughing and spitting up gunk. Too bad I couldn't wash my hair and looked so awful. And too bad we had to leave in the morning and drive all the way back to Grants Pass to get my suitcases. So we had one more night at that hotel, and I even apologized at the front desk in the morning for anyone in the hotel who complained because some women was hacking and coughing all night. I still wouldn't go to urgent care, not in Grants Pass. I was so sick, but all I wanted to do was get HOME. Another day of driving, another day of coughing, and it was getting obvious that something was terribly wrong with me. We made it that night, and again I was awake all night, fourth night in a row. About 2 A.M. my coughing was on the verge of sending me over the edge. When my husband woke up at 6 A.M. he called the emergency nurse, who set up a 9 A.M. appointment for me in Tacoma. I was in a doctor's office for just a few minutes before they sent me on to urgent care. I spent nine hours there before an ambulance came to take me somewhere else. It sure wasn't that luxurious hotel room I had dreamed about. Someday I want to go back there, and I want to stay in that very room. While I was in the ambulance, it occurred to me that God was taking me through something quite unordinary for me, just so I would have new stories to tell. That kept me oddly comforted through some really crazy experiences. As I looked around the tight quarters in that ambulance, I had the presence of mind to think I was in a limo going to a spa for a few days. It is amazing how mind games can help me when facing the reality of a situation can be scary. And so it was as I rode along the streets of Tacoma to what turned out to not really be a spa at all. And so my new stories began.......
