Offspring....A Joyful Noise!

As we prepare for the trip to Boston and commencement, anyone who knows me would understand conversations and correspondence related to planning. And I quote:

"I certainly don't need a fancy dinner anywhere.. GET ME TO FENWAY! BP, infield, walking around... I want all of it."

That's from the youngest...not the son who put up with weird knuckleballs and bad one-hoppers at his knees, and not the daughter who could keep an official scorebook during MLB play-off games. Apparently, we Chambers children have tiny baseballs in our capillaries, rather than blood cells. I'll spare you the eBay details, but on May 19, there will be a bunch of us watching the World Champions tear down the Kansas City Royals...

When the kids ask why we didn't have a lot of fancy vacations to Hawaii, or trips to foreign lands, I say things like "how many people were in the Coliseum when Roger Clemens dropped an F-bomb on the umpire and got tossed in the play-offs?..." Or "What was it like to take your Grandpa Kingston to his only Dodger World Series Game?" "Get me to FENWAY" may become a new battlecry, just like the many we enjoy on the golf course.

Medically, life isn't quite as much fun. The new drug, Erbitux, is pestering my face and upper body with sores and pimples. My voice is still weak, little Caleb Shira calls it my "quiet voice" and thinks I do well to sound like Mickey Mouse. My generally positive attitude has taken some hits lately, because I can't listen to the Fubarian Brothers pester me on the phone and yap back at them, call the people I love the most, or spend time conversing with clients and their challenges at work. At the same time, I'm getting up every morning, following doctors' orders, and seeing that the whole support team suits up every day...none of us is giving up or calling in sick....Cal Ripken, Jr. would be proud of the whole team. I know I am.

We live in a gracious world...people have been so kind. Cards, letters, prayers...and so much focus on Mark. At the same time, friends and relatives endure surgeries, their own personal challenges, and employment issues that would generally take precedence over anything I have going on. So thanks, to all of you, for putting up with my selfish behavior and approach to this Journey. I enjoy hearing how your world is affected by those around you, and love knowing that we are all survivors.

GET ME TO FENWAY!