The Month of May, Merry and Not So

May has been beyond busy.  Right before we left for Arizona on May 7^th, my dad went and the first of two surgeries for basal cell carcinoma on his top lip.  It was a beast of  a place to have the surgery.  The process takes two days and is called Mohs surgery.  The first day they remove the skins cells layer by layer until they have clear ‘margins’, as in,  there are no cancerous cells evident under the microscope when they check.  They will slice layer upon layer until the clear margins are evident.   The next day the wound is closed with either staples or stitches.  Poor dad was so swollen and lost quite a bit of weight because he literally ate through a straw.  We had to change his dressing twice a day and it was very painful.   

Thank goodness for Marco and members of the ward, namely Shari McAlmont, Karen Williams, who kept an eye out for my folks for the ten days we were gone.  I took mom to the doctor the day before we left because she was having severe pain in her right chest and back.  Shingles, most likely brought on by the stress of worrying about dad.  Good grief, just miserable for both of them.  Luckily, or not, Jamie, the girls, Kris and myself were gone, so the house was quiet.

We were in Phoenix for Karen’s graduation from Arizona State where she received her Master’s in Criminal Justice and Human Rights.  We also were able to meet her friends, her Bishop and professors too, so that was really fun.  Josh, Candy, Noah and some very dear friends The Salvatore’s and Lisa Johnson, all were there too.  It was great.  I especially loved having time with Josh, Candy and Noah since I had not seen them in almost two years.  That’s just too long for this Nana!

We did some fun things together, besides just ‘hanging out’, talking,  (we talked a lot) and eating together.  We were kind of spread out, staying with various and sundry friends of the family.  The one day we went to a place called Arcosanti.  Arcosanti is an experimental town that began construction in 1970 in central Arizona, 70 miles north of Phoenix, at an elevation of 3,732 feet. Architect Paolo Soleri, using a concept he called arcology, started the town to demonstrate how urban conditions could be improved while minimizing the destructive impact on the earth.  It’s hot, dry and dusty there but inside the very stark, cement like structures, it is quite cool.  They make bells there out of ceramics and metal in all shapes and sizes to sell to help fund the center that is there.  We brought one home as a memory of our trip and gave one as a gift to Karen’s friend who kindly housed Kris and myself for the ten days we were there.

We went to Sedona after Arcosanti.  It was so much cooler up there and there was finally greenery!  The sandstone red rocks are quite spectacular.  It’s kind of a mixture of old western cowboy and retired, country-club living.  Lots of little stores selling items crafted by Navajo people.  We made sure to find a store that sold work crafted by local people and not sporting the ‘made in China’ label.  It’s a tough environment for the indigenous people and they deserve to earn what they can in this economy.  A lot of the people we talked to travel from Flagstaff to sell their wares in Sedona. 

Karen and I had a conversation about how sad it was to see that with the colonization of North America and all that entailed, the indigenous people have exposed some of their most sacred things in order to make a living.  For us it would be like selling replicas of those things we consider sacred. 

We found out from friends of Karen’s who visit Sedona regularly, that the best place to buy silver and turquoise jewelry, dream catchers, pottery and such, was at a Dairy Queen, just outside of town.  We went there and sure enough, there were these big concrete tables with beautiful crafts being sold.  We bought ice-cream and a beautiful beaded hairclip for Jamie.

Eliana had her fourth birthday whilst we were in Phoenix and we had a birthday party for her with friends from California that now live in Arizona.  Some of her aunts, uncles and second cousins also drove up for the day, which was very kind of them.  The birthday party was rainbow themed and all had a great time visiting and the children playing with each other.  It was somewhat chaotic in the house where Karen lives, but her roommates are just wonderful and had no problem being invaded by a hoard of partying Mormons!   Nothing like chips, salsa, fruit platters and Funfetti cake, with a piñata thrown, in for a good time to be had by all.

One damper that we had was that Gabby got really sick and Jamie ended up taking her to the local children’s hospital where they diagnosed her with pneumonia.   Poor little thing was either asleep on Jamie or myself or sweating away in bed.  Eliana started getting sick on the Friday we left to come home.  Thank goodness none of us adults got sick.

We ended up leaving Phoenix at three in the afternoon and didn’t get home until dawn the next day.  When we were about to land in Newark, we had to circle for almost an hour because a plane before us had to land on its belly because the landing gear didn’t come down.   We started to get low on fuel so they sent us to Philly where we refueled and then headed back to Newark.  Karen had flown in just ahead of us.  Karen had gone home with our friend who had come to pick us up, took our friend home then turned around and came and picked us up.  Whew!  It was quite the trip and considering we had sick babies and a pregnant mama with us, we did really well and the girls were little angels.

It was Stake Conference weekend when we got home so poor Kris got a couple of hours sleep in and was off to the stake center.  I helped Karen to get her final things put together as she had to fly out of JFK airport the next day for Mozambique.  Kris was also involved on Sunday so it was up to me to drive Karen to New York to catch her plane.  I was less than happy about driving but we didn’t have a choice.  Yeah, it wasn’t so bad and since I’ve done it now, thanks to a great GPS, I can do it again no problem.  Karen got off safely and soundly and hopefully you are receiving her emails with her adventures in Mozambique.

We came home to beautiful blooming azaleas, rhododendrons and lilac.  The difference between NJ and AZ is stark to say the least.  Our peony bush has tons of buds and our hydrangeas look like they will be spectacular this year.  All the beauty of the earth plus rain and wind and having to turn the heat back on again!  Talk about weird weather!

Along with the weather, my poor mom has an awful case of bronchitis.  Her shingles are still shingling and her bronchioles bronching and the poor sweetheart is just worn out.  Dad had his second surgery on Wednesday and now sports a lovely cut with fourteen staples holding it together.  He’s wrapped and bandaged all over.  This bout of experiences has left both of them weak and drawn. We pray for good weather and better health.

Our wonderful rain and humidity brings accelerated growth of grass, so I’m back to mowing and gardening again.  Sigh!  Actually,  I love seeing things spring to life again, I just wish I didn’t have to mow every five days!  No rest for the wicked!