Vacation brings feelings of excitement and anticipation….and then before you know it you have “Vacation Blues” because your long anticipated vacation is over.    We all love to go on vacation…but we all dislike returning to work, the routine.

Yes, the wonderful memories are just that “memories”.  But the alternative of having no vacation at all would be even more “blue” than just having left over memories.  My hubby was only able to spend one day of vacation with us because of work deadlines… believe me, he was very blue for not being able to spend time with us and we were blue too .  It wasn’t the same without him.  On a good note… he has a lot of vacation time coming…so we have much to look forward too.

The first week of vacation, our daughter, son-in-law and two of the cutest grandchildren in the world–along with grandma (me)  packed into the car and headed for Indiana for a fun-filled family time.  We attended a wedding reception,  followed by a high school graduation party, then the wedding, and a family reunion… a lot of activity in one week!!!

Our second week of vacation was spent at our lake cottage in Wisconsin.  It was a heavenly time together and as always way to short, but I feel blessed to have that time with my family and will hold each moment close to my heart.

Oh, there were a few glitches that second week… my daughter fell down three slippery steps to the lake and was black and blue, then I thought I broke my little toe as I was rounding the corner in the hallway and it was black and blue.  (Yep, just yesterday the doctor confirmed a broken toe!)   How my little toe reached out to that corner… I will never know!  Then my son-in-law received a bee sting (he is allergic) and the next day ended up in the emergency room diagnosed with a lymphatic infection from the bee sting.  To top that off, my expert biking riding husband had a non-moving bike accident as he clipped his shoe in and somehow fell over, resulting in some punctures and abrasions (on his only day of vacation.)    I think we may need to increase our medical insurance coverage!!

The ER at the nearby hospital always prepares for us when they hear we are going on vacation.  Two years ago, our 2-year-old granddaughter hurt her elbow…which ended up being “Nurses Elbow” – which means it was dislocated.  We finally figured out how this happened…  She was shooing a fly away by waving her arm so fast…she popped out the elbow.   Funny memory….

While at the lake on vacation, I drove back to Madison for an appointment with my Oncologist at UW Hospital.  As many of you know already, the pathologist did confirm that I have Uterine Cancer.  It is a slow-growing cancer and we are hoping that it has been caught early enough and that the only thing needed is removal.  Surgery is scheduled on July 26th.  I’ll keep you posted.

I feel I have a pretty good attitude going into this…but I do have moments of sadness, especially that my family has to go through this with me emotionally.  You see my mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was around 30 years old (around the same age my daughter is today), and I still remember my feelings then.  Unlike my mother’s diagnosis  which only gave her three months to live, my cancer is very curable.  I will start sharing the story of my mom’s cancer in the coming days… as her ‘only three months to live” diagnosis turned into living 24 more years to the age of 93.   A true God miracle!

Thanks to all the email messages, cards and gifts I have received — your  encouragment means a lot to me and keeps me thinking positive.  May God bless your day.  Love, Marilyn