Every Vacation Needs Rain and Snow

   The adventure of vacation continues!  Oh sure, it all looks easy when you are planning it and of course it is easy for you when you are in good shape and the life of the party.  And for the most part, it has gone quite well.  But yesterday was a trip within a trip.

• Dateline: Washington, D.C. and Arlington, VA
• Time: April 6, 2017
• Major Threat to the Well Being of Americans Visiting the Nation's Capitol: The Weather

   On the one day that we had set aside to wander our nation's capital city, it rained (hard) all day, and blew (also hard), and tornadoed (not even lying).  Without getting into too many of the details, we had our idyllic visit to Washington D.C. interrupted by weather that caused it to be a day we won't soon forget.  We wandered as well as we could, from The Capitol Building to the White House to the Washington Monument to several of the Smithsonian buildings, but ultimately we had to leave about 3:30 because we were cold (all of us), soaked through and through (all of us also), and quite tired (that would be just me).  We agreed that it was still worthwhile, but barely.  When your most impressionable moment of visiting Washington D.C. is hunkering down behind a snack kiosk as branches fall around you and the wind is knocking people over, it might have been a better idea to go to Palm Springs for a vacation.
   On the way back to Kate's house in northwest Ohio today, we hit snow through much of Pennsylvania.  This was not just a random flurry or two in the air, but this was three inches of quickly accumulating slush through the mountains.  Welcome to Spring Break.
   But these are all mere circumstances.  My health is holding steady.  I traveled well, I walked fairly well, I slept fairly often.  I have another week before the stem-cell appointments get started and we find out if I am a candidate to continue the process.  My schedule for appointments looks more like a full-time job than a schedule for appointments.  Once again, one day at a time, sweet Jesus...
   Twenty-four hours from now we will be back in Grand Rapids.  The adventure of vacation will be history, but the adventure of cancer continues.  Here we go!

   (Special thanks go out to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Hunefeld of Richmond, Virginia and Dr. and Mrs. James Zimmerman of Wauseon, Ohio for allowing us to bunk in at their homes, eat their food, play in their yards and horse around with their children this week.  It was all a blessing.)