Saturday 9-30-2006

Eva and I had come down to SP late Friday evening, caught up with the parents a bit, and crashed around midnight. I knew I had a long day ahead of me but at 5am I was awake. I just lied there thinking and trying to go back to sleep for about an hour and then said screw it and got up. My parent's kitchen was lacking some of the essentials (cookies, chips, and cheerios) so I was off to the store. What a surprise, not too many people doing their grocery shopping at 6:30am on a Saturday morning. I got back, had my cheerios and read the paper until my family rose at a more reasonable hour. I made waffles and we had a nice little breakfast to start the day off right.

After letting breakfast settle, we each picked our athletic endeavor of choice and were off. My father went to his soccer game, my mother and Eva went for a run, and I took the bike out for a spin. I was under strict instructions from Eva, " Walk your bike up Anchovy (the hill that likely sparked my lung issues a few weeks ago)." I agreed and was off. I just did a mellow ride (6 miles on the flats) and when I was almost finished I ran into Eva coming back from the other direction. I rode slow and we walked the hill back up to the house together. It looked like we just happened to run into each other but I was wondering if maybe she was hiding out and waiting to try to catch me riding up the hill (when confronted, she denied it).

In the afternoon, we headed over to Shoreline Village in Long Beach to meet some friends and go for a boat ride. Ken Overfield and my father have been friends since they met while my father was pushing me in a stroller and they decided to go in on a 13' Boston Whaler together. Today we were heading out on Ken's slightly larger boat and just going for a little cruise around the harbor. Tony Cappolla, one of Ken's old friends from SP, Eva, my parents, Leslie, my oncologist's girlfriend who we met in Park City, and her two kids, Max and Evan, rounded out the group. Tony had open heart surgery about a month ago, so like the 8-year-olds we are, we had to compare scars. His was more of the chest zipper variety where as mine is sort of the side pouch. We feasted on In'N'Out burgers and then were on our way. The fog never totally burned off so it was a touch cool but it was still just wonderful to be on the water. Ken's boat is really nice and it is just fun being aboard. We cruised from Shoreline over to Naples and then over to Cabrillo before heading back. The kids seemed to have a good time running around the boat. I think Evan made it up and down the ladder between the main deck and the flying bridge about 35 times. We had a few nature encounters and saw a number of pelicans and seals.

Recently, when I have been on a boat, I end up getting wet. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not. I was not expecting to get wet on Ken's boat, but somehow, as my father, Eva, and I were hanging out on the foredeck, a few pretty good sized waves sent a fair amount of spray over the deck and I ended up pretty wet. The picture to the left is of Evan, up to something no doubt, and was taken about 5 minutes before the spray same over the bow. If you can't tell by our legs, Eva and I were very comfy in our little nitch. As I was wiping myself off, my hat flew into the water and so we got to do a "man overboard" drill. I try to keep it entertaining. Evan also helped keeping things fun by showing us his acting abilities. He started off by "throwing up" over the side, then to add realism, he would take a mouthful of coke and "throw-up" over the side. The best performance was when he was on the foredeck with Eva, went to "throw-up" over the side, and, with a little help from the wind, ended up spraying coke all over Eva and the boat. Eva took it in stride just like the saint she is. I guess, at 7, he had not heard about spitting into the wind yet. I wonder if he knows about peeing uphill. Max, the older brother, enjoyed Evan's antics, but had even more fun when he got to drive the boat. Doesn't he look like a good little captain? Ken is behind Max and just keeping a weather eye on the water. My mother is not really a boat person (and is just wonderful to let my father play on boats as much as we do) but she certainly enjoyed Ken's boat. It was a lot of fun hanging out with her on the bridge and seeing that big smile on her face. Maybe my dad just needs to get a bigger boat. I don't really get to do as many activities with my mom as my dad (mostly because my dad just has more time off) but it just goes without saying what a big part of my life she is. She deserves more credit than she gets and has been key to me doing so well so far. Specifically, she has really provided me with the foundation to maintain pretty emotionally stable through these early rounds of chemo. Anyways, I just wanted to get that down. Here we are having a good time up top. After the boat ride, some old friends had a few extra tickets to the Galaxy vs. Chivas game so Eva, my father, and I headed up to the Home Depot center. The friends were Pete and Sydney Youngblood, and Pete's mother, and I had grown up playing soccer with their four boys. It was a great game and a really fun evening. Sydney is a six year breast cancer survivor and it was really good to talk to her and just talk about everything that is going on. The Galaxy won 3-nil in case anyone was curious. It was also cool to see a former teammate, Brent Whitfield, who got some playing time for Chivas. We played on a club team together in high school. He was pretty good then, but he has bulked up a bit, developed quite a game, and is now a professional soccer player. Pretty cool.

Pretty full day. Obviously, I am still doing pretty well and I feel pretty normal. Hopefully this continues. The only health issue of note is that the gas continues. Poor, poor Eva.

-TN