Things Are Different Around Here

1. “When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?” – Shel Silverstein, A Light In The Attic

What DO you do when life throws you a curve ball? I guess that depends on you. Looking back at 2020, it seems like our family did everything we could to throw it right back.

I haven't posted in a while. I hadn't forgotten, it's just that each time I sat down to write something, it didn't feel like the time to do it. I didn't want to force something out that didn't come out on it's own. But it feels right, now.

2020 was a hell of a year, for all of us, for everybody. I hope you made it through okay, I hope you found your way to cope. Things were quite different for our family to start the year, and we responded by changing things even more. I think we subconsciously made some big changes to give us something else to think about besides Landon's diagnosis. And I think it worked. Things are different around here...

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We Became a Camping Family. Or Maybe "Glamping"?

 Soon after we came home from BCH, we were hit with a major bout of the "Life is short, live it" mentality. We had always talked about getting a camper and travelling during the summers, but it was one of those things that was going to happen at some indefinite time in the future. We realized it was time to do it. So before February was over, we did. Enjoy some pictures of our many trips this summer.

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We Got a Dog. Meet Luna.

To keep spirits high and the smiles coming, in April we began to search for a dog. Soon after, we adopted Luna! She's a beagle mix, originally found in TN with a two-week old broken right rear leg that had already started healing crooked. While you can see the results of the injury, you'd never know by her energy or speed. She's 1 year old now, and she's a good girl! She loves being in our family, and we love her too.

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Landon Had...and then Sneezed Out...an NG Tube

Even though taking a steroid for about a week of each cycle makes Landon hungry often, it still wasn't enough to keep enough weight on. We avoided getting an NG tube until it was pretty much unavoidable. It wasn't fun managing it, but it was worth it in the end...Landon gained 10 lbs in a couple months and looked and felt much better. Then one day, after sneezing 4 times in quick succession, it was out! That turned out to be timely, seeing as how it was due to be removed soon after anyway.

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Landon Became a Kindergartener.

This was a tough decision for us. As we had all year, we were erring on the side of caution when it came to Landon's health, given his immunocompromised state. We were going to defer school for one year. Two things changed our minds. First, his oncologists assured us that it was okay for Landon to go the school, even with Covid lurking about. Secondly, we were driving someplace one day in August, and out of the blue Landon said something that started with "I'm excited that when I go to school...". I don't even remember what he said after that point, Amy and I were already looking at each other, realizing we were about to change our minds.

He loves school and he's doing really well. Also, it's seems much better than him staying at home all day, not socializing, and consuming media all day. It's not a perfect situation for many reasons, but we are making it work. You can tell he loves it, just look at his school picture. :-)

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We Sold our House and Bought Another

As if everything that was already going on wasn't enough, we decided it was time to move on from our first house. This...was all-consuming for the entirety of the fall to the new year. Preparing a house that wasn't quite ready to be sold just yet, purging and packing, while finding a new place and getting everything there and unpacked, right before Christmas? Recommended for anybody who wants to be incredibly busy while not being able to think about much else! 👍👍    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  

We love our new place. Luke keeps randomly saying "I like our new house". Probably most importantly for the kids, they gained a pool, as well as the ability to play more safely in the front yard...we live near the end of a dead end street with a turnabout at the end.

I would be remiss if I didn't drop a huge thank you to everybody who helped get us here. Sometimes it takes a village...this time it took people from many villages to make it happen. Thank you all!

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Landon's Hair Came Back...with Style!

As you could see from some of the previous pictures on the site, Landon lost his hair as part of the chemotherapy. It's been slowly coming back throughout the year, to the point when he finally needed a haircut. We told him that he could choose whatever kind of haircut he wanted because he had to go without it for so long...not thinking about or expecting the kind of answer we might get. :-)

With that, I give you...Landon's blue mohawk!

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Looking back at this year, I'm glad we were living in the moments and not looking for the larger perspective. We weren't seeing how he looked as a kid in remission, we were seeing our sons growing up, and living our lives. We saw things as we wanted to, while managing how things were. 

​I think it's worked pretty well so far. :-)
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