Two seders and an Easter dinner

Callen and Nell

I was a little under the weather leading up to Friday night, and I thought of not going to the home of my extended family, the Chipkins, for the first seder, but I rallied. We have shared many joyful celebrations and one of the worst nights of our lives. At the seder, someone almost snuck in the name of the Orange Monster (this is a hint regarding that bad night, in 2016,) but a murmur went up in the group to get us back on course. I'm always glad to be with this warm, welcoming family. It's a time of being grateful for many things, and the next day in South Hadley, we were all grateful that Joe took over in the kitchen at our seder after I got things going, because who knows, I might still be serving the potatoes. We have a wonderful tradition: Diane leading a beautiful seder, with contemporary tie-ins, and such must-haves as David's pot roast and Bob's booming baritone version of "Let my People Go." Having Nell and Callen "play" the piano was a joy. Playing with them was a joy. Even being able to get down on the floor and up from it is a joy, and in the theme of the on-and-off 10-year retrospective, here's a post about how I couldn't have done it when I was in the hospital, needing platelets and blood after one of many trips with Joe to the ER. It was a little less than four months after my fourth transplant. I had a fever and was worried about what might be coming down The Pike this time. It turned out to be another fungal ball. I wrote in this post, that after a little walk, "I got dizzy and felt like I might faint. I knew that my blood pressure had fallen. I made it back to my room, and when the nurse took my pressure (standing) it was 65/54. The episode earned me five hours of IV fluids."

Being under the weather now, as compared to then, is obviously no comparison. I've been dragging my feet, literally and figuratively, about doing The Gift of Life 5K in Boston this coming Sunday. Dragging literally, because it's hard to shake off the neuropathy-induced lead boot feeling, and figuratively, because I only signed up today. The Gift of Life is the organization that got me my donor; I signed up for the run last year but at the last minute went to Costa Rica, so when they asked again this year, it seemed like an important thing to do. To make a donation, please click here.

I haven't been running very much and want to get in some little runs before I do it. Yesterday I went a little less than three miles (OK, 2.7), then came back and jumped in the shower so that I could be ready for my next activity, a trip to Framingham for Easter dinner at the home of my Partner/Boyfriend/Honey/Beau's son. Could we take a vote? An Easter egg hunt awaited us. When we got back, we took Maddie for a nice walk.

Today I'm dragging and seem to have neglected the part about finishing the cleanup. Tomorrow is another day...

Earlier in the week, it was AML World Awareness Day, and I wrote about more than 15 years of knowing more than I never wanted to know on the topic.