Okay, I decided to cheer myself up by sharing a few nice photos...
The first one is of a cake, all of its decorations edible, made by Tina, a talented artist in our local grocery store's bakery. She has made fabulous cakes for us in the past. I called and asked her to create one of her special cakes for Katie, as a celebration of the end of her 2nd round of chemo. This cake is what Tina made. It has a screen of white chocolate, and lovely clothes made of fondant, including "silk" stockings, shoes, a dress, a bouquet of flowers, purse and strand of pearls...plus a dressing table and hassock! All of this atop a delicious cake. We were so thrilled that we had to take photos of it, and shared it with the staff who wanted some of it. (Tina also created a gorgeous cake for Katie's memorial Celebration of Life, but I am getting away from "cheering up" by going down that road, so I'll stop.)
The next photo is of Gregg, David and me when we left town after Katie's memorial to go to Canada for a few days. We went to Tofino, way up on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and then to Sooke, which has a famous restaurant and B&B. We were introducing David to the delights of Sooke's cuisine. It is a place where you take your time over the menu, and over each course of the dinner. The inn overlooks the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so we had a lovely view with our meal. We had been in these places as a family two summers ago. It was very difficult to travel without Katie, but it was good to be out of town by ourselves.
Lastly, I will share a photo of a hike we took on the trip. There is a gorgeous park near Sooke, and we always like to hike there. Gregg, David and I took a picnic and walked along the coast to a large rock overlooking the Strait. David set up the camera and made us all laugh as the timer went off.
I guess I'm going to jump around in time alot in this blog. This is not like a journal, in chronological order. Oh, well. It's a blog; that sounds like something amorphous. Good. Life doesn't have a recognizable shape right now, either, without Katie.
2 comments:
I love the photos and am glad you were all able to spend time alone together in such a beautiful place. I never realized how important that is until cancer came into our lives.
I'm so jelous of that CAKE! I need to go back to school to learn how to do that. It's fabulous!
Karen,
You have every right to every one of the emotions that you have. You were strong for Katie when she needed you to be, as only a mother can. However, you don't have to be strong right now. You can feel free to let everything out! Life is so unfair sometimes. I too was thinking about Oct. 10 of last year and how I heard at school that Katie had cancer and came home and cried, and cried and cried. I remember that day so well. I went and met my own daughter walking home from school and tried to think of a way to tell her the news.
I remember 2nd grade and the class they were in together and the great plays they did. 3rd and 4th grade when they got to have the same great teacher and you would come and read to their class. The middle of 5th grade when they were in the same class once again. I found a picture the other day on my computer of the kids all smiling at field day on the next to last day of school. Katie had such a beautiful smile and always looked so happy.
The cake is beautiful and I am so glad you guys got to take some time to spend as a family. What a beautiful place to go also. Vancouver Island is one of my favorites.
Even though some days are going to be really hard for quite a long time, please remember that there are a lot of people thinking about and praying for you. You are not alone and take as much time as you need. Enjoy some of the sun for awhile today...I don't know when it will be back!
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