Dear Friends and Family,
Nancy took another airplane trip this past summer after being told she could travel and be around people. The destination was Marblehead, Massachusetts, for the wedding of Stefanie Freeman, the daughter of her good friend Lyn. We’ve known Stefanie since birth. Nancy was allowed to attend this joyous event, her goal for the entire last year, because she now has an immune system that should protect her from normal germs. The experience exceeded all our expectations. She visited with old friends, drank and ate the best of Boston, and danced as much (or more) than even the youngest of the wedding guests. The next day, I returned to Utah for work while Nancy stayed an extra day with our friends John and Cheryl Jermyn.
John asked Nancy what she wanted to do, and in Nancy’s low-key, never-a-burden style, she replied, “Maybe we could go to the ocean.” In less than thirty minutes, Nancy was retrieving bucket after bucket of sand and mud to help John’s kids, Cole and Jaclyn, construct a sand castle. When the moat surrounding their intricate multilevel castle was completed, John dashed into the ocean to wash off the sand. Unfortunately, he found the water only slightly warmer than the Arctic Ocean, so he quickly retreated. Nancy, on the other hand, slowly waded in. First, up to her ankles, then up to her waist, and finally up to her neck. She floated and splashed and even fully submerged her hair-covered head. For nearly an hour, she frolicked like a three-year-old in a wading pool. Later, finally dry and sitting on her towel at the water’s edge, she gazed at the horizon, the expression on her face almost as far away.
Nancy grew up spending entire days at the beaches of Georgia and Florida, and her fondest childhood memories are intertwined with sand and sea. She turned to John, and though I was not there, John didn’t have to describe the look on her face when he recounted what she softly told him: “I never thought I’d get to do this again.” John became as choked up then as I am now as I share Nancy’s proclamation with each of you, my dear friends.
The truth is that Nancy has experienced imminently facing one’s mortality and then getting a second chance. In reality, her journey hasn’t made her more loving, more caring, or more wonderful than before. But she is more aware.
And me?
I am almost speechless.
How do I describe where we are today?
Glorious and magnificent are probably close depictions, with a splash of humbleness for Nancy having made me more aware, too.
Have I changed?
My friend Fred says I press the “easy” button more often than in the past because I don’t sweat the small stuff as I once did. But as I sit here and reflect, I realize my biggest change is how I feel. Good, caring people still exist in this world. And Nancy and I have heard from and met more than our fair share of these people during her extended illness.
We thank you once again for your many kind thoughts, words, and actions. We are forever in your collective debt for helping to get us through the hard times.
Summary: Nancy is “out of the woods” and leukemia-free.
With all our love and all our thankfulness—always,
Winnie