On the way down, we made a very brief stop at the Red Oak brewery in Whitsett to pick up a growler of Red Oak Bavarian Lager, my favorite amber beer in the whole world. It was so amazingly fresh you could virtually hear the imported noble hops speaking Deutsche as they tumbled into growlers from the taps. This trip was starting off well! We will return soon for a brewery tour.
As we proceeded east of Rocky Mount, the skies turned gray and foreboding. By the time we got to the middle of nowhere in Tyrell County, a lot of that foreboding came down in buckets.
"We must be back in Kansas, Toto!"
"Should I read it?"
" No! Don't ruin the weekend with shitty news. Just ignore it until you get back."
"But what if it's good news? That would make the weekend even better!"
"NO news is good news!"
"Bullshit! Sometimes no news means you're just not listening to the news."
"To read or not to read, that is the question."
"Good grief! Just open the fucking email and deal with it Charlie Brown, you wishy-washy, round-headed, 6 year old who never changes clothes!"
Here's the content of Dr. E.'s response to my inquiry, that I read as inspiration to Mari Jo while she drove like a bat-out-of-hell in a downpour.
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Hello! I'm glad to hear that everything worked out with the scheduling! I will keep my eye out for the packet of information after its been scanned in. Probably the best way to get the forms here would be to either drop them off or mail them in; I'll put my address below. In terms of your clinical question, that answer would also be a "no" - there is not another cancer (or any other type of problem) that would have made you get this one. So keep working on that bucket list!
Dr. Ellis
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Yay!! It's time to dial back the fear again and get on with normal life, or normalcy as I experience it, which is pretty 'out-there' for some people. And, Dr. E. endorsed my lengthy bucket list! Oh joy!!
Despite the wind-driven rain pounding against the windshield, nothing could dampen our spirits now. We were hell bent to get to the Outer Banks. I could tell we were hell bent because Mari Jo was going 75 mph during the hardest part of the storm. She had planned to get to my brother's house by 5:30 to insure we could surprise him when he got home after our arrival. And my brother, Joe, was indeed surprised when we drove up at about 6:15 about 15 minutes after his arrival.
"Well, there goes the neighborhood for the next two and a half days! The riff-raff from Lewisville has arrived."
I jest! He was really happy to see us and Ayako had prepared a nice birthday meal of sushi and sesame chicken. Home made sushi, fresh beer, and family. That's what memories are made of. It was a very festive beginning and all credit goes to the two master-minds of the event, Mari Jo and Ayako. Kanpai!!
Saturday was a complete washout with frequent and sometimes heavy rain storms. We drove down to the Nags Head Hammock shop and goofed around there for a couple of hours. Many tourists had the same idea since frying like bacon on the beach wasn't an option. The Hammock Shop was an amazing display of everything that could be made with wood and rope, except possibly a gallows. I don't know, maybe they were hidden in some back room reserved for people who were tired of the leisurely life, or just life in general.
Saturday evening we had a great meal at a little restaurant called the Saltbox Cafe, right there on Colington Island where my brother and sister-in-law live. It's a very quaint, funky place but with a surprisingly varied menu featuring local seafood and a decent wine and beer list. The chef had done a tour in New Orleans so some of his signature dishes featured Cajun spices. On the recommendation of my sister-in-law, I ordered the crab cakes over fried tomatoes. They were super delicious. The four of us spent a leisurely evening at the Saltbox and met the chef near the end of our epicurean adventure. He was affable and genuinely interested in our opinion of the meal. I responded by telling him about our dining room wall that is festooned with signed menus from restaurants at which we have enjoyed eating. He got his answer when I asked him to sign a copy of his menu for us to add to our wall. He gladly obliged.
To top things off for the weekend, Mari Jo's cousin, Gary Obermeier, drove down from Norfolk Sunday morning to have lunch with us. He and his wife, Barbara, who is half Japanese, live in Ventura, CA. Gary periodically comes to Norfolk where he does contract work for the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard. We had lunch at another eclectic restaurant called the Blue Moon Beach Grill. It was really great seeing Gary again, one of many cool people on MJ's side of the family. All five of us made great connections and Ayako looks forward to a time when Barbara can come with Gary so the two of them can speak in the language of their ancestors.
Ayako took lots of pictures with her iPad during the visit. Below are some she took of MJ and I while on the beach Sunday morning. The ocean was angry as hell. Waves pounded the surf as if Poseidon himself was pissed off. That didn't dampen our spirits either. We weren't there to swim or even play in the surf, we were just enjoying each other's company and the time together. It's been far too long and this rekindled my desire to stay connected to family and friends as closely as possible.
While examining this beached, dead albino puffer fish just a bit too closely, Mari Jo and Ayako were reminded that the tide was coming in when a surprise wave came along and smacked them on their backsides. They shrieked like school girls and we all had a good laugh. None of us were wearing swimsuits so they suffered with wet clothes for a few hours from this side adventure.
The subject of my LGLL never came up the entire weekend. What a great respite. And, we slept! Oh joy of joys, we slept well!! I felt more refreshed and relaxed over the weekend than I've felt in weeks. It was therapeutic in so many ways. Although my 'situation' was never discussed during the visit, upon returning and seeing the really cool pix Ayako took of Mari Jo and me, I couldn't help but wax wistful with the short poem below.
Beside a tempest surf they walked,
Two star-crossed lovers hand in hand.
Of life's ephemeral course they talked,
Like leaving footprints in the sand.
Though wind and waves will wash away
Those footprints in the sand forever,
More constant than the night and day
Are memories of life lived together.
Though wind and waves will wash away
Those footprints in the sand forever,
More constant than the night and day
Are memories of life lived together.
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