Happy Halloween!

Witch -  Circa 1987

Wizard - Circa 1991ish?

Wizard and Bear - Circa 1991ish

Birthday Present - Circa 1993

Birthday Present and Little Red Riding Hood - Circa 1993

In honor of Halloween I thought I'd share some photos of me and my sister through the years. Our mom is awesome and made every single one of our costumes (dad helped too!). We had some pretty cool costume ideas, like the birthday present and the refrigerator (wish I had pictures of that one, it was awesome!) and my mom (and dad) helped turn our ideas into reality.

I have so many good memories of Halloween. First, there was the town Halloween parade (which is part of the reason we came up with some neat costume ideas) where we would parade around the high school auditorium and hope that the judges would award one of us with a trophy. Despite our well-executed costumes, neither one of us ever took home a prize.

Then there was Mischief Night, the night before Halloween. In the North, the night before Halloween means mischievous teens pull pranks like throwing rolls of toilet paper in trees, smashing pumpkins, spraying shaving cream on car windshields and pulling other pranks on friends and neighbors. Although my sister and I never participated in any of the mischief, it was always fun to wake up the next morning to see what had been done. We hated when the vandals got our pumpkins though.

The day/night of Halloween was always fun, too. At our house we had a scary green mask with a wrinkled, wart face and crazy, curly black and white hair we called Mr. Greenhead who we would dress in our parents old clothes and put out on our front porch.  When I was really young (see witch photo, circa 1987) my mom would take me trick-or-treating before she left for work in the late afternoon. As my sister and I got older, our dad would take us as soon as it got dark. We would bring back pillowcases full of candy, then dump out the contents on our living room rug and sort through every piece.

Now, Halloween isn't quite what it used to be. The people in my neighborhood don't usually leave their lights on for Trick-or-Treaters (much less decorate their houses), so at most we get 4-6 kids. Older kids are discouraged from Trick-or-Treating, and towns and neighborhoods decide when people should celebrate Halloween if it's during the week or on a Sunday. I'm thankful I grew up in a town that always celebrated Halloween and in a family that did fun Halloween activities together. I hope to continue the tradition when I have kids one day.

UPDATE: Emotional Rollercoaster

I'm sure many of you are wondering about my friend Lindsay and her little boy Lane, and thankfully I have good news to share. Lindsay is being discharged today after three weeks in the hospital. She will have someone come to her home several times a week to help her with physical therapy and eventually she'll go to an outpatient program. Lane is also doing well, but he'll need to spend at least another one to two weeks in the hospital as he is having a little trouble breathing without extra oxygen. This isn't a cause for concern however, since Lane is considered a premie.

New details have also emerged about the accident. When the ambulance driver first talked to the police officer he told him that he was programming the address of his next stop into his GPS. During his second interview though, he told the officer that he had been having a migraine all day and that he had repeatedly blacked out and that is what happened right before the accident. The officer determined that the more likely scenario is that the passenger of the ambulance was programming the GPS and the driver was watching him and was distracted. It has also been determined that the ambulance's traffic signal had been red for quite some time when he ran through. Despite his distraction, the driver will not be charged with vehicular manslaughter because he did not have the intent to kill, but will probably face a lesser charge, possibly vehicular homicide, which is a felony and can carry jail time.

Lindsay, her husband Eric and their son Lane still have a long road ahead of them but they are getting better every day.

Lucky Number Seven

This was the surprise waiting for me at the front desk yesterday; beautiful flowers to mark the seven amazing years Brad and I have been together. I love the card he sent: "Roses are red, violets are blue, thanks for putting up with me the past seven years. I love Delilah...oh yeah, and you too!"

We continued our celebration that evening by going to Acacia Mid-Town, a restaurant we've both been wanting to try for quite some time. It just so happens that it's Restaurant Week in Richmond and Acacia's menu is featuring some pretty amazing options. For my appetizer I opted for the duck confit with potato gnocchi, fresh cranberries, local Swiss chard and pomegranate molasses. I've never had duck before and I wouldn't normally be drawn to it, but the other elements of the dish were what drew me in; it was simply delicious. Brad chose the crab fritters which were also very tasty. For the main course, I had the seared sea scallops with fresh pasta, local kale, golden raisins, leek flower, pecans and shrimp butter sauce, while Brad had rock fish with local broccoli puree, sautéed brussel sprouts, sunchokes, roasted pumpkin and red wine sauce. After trying the fresh pasta I don't think I ever want to eat boxed pasta ever again.

With two good dishes under our belts, Brad and I were both looking forward to dessert. I ordered the black forest cake with cherry sherbet while Brad opted for the apple ginger cake. Have you ever seen a cake plate after everyone has had a piece and there are just a few scraps left? That's exactly how my dessert looked, like they put together some of the leftover scraps of black forest cake and arranged them on a nice, fancy plate. The scraps definitely had a nice rich flavor but I would by no means call what I was presented a cake. Brad's apple ginger cake was equally tasty but as he put it, was the size of a postage stamp. Definitely not the way I would have hoped a delicious meal would have ended.

Despite our skimpy desserts, Brad and I had a great time together, like always. I look forward to 70 more years together with Brad, even if he thinks we won't live that long!

Emotional Roller Coaster

I haven't posted in awhile because Brad and I have been dealing with a tragedy our best friends experienced on October 7. Until now, I haven't been able to decide if it's appropriate for me to share their tragedy or even how to write about it. Thankfully, things are looking up and I feel ready to share what happened.

On October 7, our friend Lindsay, expecting twins in November, was t-boned by an ambulance as she left the mall. Her car was so badly damaged, they had to use the jaws of life to get her out. Despite a broken collar bone, broken left shoulder blade, broken ribs on both sides and a broken pelvis, she is doing well. As a precaution, the doctors delivered her boys, five weeks before they were scheduled to arrive. Lucas weighed 4 lbs. 11 oz. and Lane weighed 4 lbs. 8 oz. Lane is doing really well and is not having any major problems despite being born early. Lucas though, was on Lindsay's left side and absorbed most of the impact. When he was born, Lucas was not breathing and doctors found three fractures in his skull along with bleeding in his brain they could not stop, causing his brain to swell. On October 14, he was removed from life support and passed away a few hours later. Lindsay is now in a hospital separate from Lane where she is undergoing two weeks of intensive physical and occupational therapy. It will likely be months before she is able to walk again and until then will rely on a wheelchair and walker to get around.

I learned of the accident as I left my yoga class the evening of the 7th. I had two missed calls from Brad and a text that said to call him as soon as possible. My initial reaction was that something had happened to Lindsay and Eric's dog Layla. Layla was diagnosed with cancer in early spring, underwent chemo and was doing well up until about three weeks ago. Her vet optimistically gave her one month to live but said realistically she had about one week. Of course my phone call to Brad yielded a much different scenario. At that point all he knew was that Lindsay had been in an accident and that as a precaution they were delivering the babies. 

The next morning, before I was awake, Eric called Brad to give him the news that Lucas was unlikely to survive. When I woke up, Brad gave me the news and we decided to drive to the hospital, not only to provide Eric and his and Lindsay's family support, but to help take care of Layla. We didn't tell Eric we were coming but needless to say, when he saw us, he was glad we were there. As you can imagine, the weekend was long and emotional, and we spent a good deal of timing waiting; waiting for news about Lucas and Lane, waiting for news about Lindsay and the surgery to reconstruct her pelvis, just waiting.

My friend Andrea and I were supposed to throw a couple's shower for Lindsay and Eric that weekend and Lindsay, in her groggy, pain-med induced state, happily stated that we could have the shower later, when her and the boys were home. Everyone at work knew I was throwing the shower so when I returned to work on Monday, everyone was excited to know how it went. It was really painful to have to tell them what had happened, and especially the news about Lucas. I didn't realize how much emotional weight I was carrying on my shoulders from the weekend. When I got home from work I was exhausted and after waking up from a nap, I could not stop crying. It was especially difficult because Brad was in Las Vegas for work and there's only so much a dog can do to help you feel better.

Things got better as the week progressed but Thursday was very difficult as it was the day Lucas passed. Eric asked Brad to be both of the boys' God Father which was quite an honor for Brad; I almost cried when he told me. The following Saturday, October 16, Brad and I decided to go back to Northern Virginia. Lindsay and Eric both talked openly about  Lucas' death, their immediate and long-term plans for the future and how they were feeling. Lindsay, although still in significant pain, is doing really well. She is able to move herself from her bed, to her wheelchair and back. Although she despises being so far away from Lane, he is motivation for her to work hard in her therapy sessions. Eric has been bonding with Lane by feeding, holding and changing him and taking lots of pictures for Lindsay. It was nice to see both of them in such good spirits and it helped bring me peace, knowing that they're going to be okay.

As Lindsay and Eric continue to heal, more details are emerging about the accident. Lindsay was hit by a Patient Transport Ambulance which had just dropped off a patient and was heading to another call. A witness has come forward to confirm that Lindsay had the green light and police are now looking for a witness to clarify whether or not the ambulance's light was red or to provide any details about what happened on the ambulance's side of the road. As far as I know, charges will be placed against the ambulance driver.

Tomorrow it will be two weeks since the accident happened and a week since Lucas passed away. Even after seeing Lindsay in the hospital and seeing pictures of both Lucas and Lane, it still doesn't seem real. All of this has really made me reconsider the things I gripe about and get angry over. I'm trying to be more patient, to not take things for granted and to consider what really matters in life. I want to learn from Lindsay and Eric who have proven their love for each other and the strength of their relationship, and I want to spoil Lane to bits and pieces.

Bizzaro

This afternoon I was typing directions for a friend to the Leesburg Corner Premium Outlet Mall (some of the best shopping around if I do say so myself!) and opened up Google Maps to verify the information I was typing was correct. I started to type in my address but accidentally pressed the enter key so only my house number was part of the directions. I thought for sure I'd get an error message from Google but instead, I got this:

That's right. Directions FROM Australia to the outlets in Leesburg. Google Maps estimates such a trip to take 56 days, 5 hours and includes kayaking across the Pacific Ocean in its step-by-step instructions.  What a good laugh for a Thursday afternoon!

My Five Minute Rant

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there are a variety of campaigns out there promoting the observance. One campaign I find absolutely ridiculous is Facebook's "I Like It" campaign. Basically, women are supposed to update their Facebook status with something like, "I like it on a chair" or "I like it on the bed," referring to where they like to put their purse when they get home. How this has anything to do with breast cancer is beyond me but I can appreciate what Facebook or whoever organized this "stunt" is trying to do; get people curious about what the these strange statuses mean (your mom likes it on the radiator?!). And of course, since so many women on Facebook have been participating, the campaign has started to garner some media attention. Personally, I think the campaign is a waste of time. There's no connection between where a woman places her purse and her breasts, unless of course she likes to rest her purse on her breasts, but that's a discussion for another time. Seriously though, if you want to promote breast cancer awareness, encourage women to update their statuses with messages about performing self-breast exams or telling their mothers and grandmothers to get mammograms. Sure, the "I Like It" campaign is more fun, but it definitely cheapens the cause.

Ghostly image? Coffee table? What is that in my picture?

 

This lovely lady is Delilah's best friend, Layla. In the top right-hand corner of the picture you can see a strange round thing that kind of looks like a face or something you might see under a microscope. The big debate between Layla's parents (Eric and Lindsay), Brad and I is whether this "thing" is some sort of ghostly orb, Lindsay and Eric's coffee table (which is made of a sort of wicker material) or something else. Eric and Brad firmly believe it's the coffee table. I find this pretty hard to believe as what's behind the "thing" is the window with the blinds down. I don't think it's humanely possible, at any angle, to have gotten the corner of the coffee table in the picture when the table is to the right and almost behind the ottoman Layla is sitting on. At first, Lindsay agreed with me that it was something else, but after a second look she thinks, although at a strange angle, it's definitely the coffee table. I still, after looking at this picture 10 times and showing it to a couple of co-workers, cannot see how it could possibly be the corner of the coffee table. How could the corner of the coffee table be half way up the window when there is no reflection because the blinds (which are a cloth-like material) are down!?!? Thoughts?

First Pumpkin Spice Latte of the Season

And it's an absolutely gorgeous fall day with sunshine, blue skies and low humidity after two full days of heavy rain.