Day 688

I know I need to stop but I can't. There are just too many good pictures this winter!

Day 687

While this is technically another cold picture (taken on another very cold day), let's pretend it isn't.

After all, it IS the sun.

Day 686

I can't stop taking pictures of cold things. Lucky for all of us, I'm only posting one of them today!

Day 685

This notice is to inform you that the request for benefits (for infusions) has been denied based upon our review of the information provided by (your doctor).

I thought the third time might be the charm. The insurance company would take pity on me, look at my lengthy medical records and my even lengthier list of medications taken over the course of the past few years, and render a favorable decision. No such luck. Three pre-approvals submitted, three denied.

Whatever.

I'm just gonna keep on keepin' on. Steroids are helping with the pain, but are coming with a whole slew of side effects. Again, whatever.

At least they help me enough to spend lots of time quilting. The local bank collects and displays quilts donated for the Marsing Disaster Auction, so if you happen to be in Marsing anytime before February 2, stop by and take a look at this big (56" x 56") beauty. Done by me. (Still not thrilled about the orange, but from afar it looks pretty darn good.)

Day 684

When you're young you think you're invincible. You will live forever, work forever, play, go out, do whatever it is you do forever. In my husband's case, he thought he was going to teach forever. He knew retirement would come someday, but no where in the near distant future.

But when you get sick, really sick like he was, your perspective changes. It changes who you are in the present, it changes how you look at the future. It shifts your priorities. Life becomes too short to squander it away. Too short to be wasting your time on things that no longer matter. Things like a big house.

At one point in our lives we had been dreaming of retiring to Arizona, but then figured retirement would come and go and we'd still be right here in Marsing. Sitting in our 4 bedroom, 3 bath house on a large lot with a rose garden, a vegetable garden, a shade garden, and a perennial garden.

With his illness came clarity. A new dream for retirement.

2 bedroom, 2 bath, very small yard. In a 55+ community in Boise.

Tonight we took a huge step (a leap, really) in securing a future where the important things matter. Where bigger isn't better.

Our new home. And a bonus for my mom - a place for her to live until we're ready to head to Boise.