It’s been a long winter, since the big ice storm landed a tree on the house on January 19th. The tree is off of the house. Janet’s beloved garden beds are blanketed with some of the chips from the tree. And, the process of even getting to “go” on house restoration is proving to be a maddeningly long road. 

 

Eliza and Rachel are still navigating with insurance, estimators, mitigation and restoration companies, and attorneys, to get to a place of beginning repairs on the house. Irvington’s “Historic District” status will be one more layer to get through. Nothing is quick or easy, but there is some progress.

 

Meanwhile, Rachel and Eliza, and a growing care-giving team, continue attending to Janet with so much love. Looking back, Rachel describes the last five months of 2023 as a really bad chemistry experiment. In attempting to address complications of cancer and cancer treatment, Janet suffered with wild physical reactions to new drugs until her doctors finally landed on something helpful. Along the way, Janet stopped actual cancer treatment, endless scans and tests and appointments, and enrolled in hospice. Amongst many losses and unknowns, (and if it weren’t for the house), we’d say that life for Janet is a little calmer.

 

For herself, Janet says she is really tired: it’s the kind of tired that’s not refreshed by a nap. And she does spend a lot of time in her bed. Mentally, she moves unpredictably between different eras of her life. But when we talk about the deeper stuff, her truest self is all there.

 

Reflecting on our early parenting days, Janet and I mused about the passage of time today, 

 

“How did those 35 years go so fast?” 

 

“One day at a time,” I said, "and some of them seemed very long.” 

 

“Oh, yes,” she replied, “It all looks very different from here.”

 

Janet recently celebrated her 75th Birthday, with a few friends and family carrying her into her new year with love and laughter.