Update on my trip east

I know--Monday is not my usual blogging day, but I'm going to be traveling tomorrow and won't get a chance to post.

Lori and I left our sister Stacie's house in Fairfax, Virginia, early Sunday afternoon and headed north to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. On the way we stopped at the King-of-Prussia mall, where we met my blogging buddy Debbie Schubert and her husband, Chuck, for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I hadn't met Debbie before, so it was a real treat to see her in person, and she and Chuck are absolutely adorable together. How wonderful that they've been married for over 25 years! It was such a joy to meet them. I'll post a picture once I get back to Vegas.

Beautiful Aunt Joyce is hanging in there. Cancer is such a pain because it seems once you get one thing under control, something else pops up. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, BAJ had brain surgery recently and the steroids they have her on are kicking her ass. Sucks.

She has such an unbelieveable attitude, though. Last night Lori and I were bitching about something or other and our Uncle John was ragging on Joe Biden, and then Lori said, "What about you, Joyce? Do you have something you want to complain about?" Poor Joyce just sat there trying to get comfortable in her recliner and said, "Oh no, I'm good."

One of the reasons I picked this weekend to come back east was that Lori told me Loretta Lynn was going to be at Penn's Peak, this awesome venue about a mile from BAJ and John's house, on March 30. We saw Little Feat there over Christmas; it's really a fantastic place. John picked up our tickets for us a couple of weeks ago, and all the way up from Stacie's we talked about what a freakin' treat it will be to see Loretta Lynn. Not that we're into country or anything, but for Christsakes, she's a legend! And Lori said John told her it was almost sold out, so how lucky were we? We were even bragging about it to Debbie and Chuck, and I'm missing my incredibly handsome boyfriend's birthday today, which I feel terrible about, but this just seemed like a good weekend to come back here.

So this afternoon Lori, BAJ, and I are sitting around, with BAJ nestled in her recliner. She had a rough morning; another doctor's appointment. It takes all her strength just to get up and out, and of course they did another biopsy because now they suspect skin cancer; one more thing to contend with once she gets her strength back. One of us mentioned that we'd better check and see what time Loretta Lynn goes on tonight and then John yelled in to us from the other room.

"GIRLS! We have a problem. These tickets are for Friday, March 20."

Ever the optimist, I wondered why they would have printed the wrong date on the tickets. I mean, that would be weird, right? They never print the wrong dates on tickets.

Um, the show was 10 days ago. John picked up the tickets on March 19, the day before the concert. That's why it was almost sold out.

Lori, Joyce and I laughed our heads off--the kind of cracking up where you think you might cough up a lung. My head was actually hurting from laughing so hard. Lori felt terrible for screwing up the date, but it's all good. It was worth it to see Beautiful Aunt Joyce get such a kick out of us; she seemed so down after her appointment. We had a great afternoon looking at old pictures of the family and the truth is, I'd rather spend the extra time hanging out here. Every minute with BAJ is a gift.

Tomorrow morning Lori and I drive up to Albany; I fly back to Vegas at 6:00. Hopefully I'll get to see my kids and grandson before my flight.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers for Joyce--so very appreciated! I wish I could meet each one of you and thank you personally.

XOXO

P.S. Just had this conversation with Lori:

Lori: "What are you doin' Linda Lou? Blogging?"
Me: "Yeah, I'm putting up my post since we'll be on the road tomorrow."
Lori: "Well, good thing you didn't have anything else to do tonight."