Sunday, December 13th

Hello People
It's me, the less poetic writer Meghan. We are keeping well here. Mark is now 14/20ths through his treatments (or 7/10ths if any of my grade school teachers are reading). He is having some random side effects, likely more residual chemo stuff than from radiation but nothing big or significant enough to keep him down. He continues to keep his head down as he soldiers through this phase. I keep saying that in some strange way it is like Mark has been preparing for this for a long time. He is really good at living and dealing with all things cancer. This may be apparent when you read the blog but trust me, it is even better when you are sitting next to him. It plays to his strengths in a way that is difficult to describe and adds a huge amount of confidence for both of us and it sounds like it does for many of you too.

Mike (Mark's bro) is now here for the next month to fill in all gaps. It is a real comfort for both Mark and I having him here. He has been reading ferociously on how babies are born and what exactly 'uncle-ing' is. We have a doula and the way we have worked it out is that it is her job to know how to help with having a baby, Mark's job to support me and Mike's job to support Mark. What that job will look like is anyone's guess - certainly having a large box of kleenex on hand will be an important part. What a crazy time. My folks arrive on Monday and Mark's parents in a week following. The baby arrives sometime between today and three weeks from now. Get your guesses in (any dates that end in 2010 are not welcome, thanks).

Last weekend we had a date night out that was really amazing. We were treated like royalty at a really nice restaurant, made pigs of ourselves and headed to a Christmas concert in a beautiful theater downtown. Here is a snap from our last date as a unit of 2.

Yes, sadly, those cocktails are virgin

We are spending our days enjoying Vancouver, food, our apartment and one another. It has been a pretty nice time for us really. We joke about how we are living like retired folks, to bed early, up early, hot cereal for breakfast, catch the news before bed, try to get in a walk every day, knitting, reading, napping - it's not a bad life at all.

So, have a great Sunday everyone, we are doing our Christmas decorating, and then when that 10 minute activity is finished we will go for a long walk and then out to dinner tonight.


We had a nice visit with our friend Chris Higgins and while out for a walk we came across this eagle on top of a totem pole right in the city. It really felt like a powerful moment for both Mark and I. Couldn't help but feel we are being watched over, you know? Also, the zoom on our camera leaves a little (ahem, a lot) to be desired.