This past month of travel has been a strange enchilada; the melted cheese of good company mingled with the chili peppers of stress. (always striving for the world's dumbest analogy, that's my mission) Tiff continues to amaze me with her ability to keep on truckin' as far as cancer goes and Stella has earned the travel toddler of the year award for her unending enthusiasm for new places. (Every time we pull the van up to somebody's house, she shouts "home!".) I think that over the past 4 weeks we've seen everyone we know east of the Mississippi and I'm ready to ship all of them to Oregon. I'm still not remotely ready to move back to Kentucky, the land of the chunky, cigarette-smoking, street-sloths (I like to think of them as a cross between monkeys and tugboats) and the backward politicians they vote for. For the record, if I didn't love Kentucky so much, I wouldn't be so fed up with way it's been treated, but I'm awfully tired of seeing the place ruined by a combination of apathy and greed.
Atlanta: Thank god we don't have health insurance. Being uninsured, we were able to use the free market to select the surgeon we wanted instead of being locked into a "provider network". This lead us to Dr. Bill Barber in Atlanta, and I can't say enough good things about him. His combination of compassion and skill makes him the rarest sort of doctor these days and his abilities likely saved Tiffany from needing radiation treatments. I'm a lot happier to pay his bill than I am to pay an insurance payment. (Blue Cross canceled Tiffany's insurance application just for having had a mammogram, even before the results came back). When we called from Oregon to schedule the surgery, the southern drawl and easy friendliness of the office staff warmed our hearts and our entire experience with the Piedmont hospital was that of compassion and concern. We were also thankful for Tiffany's parents' lake-house as a place to recover. It felt like a much better space to get well than in a hospital I am very glad to have married into such a caring family. We had planned this month-long trip before we ever suspected that Tiff had cancer, but it sure turned out to be a great time for it.
Florida: Phase two of recovery was some active re-creation at the beach with the family Sewalls. Florida is always a strange mix of tourons and natural beauty but when it wants to be pretty, it sure can. The emerald waters and sun-bleached sands soothed my soul. Stella enjoyed the surf and did her best impression of a sandpiper, charging in and out of the surf and shrieking at the waves. Good mojo to the Sewalls family: Travis and Andra for feeding us, Harper for reminding me how much fun sandcastles are, and Conley for the best advice I've ever gotten on dancing- "Just spell you name with your feet!". Cheers to Tiff for having a mastectomy and heading to the beach to hang out in a bikini for a week. Someday I hope to deserve the wife and friends I've got, but I'm not wearing a Speedo, even if I do get cancer.
Alabama: I know two awesome people from Alabama. That's about all I can say for the place.
Kentucky: We spent most of our time at Gainesway farm, a magical place inhabited by the King of Trees. Gainesway is a 1600 acre horse farm that has become an arboretum under the guiding hand of my good friend Ryan. There's no place like it. Ryan and I were both married there (not to each other, thankfully. Neither of us looks good in a dress) and when I think of Kentucky I think of the rolling pastures and verdant splendor of Gainesway farm. The week was largely spent planning an Alice in Wonderland themed party with our friends from Lexington. Seeing all the people we've missed in Lexington was a cold beer for my soul's afternoon of lawn-mowing.
This past month of travel has been a strange enchilada; the melted cheese of good company mingled with the chili peppers of stress. (always striving for the world's dumbest analogy, that's my mission) Tiff continues to amaze me with her ability to keep on truckin' as far as cancer goes and Stella has earned the travel toddler of the year award for her unending enthusiasm for new places. (Every time we pull the van up to somebody's house, she shouts "home!".) I think that over the past 4 weeks we've seen everyone we know east of the Mississippi and I'm ready to ship all of them to Oregon. I'm still not remotely ready to move back to Kentucky, the land of the chunky, cigarette-smoking, street-sloths (I like to think of them as a cross between monkeys and tugboats) and the backward politicians they vote for. For the record, if I didn't love Kentucky so much, I wouldn't be so fed up with way it's been treated, but I'm awfully tired of seeing the place ruined by a combination of apathy and greed.
Atlanta: Thank god we don't have health insurance. Being uninsured, we were able to use the free market to select the surgeon we wanted instead of being locked into a "provider network". This lead us to Dr. Bill Barber in Atlanta, and I can't say enough good things about him. His combination of compassion and skill makes him the rarest sort of doctor these days and his abilities likely saved Tiffany from needing radiation treatments. I'm a lot happier to pay his bill than I am to pay an insurance payment. (Blue Cross canceled Tiffany's insurance application just for having had a mammogram, even before the results came back). When we called from Oregon to schedule the surgery, the southern drawl and easy friendliness of the office staff warmed our hearts and our entire experience with the Piedmont hospital was that of compassion and concern. We were also thankful for Tiffany's parents' lake-house as a place to recover. It felt like a much better space to get well than in a hospital I am very glad to have married into such a caring family. We had planned this month-long trip before we ever suspected that Tiff had cancer, but it sure turned out to be a great time for it. 
Florida: Phase two of recovery was some active re-creation at the beach with the family Sewalls. Florida is always a strange mix of tourons and natural beauty but when it wants to be pretty, it sure can. The emerald waters and sun-bleached sands soothed my soul. Stella enjoyed the surf and did her best impression of a sandpiper, charging in and out of the surf and shrieking at the waves. Good mojo to the Sewalls family: Travis and Andra for feeding us, Harper for reminding me how much fun sandcastles are, and Conley for the best advice I've ever gotten on dancing- "Just spell you name with your feet!". Cheers to Tiff for having a mastectomy and heading to the beach to hang out in a bikini for a week. Someday I hope to deserve the wife and friends I've got, but I'm not wearing a Speedo, even if I do get cancer.
Alabama: I know two awesome people from Alabama. That's about all I can say for the place.
Kentucky: We spent most of our time at Gainesway farm, a magical place inhabited by the King of Trees. Gainesway is a 1600 acre horse farm that has become an arboretum under the guiding hand of my good friend Ryan. There's no place like it. Ryan and I were both married there (not to each other, thankfully. Neither of us looks good in a dress) and when I think of Kentucky I think of the rolling pastures and verdant splendor of Gainesway farm. The week was largely spent planning an Alice in Wonderland themed party with our friends from Lexington. Seeing all the people we've missed in Lexington was a cold beer for my soul's afternoon of lawn-mowing.
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