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A Letter to my Dear Ones



My former mother in law used to write us every week. She always started it with "Dear Ones". I love that. I thought I would write to you dear ones today.

Good Morning! What a gorgeous day here in Grand Rapids. It is cool at night but will get warm during the day. This is truly the start of my favorite season of the year! What is your favorite season? Don and I continue to love the view out of our sliding door and watching the leaves change and the wide range of birds. We use an app called Merlin.https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ and it records and identifies bird song. I think our record is 9 different kinds of birds in about an hour. I am new to this whole bird watching thing but I really like it. Don is even more interested and I think might be on a first name basis with the downy woodpecker in our tree.

As much as Don loves the birds he is at war with the squirrels. Our neighbor puts out peanuts for the squirrels which they grab and take them to our deck to eat. Drives Don crazy to find all those peanut shells on our deck. He has tried chasing them with a broom and now leaves the broom on the deck (like his version of a squirrel scare crow). It just entertains me. He thinks he is winning the war. I am not so sure!

Yesterday I started a new exercise program at my local YMCA called Live Strong for cancer recovery. Our little session that will meet twice a week has just 3 of us and our very own trainer and an intern! The best was the chatting ahead of time and finding two women who are going through so much of what I also am going through. The trainer is specifically trained in cancer related issues like neuropathy. One of my favorite moments was when myself and one of the other women were doing the 6 minute walking evaluation and both commented that our toes had gone completely numb! It was so wonderful to have a buddy in this journey! I think this will be a good thing both physically and emotionally.

I am getting a bit of a schedule. I get to pick up grand #2 from High School 2 days a week because her ride (her sister) has an after school commitment and then cheer leading after that. I get to catch up on the latest high school news and we get an afterschool coffee! Plus now I get to drive my new car, with the sun roof open! I bought a 2025 Subaru Forster (red). I love it! It is so much fun to drive. I am determined to learn what all the features are and how to use them if I want to. I tend to get comfortable with a new product and not continue to learn all the things it can do. Wish me luck! I now have exercise twice a week and I try to schedule a breakfast, lunch or coffee with one or two people during the week. This week I have a breakfast plan with son Will and a coffee date with my aunt! I love being nearer my family!

Healthwise I am in a holding pattern. We know that DCIS (cancer in the breast ducts) was inadvertently found during my breast reduction on the right side in June. The left was done in Nov 2022 along with my lumpectomy. I have a new breast surgeon here in Grand Rapids and have already seen her. We will let my right side continue to heal and swelling to go down and then I can get an MRI and mammogram to see if I have more DCIS (or anything else). Then the doctor will make a treatment plan. Could be anything from a double mastectomy to radiology on the right side. I am enjoying the respite until November. I have a sense of peace about it all.

I have a history of not "finishing" off a space when it comes to interior design. Hanging pictures is my nemesis. It is so hard to commit. My goal is to hang pictures in this condo! I found a couple of coffee themed prints that I like on Facebook Marketplace so I bought them for $10. The frames tuned out to be some sort of pressed wood pieces and painted to look like metal. I decided I wanted to paint the frames black. Turns out when I tried to remove the frame, it literally was glued to the print and then totally fell apart when I took the print and glass out of the frame. I had to come up with plan B which was to order new frames! Wow that didn't save me much money! Sometimes thrifting doesn't pay off! LOL


I hope this finds you and yours doing well. If you ever want to write back I can still be found at dykstrakathy@aol.com

love,

Kathy

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