Last Friday was foggy.  The dogs had a great time at the park, Charlie kept disappearing from sight and then reappearing through the fog.  Most of the snow has melted but we did have a little snow over the weekend.  It's going to be a dry summer without our normal snowpack.  Normally we have, on average, 48 inches of snow going into spring.  As you can see, that's not happening.

When Katie was eleven years old, she hit puberty, or rather, puberty hit her.  Overnight she became violent.  We had three weeks that summer with no caregivers and no summer programs.  I advertised and a young woman answered our ad, her name was Manon and not only was she patient and kind, she knew ASL.  She also kept coming back, day after day.

Her two younger sisters also cared for Katie when Manon moved onto more stable employment, but we always kept in touch.  She is now a middle aged woman and was just diagnosed with breast cancer, the same disease that killed her mother.  Her first treatment was today and I meant to visit her during her treatment, even wrote it on my calendar, and then completely forgot about it.  She texted me as her treatment was ending but I missed her by five minutes.

She's coming back on Friday to have a Port put in, so I'll get a chance to see her then.  Bloody hell.

This morning at work I spoke to my manager and asked if I could bump up my retirement to the end of June so that I would have the summer off.  The only reason I chose the end of August date was because I was worried about money.  We saw our financial advisor last week and money will not be an issue when I retire.  So I was at the desk, talking with my coworkers before I started work, about retirement and money and one of my coworkers asked me quietly if we could talk.

Lihua is an Asian woman, mid fifties, no children and no debt.  She told me that she had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and wondered about pensions and enjoying her life.  She never told any of us that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she managed to have six weeks of radiation treatment without any of us knowing.  I just realized there has been a change in her over the last six months and we've all wondered about it.  She says exactly what she thinks now, no filter, no sugar coating.  It's funny to watch sometimes but I'm guessing that's where it came from, a cancer diagnosis kind of puts shit in perspective.

My daughter in Vancouver surprised me when I told her about bumping up my retirement.  She asked if I was going to have a party and then said she would like to cater it.  I was surprised and touched.  So I'm having a party, at the end of June:)

Here's a shot of Charlie, just because he's so handsome.

And here's a shot of me and Jack.  I hate having my photo taken but this one turned out not too bad.  My cousin said I look like my mum.  I do.