Adventure Beach

 When we lived in Saipan, our house had a jungle behind it and beyond that was the ocean.  Roland decided to hack through the jungle with a machete so that we could have a trail to the ocean.  This took months to accomplish.  He marked the trees so he would be able to find his way home after each day's journey closer.  One day he invited me to accompany him. It was exciting to see all his hard work and enthusiasm for his project. When we reach the point where he left off, he showed me how he wielded the blade and marked the trees.


Then, the jungle was opened and together we saw the splendor of the ocean.  He didn't know at the time that this would be the last day of labor and we would have this experience together. We continued on to the very small beach which gave us access to the ocean.  Later with the children we named it "Adventure Beach".  We had many walks through the jungle to Adventure Beach.

This recent news which I am trying to ignore reminds me of Adventure Beach.  There was a rocky coast line where we would sometimes explore and find hermit crabs for hermit crab races.

 These were happy times with the children and their friends.  What we didn't know until later is that this is the perfect location to get swept out into the ocean by a "sneaker wave". 

                             

 A sneaker wave is an unusually large wave that suddenly and unexpectedly comes.  Here is a picture of Eden looking toward the beach.  She is in the perfect position to be whisked away by such a wave. Obviously neither she nor we knew she was in danger when this was taken.

Fortunately no sneaker waves came to Adventure Beach while we were there and after we learned about them, we took precautions to prevent this possible danger.

I was not as prepared for the sneaker wave yesterday.  I had almost forgotten that we are climbing a tough path.  I was seeing all the beauty of the hike and appreciating the help we have been receiving like Roland's clearing the path with the machete for me.  Today I am clinging to the oncologist's words of encouragement and to the comfort of prayers on our behalf.  Roland reminded me that we knew all along that something could go wrong, but I was not in that headspace.  This might be a good example of how we think differently. He is taking the news much better than I am.

Roland is starting to feel a heartburn feeling deep in his esophagus. (He takes medicine for this)  Non-acidic fruits or milk sound good to him.  He has restless leg symptoms so he doesn't sleep through the night.  He makes up for it during the day. When he is not sleeping, he has been organizing files for the book he has wanted to write for years. Today he started to hear off and on ringing in his ears (Tinnitus) which is a side effect of the Cisplatin Chemotherapy drug.  This can be permanent, but we hope not.  About every ten minutes when he is awake, he tells me how much he appreciates me.  He can stand or walk with his foot turned out for about sixty seconds at a time before he needs to sit down and elevate his leg.  This makes him more independent.