A History continued...

Week 2

A diagnosis, flowers, and a GOOD Friday 

Monday, March 29th - The week previous had been one of the best and most exciting weeks of my life. I have no idea how I found myself talking to this Brit a half a world away, but I couldn't wait for the next call, instant message, text or Facebook comment, post, etc. Work today was fine, we had rehearsal after school, and I was planning on working on plugging a hole with dad where the downspout from my gutters met the ground and could no longer work like that (I wasn't in my 90's and it didn't pose a tripping hazard to my health so, according to the City of St Paul I had to change it, or be fined.) Dad called and asked if he could bring mom and invite Hil and Nic. 

When I got home there was my family sitting in my living room where there dad then gave us more details into his health. In January he had started feeling weak and overly tired. He had made notes for a few months on his symptoms and had finally made an appointment with the family doctor. Tonight he would tell us that the doctor had told him, based on blood work and basic information on his symptoms that they thought he had Dermatomyositis (derma meaning skin, myo meaning muscle and sitis meaning inflammation - put them all together and you have the inflammation of the skin and muscles.) What a blessing that he had the family doctor that he did because apparently Dermatomyositis is VERY rare, like 1/100,000 rare, and most family practice doctors don't even know about it. Lots of people get the run around and sent all over, but because he knew of it, it was caught rather quickly and dad was pointed in the right direction.The family doctor even prayed with my parents. What a blessing!

That night dad told us, in his funny dad way, about how he was feeling, what was next, who he was seeing as far as doctors go and he even used the big "C" word...cancer. And being at the top of the roller coaster from the week before I took one look over the edge and woosh! Off I went, sobbing! I didn't know how else to respond. I received a big hug from dad, we talked some more as a family and then got to work on the downspout hole...(no worries, dad is ok. Still working through the ups and downs of having an autoimmune disease such as Dermatomyositis. More to come on that later.)

Didn't get to hear Matt's voice today. IMed a little, but only 4 days until Friday, when I'll get to see his face for the first time and I can hardly contain myself.

Tuesday, March 30th - Today was a hard day. I was still crying as I looked at the website dad gave us. I got a bit freaked out by all the information being thrown at me and the unknowns. And there he was, and for some reason I just felt like he needed to know. I had only known this guy for one week but all of a sudden I'm telling him about it, in an instant message no less, and he was nothing but supportive, looking up further information and calming me down. As the day progresses I start to feel a little more at ease. 

After coming back to work from going home to let the pup out at lunch time I went about finishing my afternoon tasks before heading down to theatre after school. Shortly after arriving back at work one of my coworkers came walking across with a flower delivery, for me. I was shocked! There was this beautiful bouquet of flowers from Matt, saying he hoped they brightened my day. And boy did they! I was so overjoyed and chugging up the next roller coaster hill with a fluttering heart as the anticipation of what next...

Only 3 days until our first Google video chat...I feel so techy with all the IMing, Facebooking, and now video chatting...who ever would have thought! But...only 3 days!!!!

Thursday, April 1st - It was our first crew meeting today in the RAMS Theatre, so being of the mindset that I would be working on drilling holes to bolt legs on to sets and getting down on the floor and getting kind of dirty and saw dusty I wore my jeans and a simple black top. Crew was great! It finished and I headed home for a evening to myself. I signed into Gmail to see if by chance Matt was still on to say hello in an instant message before he went to bed and then the weirdest thing happened, my computer started ringing...and I had no idea how to answer it, but after a few guesses there I was, on my first video chat, face to face with this guy I had been talking, instant messaging, emailing, for the last week and a half. It was very surreal! Being a girl, of course my first thought was "This wasn't what I was going to wear, or how I would have done my hair." It was like a first date you know. And I think the first thing out of my mouth was "I thought we were going to do this tomorrow." What? I thought we were going to do this tomorrow? Why did I just say that? Matt's response? "I just couldn't wait." And there goes my heart again...beating itself away from me. But the night couldn't have gone better. And there we were, spending hours talking and laughing. I think we were on that first video chat for 5 hours! It was VERY late when Matt when to bed...and we had planned to spend the next day chatting again since we both had the day off for Good Friday. 

Friday, April 2nd - Let's just say today's entry is simple...it consists of a yank and a limey spending the whole day talking over a video chat. Hours of talking, sharing, asking questions, telling stories, laughing, etc. It was a Good Friday! Literally! As we start to wrap up our conversation it seems like it is hard to hang up. How do you say good bye to someone you so enjoy speaking to and have spent so many hours talking to? It seemed almost painful to close things down. So I questioned this. The response I got was something about things being left unsaid. And then it seemed like he was somewhere else. And then he was typing...and at the bottom of our video chat came a message..."I think I'm falling in love with you." I couldn't breathe...and I didn't know how to respond. The conversation carried on for a bit longer with the promise to spend the next day together again.

At the end of the day, when it was time for Matt to go to bed, I headed out the door to go to the Good Friday service at the church I was attending. And for the first time in a long time I felt like I really had something to thank God about. My heart had become a bit hardened as I was very lonely. And this bloke from the UK was slowly starting to soften it.

Saturday, April 3rd - Yet another great day spent sitting in front of the computer talking it away with this Brit who I have only known for a couple of weeks. Yet it seems like I've known him for a very long time. And I never thought that I would say that a whole day not at work sat in front of a computer could be so glorious...

So ends week 2 of the start of this amazing journey we find ourselves on together. It was a fantastic first 2 weeks! The weeks to follow have their ups and downs and I wouldn't want it any other way. I will continue with some of the highlights of the rest of the spring, summer, fall and winter over the next couple of days and get us to where we are at now...today...