The summer before the fall
G riding the bikepath in August 2024
The summer of 2024 felt so sweet, a living memorial of what would come by fall and winter. In the summer we spent days biking, walking, hiking, swimming, beaching, traveling—definitely need additional posts on all of the fun we had—knowing that once school started and cold set in our days would look so different.
Mom completed her final chemo treatment in July and immediately came to Michigan for what would be her last trip. That July visit included thrift shopping (her favorite!), walks and ice cream by the St. Clair River, and church at Shepherd’s Gate. August brought her more discomfort and pain, and by September she ended up in the Strong Hospital ICU with clogged bile ducts. This required a procedure to permanently install a bile drain bag, which she met with resistance, anger, disappointment. The same week, just days after her procedure, Colin landed in the ICU at Henry Ford Hospital in Macomb, MI, with severe pancreatitis, infected gallbladder and code red sepsis. My closest people, my pillars, were both in the ICU at the same time facing eerily similar procedures.
Our close friends kept an eye on the children while I was in the hospital with Colin, then Colin’s father, Mike, drove into town from NY to help me that week while he was in the hospital. The kids had just started back to school, extracurricular activities…it was a whirlwind of a time. Maybe at some point I’ll have the gumption to share more about events leading up to Colin’s failed gallbladder, Mike’s bout of COVID that sent him home to NY right before Colin was released from the hospital, or how all of the stress activated my own IBS…if that would ever be helpful to others.
For now, I love to remember how much living we did before our season of hardship. Might just be the gloominess of January in Michigan, or the fact that it’s only been 11 days since my mother passed, but summer memories are making me smile today.
Marina and Tanya in Michigan, July 2024