A red letter day

This day just keeps on getting better! We received a breathless call from Grandma Shirley at mid-day informing us of news that came as no surprise, but had a powerful impact on us regardless; Evan found a romantic spot on the beaches of Tel Aviv to present Keren with an engagement ring and ask her for her hand in marriage. We immediately dialed Keren’s cell and congratulated them while the wondrous news flowed through phone lines around the world, forming tributaries all over the place. I couldn’t contain my sobs of joy. Gilly and Yaron were perplexed by my reaction; they found this behaviour rather absurd. It was the best release of intense emotion I’ve had in a long time. These two are lucky to have found one another; they’re both very special people. I immediately dialed Keren’s parents’ number to welcome them to our family. I met them for the first time last Saturday evening at Evan’s party. Shoshana is elated, and thrilled to know that she now has family in Montreal.

Gilly directed Yaron through the installation of 2 of our 3 air conditioners! Gilly initiated the procedure, and followed it through to completion. The two of them ran off to Play it Again Sports together and finalized the purchase of Yaron’s long awaited roller blade wheels. It was a father and son kind of day. I overheard Gilly call Yaron ‘sweetie’ on a few occasions.

Gilly did not feel cold at all today, and mentioned at some point that his eyes are a bit better as well. This is promising news, but not as thrilling as what we discovered later on…in the waiting at the Jewish, we were advised to let the technician know that we have an appointment on Thursday with Dr. Kavan, and so we need to have radiation an hour earlier. Gilly made the request, and was bowled over to learn that Thursday is his final radiation session. We thought six weeks meant 6 full weeks’ worth of weekdays, adding up to 30. The technician showed us the chart; it said 28 days!!!!! We are thrilled beyond belief, because the whole shebang has been shortened by 4 days. We thought we had to wait until Monday (since there was a Monday holiday) but we were mistaken. This is cause for celebration. All the way home in the car, I kept repeating, “I can’t believe our good fortune today. Our world became brighter.”

Overall, Gilly looked terrific today. He had a few set goals to accomplish, and managed to reach them all. Our next joint project involves directing me through the planting of annuals, still sitting on the newly grown in lawn across from the magnificent poppies that have reached their peak (see photo). Gilly will never need medical marijuana by the looks of those luscious blossoms. Remember what happened to Dorothy and her friends on the way to Oz?