Guest 4: The Joy of Distractions

Kent here again.  Having the whole family here, together, during the majority of Kimberly's chemotherapy treatment was an unexpected but welcome boost to us both.  Melissa finished up the year's university classes at UBCO in Kelowna, and moved back in with us for 3 wonderful months while she worked at Murchie's Tea House and socked away money for the next year.  Melissa is a honey bee, and she was always buzzing around industriously, either creating something artistic or doing something to encourage another person.  Also, we had expected Max would hit the ground running to some other place following his high-school graduation, but he also decide to stay home and together, in part, I think to support his Mom.  It meant so much.  To be sure, those months would have been rather quiet and uneventful without  Max's soundtrack of double-pedal drumming and screaming guitar licks resonating from the basement.  Ahh, nothing like recovering in a bubble-bath with candles, a good book, and...heavy metal!  Incidentally, I'm a shower, not bubble bath kind of guy - that was Kim I was referring to.

And we had another reason for joy in those months - a focal point and a goal to take our minds off sleepless nights and agonizing days.  Jonathan, our now-son-in-law, sneaked into town at the end of April to surprise Melissa, present her with roses, take her on a horse-drawn carriage ride, and propose marriage to her near the ocean.  It was a great night of celebration, and a good launching point for their short engagement period.  As it happened, and not likely by chance, Jonathan had some work in town, and so he borrowed a bedroom  and refrigerator from us and stayed for much of the next 3 months while he and Melissa and Kim planned their wedding.  It was perfect, as we grew to appreciate his excellent qualities more over that time.  Kudos to his parents.  True to the kind of life priorities they agreed on since they first began dating, Melissa and Jonathan embraced simplicity in daily life, in their plans for their big day, and in their preparation for a future together.  No fancy dresses, no extravagant ceremonies, no expensive wants, just simple and earthy and comfortable...everything.  Even the table decorations were courtesy Value Village and beachcombing the local waterfronts.  After their season of preparing and spending a good courtship of talking, walking, biking, kayaking, singing together, and praying together, we all got to enjoy the day when family and friends came into town and we witnessed the joining of two lives, forever as one.   We couldn't be happier to welcome Jonathan into our family, and we have seen firsthand how warmly Melissa was embraced by Jonathan's extended family.

Just a few days before their August wedding, Kim was at the point of best recovery from her final round of chemotherapy, but then had to begin daily radiation treatment.  It was arranged just that way, so the negative side effects of radiation treatment would not be in full swing on the wedding day.  It was a good 'tweener day or two, and we are thankful for doctors who cared enough to take it into the plans.  While struggling with energy levels and the Victoria heat (somewhat of an oxymoron), and sometimes unsteady as she held my arm, Kim really was buoyed by the excitement of the day, the culmination of the planning, and the honour of being Mother-of-the-Bride.  It was a wonderful day, one we both will remember forever in our hearts.  And the hinges on the refrigerator are still breathing a sigh of relief.