Spring Visit

     

    

    This is a good week; one of my nieces is coming to see us. I have not seen her since my daughter’s wedding, almost a year. I send family up dates every three or four months, of how the MSA is progressing but reading and seeing this happen to a loved one is two, different things! I write to make it easier telling family and friends but when I see them we always cry.  We don’t have to say what is happening but we are mourning for has been lost.

        

    This niece and I am only three years apart and her mom took care of me when I was a little girl so we had the same mothering, both mothers and wives, so she can relate to the turmoil inside. 

   

     

    
      The next morning after my Helper left we put my walker in the car and drove to the museum, the National Art Gallery (NAG).  It is still hard to believe two years ago I could run 42 km now I cannot walk 42 paces. This is something this Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) has done to my body that I will never get use to.

      I knew when we see the famous spider we were at the right place. The building is so immense with extraordinary glass and granite. As you enter the Great Hall you can sense you’ve entered an amazing place.

     The Gallery houses a lot of Canadian art but some renowned artist as well like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and Andy Warhol. We spent the afternoon here but didn’t see it all…oh well, I guess we will have to go back.

                                            

    

     My kids are very close to to their cousin as am I. We lived in Alaska for four years, life was simpler then.  My niece came to Alaska for a few months for a visit. My kids really got to know this cousin very well. We were with the military then and lived far from family so it was a treat for them. My kids were young and she was their big cousin but now that they are young adults it is very different. I thought it would be fun to get a photo of then and now. I am so happy to get to experience this. We had some great times there and explored a lot of this State together. We spent the night remembering Alaska and talking of the present and MSA.

    My niece was gone by noon but promised her next trip wouldn’t be so far away!