Following ten adventurous days of driving and helping Natalie establish her new home in Blacksburg, VA (she is attending grad school at Virginia Tech), Mark picked me up from my 1:15 a.m. flight and we drove together to our new, but temporary home at the Hope Lodge in Salt Lake City.

What a beautiful thing it is that there are individuals and organizations willing to donate to make such a place a possibility! Our room is very comfortable. There is a small front room with a couch, TV and a desk where Mark is able to work. A spacious bedroom and bathroom are through another door. Neither visitors nor food are allowed in the living spaces, but there is plenty of space for both of those in the common areas.

I didn’t count the number of cooking and food storage areas but there are many. We all have a refrigerator, freezer and pantry storage and the kitchens are well stocked with appliances, dishes and cookware. We will work on our cooking-in-public-without-a-lot-of-ingredients skills. Several “family rooms” are available as well as an outdoor patio/courtyard downstairs and a balcony upstairs.

We are very comfortable and feel so grateful for the opportunity to be here! For now we plan to be home each weekend. Here is a brief tour.

On the emotional front – There have been moments of anxiety and frustration but for the vast majority of our days we feel lighthearted, hopeful and happy. I’m not sure that “lighthearted” is the word I was looking for, but we chose long ago to live a happy life and it pays off in times like this. Mark has been able to keep up his busy work schedule which is truly a blessing. It is fortunate that he works from home where he can be comfortable. After my trip to Virginia we are just happy to be together again.

On the medical front – Mark had his first radiation treatment yesterday and we are almost ready to go for our second. The only snafu was that the team was having a hard time getting everything lined up yesterday. They were getting frustrated when Mark informed them that his tumor grows very quickly and thus those tattoos from the week before were not in the same places. Once they realized the issue they were able to resolve it. Otherwise we left the hospital speaking of the gratitude we both feel to be at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, living at a time of medical advances, and in the United States of America where treatments are available.

Every day may not be good but there is good in every day!