Loving Life

Smile. Hug. Kiss. Laugh. Laugh some more. Love. Live. And take trips paid for by Mr. MasterCard and Mrs. Amex. That's how we have spent the last two months. Sheer euphoria would be the best way to describe it.

Mike finished his Chemo treatment in mid-August, and is feeling better everyday. His hair began growing back, though a wacky shade of frosty green at first. His mustache started growing in really dark; it was pitch black. No matter how many times he shaved his mustache in one day, there was still dark fuzz on his upper lip. For a guy who has always lacked facial hair, this was frustrating, yet downright hysterical. For a while, I was married to Kermit the Frog crossed with a Mexican man. But thankfully, after a month and a half, Mike's gorgeous brown hair returned and his mustache faded. My Mikey was back!

The scans at the end of August were All Clear, which put us on cloud nine. What a feeling to be done with Chemo, and get good scans. We went to Aruba to celebrate the end of Chemo, and then three weeks later, we went to Italy to celebrate life.

Mike's dad's side of the family is from Italy, so he had always wanted to go there. Since there is no better time than now--seriously, if you have always wanted to take that trip, or do that one thing, do it NOW--we booked the trip and two weeks later we were in Italy. Highlights: every minute of the trip. Low points: none. The best part: Mike trying to speak Italian, which usually consisted of some English words pronounced with an Italian-sounding accent, followed by "Grazie" (thank you). To my surprise, Mike had taken Italian lessons. His instructors, however, were apparently Tony Soprano and his associates. Most places we went, someone commented on Mike's last name being very Italian. Turns out that "Filippone" is the "Smith" of Italian last names. This gave Mike extra pride and confidence in his imaginary Italian skills, and he would exclaim "Grazie" with even more conviction when someone recognized him as a fellow Italiano. The exchanges between Mike and his fellow countrymen, all of whom incidentally spoke perfect English, would probably make us a huge hit on YouTube. Only if I had been smart enough to videotape those moments . . .

We are now in the transition phase of back to life at home. Mike feels good and we are enjoying every moment. We have jumped over some hurdles, and there may be more, but for now, we are just busy loving life!