Shoes!

                  This morning...more flowers, more yardwork...Kimmy's garden is making progress!!  I put in some more portulacas on our front porch, in the St. Francis bird bath and added a pot of them beneath the olive tree...'deadheading'...Kim hated to dead head flowers and now I know why - I began this process, this morning and it takes time...but, she swore by it, to make the garden look pretty and to make more flowers grow.

                  But, no dirty feet in the shower (thank you God for these cleansing waters...)!!!

                  Here we are, at the bottom of the 5 flights of stairs we will race up to see Angie...wearing sneakers!!  Much easier to run the stairs in sneakers...but, despite my improved foot gear, Autumn won the race...

                 In the hallway, I spotted one of the RN's, Will, who had inpsired Kim and who had worked very hard to keep Kim comfortable during her stay.  I found out he was Angie's nurse that day and he said she was doing great and should be able to go home Saturday.  Will likes to ride through Fantasy Island,  the rugged desert bike trail near our house, and we exchanged numbers to see if he, Cody and I could go out there and tear it up one day! 

               It was nice to know Will was taking care of Angie...Autumn and Tonio accompanied me to come and say hi...Autumn noticed right away that Angie's room was right across the hall from where Mama stayed - she thought that was nice.  Angie had a gallery of nice artwork from her Grandkids and we ran into Kristie, Kim, Mario and their little ones while we were there.  It was a good visit, good to see Angie healing.  Good to put behind more ghosts...

             When we left, we raced down the stairs, heading for the basement.  Autumn was interested in getting something to eat from their cafeteria...!  She's so funny.  Anyway, on the way down, the bambini hootin' and hollerin' (great acoustics in the stairways!), they passed Dr. Atkinson, who had taken out Kim's gallbladder and discovered the cancer in her liver.  I stopped and talked to him - he said people still talk about Kim nearly every day and the impact she had on their lives.  I let him know that we think of him, and the other Dr's, nurses, techs, etc, who made a difference for Kim and us - you know, you want to visit these good people - only, the hospital isn't one of those places that is conducive for visiting those who not only aren't sick, but who are working hard to help the sick!  We talked about cheesesteaks.  Remember, he is from Bristol, Pa, north Philadelphia, where my Dad grew up...

            Down in the basement, Autumn loaded up on potatoes and then we headed back out into the sunshine...the bambini smiling, joking, saying it was good to see Angie and they were glad she was doing well...

           Prayers work kids - I told them.  Sometimes they may not seem to, but they do...and they nodded their sweet little heads in agreement, their eyes never leaving mine, searching my eyes for smiles...

            Love,

                      Dave