My first official day of the marathon walk. According to the training schedule I printed out for myself, it is a rest day, which is convenient because I did not walk this morning.

We spent the weekend at Budd and Karyn's watching Megan. Budd took the two boys on a camping expedition while Karyn spent time with her mother. Karyn's mom is terminally ill. She has cancer. The other day I actually said to myself that she is dying and it seemed so much more real to me. Saying "terminally ill" gives the impression that she's going to get better. She is not.

We went to see her last weekend and she seemed to be having a good day. Kathy has always been like a mother to us. When Julie and I moved west, she took us in and immediately began calling Julie her daughter. And when she tells people she has grandchildren, she tells them 10 (which includes Sophie and Jacob). I can't imagine the grief that Karyn and her sisters Ginger and Cindy, are going through. I don't want to know that kind of sadness.

Needless to say, we are helping Budd and Karyn in any way we can, which includes spending the weekend with our niece.

As you can see, I've changed the name of the blog. The Long Road sounds a little more apropos, since this will be a long journey. The quote by Lincoln is something I found on the web. I'm going to try and make the next several months a little more interactive. We'll see.

Aloha