Letter #29 To My Benefactor

Dear Benefactor,

I don’t think I told you. A little over a month ago, I had some horrible sleeping problems due to my thyroid going into overdrive. Again. It seems to be brought on by stress and well, I guess I’ve been a bit stressed lately, running myself ragged, so to speak.

As an aside, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I remember this same thing happening to me when I had my port—for chemo—inserted surgically. If cancer isn’t stressful, I don’t know what is.

I told my best friend, Fran Drescher, all about this latest thyroid episode. Sorry I haven’t kept you in the loop.

Besides the fact that these “thyroid episodes” make me really crazy, they are extremely embarrassing.

On June 16, Ken, Adriana, and I hopped—well, those two hopped, I slithered (I was so exhausted)—into the car and headed for Omak on the other side of the mountains. We were on our way to visit Adriana’s friend, Jesse. Jesse was going to introduce us to her brother, parents, and parents’ friends.
I immediately began to fret in the car on the long drive over. What would Jesse’s family and friends think of me? It didn’t help that I was in a stupor.
I got out my phone and began to text.
“Hi Jesse. This is Marie. It’s my fault that we got a late start this morning. I’ve been averaging three hours of sleep for over a week. I’ve had this before, so the options were for me to stay home or for us to get a later start than we originally planned. Since I love your stinkin’ guts, I had to go with the second option.”
I continued, “Can you warn the rest of your family that I will be punchy, I’m not an alcoholic, and that I’m not mentally retarded?”
Jesse responded, “Can’t wait to see you!”
To make matters worse, my plantars fasciitis was flaring up big time, so I walked like a 100-year-old lady.
We finally arrived in Omak and met Jesse’s parents, Ron and Shannon, and her brother, Josh. I was so tired and kept calling Shannon “Sharon.” I could not stop embarrassing myself.
Next, we met the Richards’ friends, Mike and Peggy. Within minutes, Peggy and I were comparing our common plantars fasciitis problem and becoming fast friends.
Unbeknownst to me, a big hike was planned for the next day. Because I always bring my Keen hiking boots on every trip—no matter how big or small—I at least had my footwear covered. What I did not have covered were the hiking poles that the physical therapist insisted I use for my lymphedema. They were sitting at home in my closet.
The next morning, Shannon came up to me as I adjusted my backpack and told me, “I bought you a pair of poles.”
“Thank you so much,” I replied. “How much do I owe you?”
“Don’t worry about it.” She smiled.
My hyperness decided to kick in at that moment and I began to babble. “You know how kids name things all the time? Adriana named her silver car Lightning and Naomi—you’ve met her… she’s friends with Jesse and Adriana—named her jetboil stove Jenny and well, I really appreciate that you bought me these poles and I’m very grateful and yeah, I’m going to name them Sharon or should it be Sharons because there are two of them and I keep calling you Sharon even though I know your name is Shannon and I will think of you every time I use them and yeah, I’m going to use them all the time and I really like that they are bright yellow because it’s one of my favorite colors and I’m going to blog about them and….” Holy shit. This woman is going to think I’m on crack.
“I’m just glad you can use them,” she answered with another smile.
Our huge group set out for our hike to Cedar Creek Falls.
I took the Sharon poles and began to walk gingerly on my plantars fasciitis feet with Ken, Shannon, and Ron. I didn’t want to be left behind, so I bit my lip, and walked through the pain.
It was an overcast day, so I handed my poles to Ken and began to snap some pictures. I kept lagging behind, but I didn’t mind, because it was perfect picture-taking weather. Before I knew it, it started pouring. I did not have a rain jacket on (it was at home with my other set of hiking poles), but I didn’t care. I was happier than a pig in poop to be capturing these wonderful pictures of the wildflowers galore in this neck of the woods.
I finally made it to the falls. Sure enough, I was the last one in. I took a few pictures of the people standing there in the rain with their plastic ponchos eating their Fritos and fruit.
I’m not sure why I was so worried about things not going well with these strangers I had just met.
By the end of our two-day visit, we had made plans to meet up again.

I’m wondering if I’m ever going to meet you.

Sincerely,

Marie

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