Snow Falling on Clear Cuts

A quick update on our health saga since my mother says it's all part of the story and I should write a book. (Isn't it bad enough I'm writing a blog? Remember what Anne Lamott says: "Not everything that happens to you is interesting.")

This week we journeyed back to Portland on--go figure--Waldport's annual snow day. The ground was barely white at our house or on Highway 101, but just a few miles inland it started getting white, and then the hills became covered. Since the roads over the coast range of hills are windy and steep, I had to go about 35 mph. As the elevation rose, we crossed into incredible beauty--seemingly the land of Narnia (See the witch's castle between those two hills?). The snow stood on every tree, every twig, every blade. The Douglas fir and Sitka spruce stand at attention in perfect formation to cover every hill with perfect triangular boughs topped with perfectly rounded lumps of snow. These Oregon forests in snow are so perfect they almost seem fake; they look like trees drawn by Dr. Suess. All the little Whos down in Philomath must hold hands around that giant spruce they have lit for Christmas every year.

Despite the weather on the coast, the Valley was dry, and we were only 20 minutes late for Aaron's appointment. His lens and retina still look good, but his eye found a new unique issue to fix: When his eye was dialated, his pupil became larger than his lens, and when it started to go down, the pupil actually caught on the edge of the lens, holding his eye dialated. Strange! The doctor gave him drops to constrict his pupil and had us wait for a while to see if it was working. Today it finally seems to be undialated (and uncaught) all the way. So Aaron was given a fifth type of eye drop (to keep his eye from dialating), but he is down to using just two kinds a day now. And his vision is gradually improving. Hopefully after our visit next week Thursday, he will be cleared to get new glasses/contacts.

Life is returning to the Wetzel version of normal. Aaron is getting back to work in his office and getting together with kids. I was able to finally get groceries, a haircut, and an oil change yesterday. We helped decorate the church and will soon get our own tree. We can stop holding our breath and dream again--of Christmas...of seeing old friends...of African skies...of a family of three.