Epic Weekend

It has taken me over a week to fully recover from the epic time that was had here at Casa de Strojny over the weekend of the 19th-21st. That had promised to be a great weekend anyway because Nancy Lee Grahn was hosting a Zoom fundraiser for ALS One, which I was super excited about. About a week before, however, my cousin Lauren called to ask if she could come down from Maine that weekend for a visit. I hadn’t seen Lauren in 8 months thanks to Covid and we were all in some serious need of some cousin time. Lauren is a social worker at a long-term care facility and she’s been vaccinated for over a month. Maine and Massachusetts had both just lifted their travel restrictions, so a visit was definitely in order!

Lauren arrived around 3:30 Friday afternoon and our cousin Kerri, who only lives about half an hour away but whom I also hadn’t seen because of this crazy pandemic, met us at my house just a few minutes later. We headed out to dinner when Aaron got home and had an amazing time catching up and laughing until our cheeks hurt. Since Kerri is all preggers, Lauren and I had a drink (or three) for her.

Having learned our lesson from previous cousins weekends, we had a fairly early night Friday so we weren’t burnt out for Saturday. We had made that mistake more than once. So we all had a reasonable night’s sleep and were ready for Saturday.

As much fun as nights with my cousins are, I think I actually may love mornings even better. Kerri hadn’t stayed over on Friday because she figured she couldn’t do two late nights, but just in general, I love hanging out with my cousins in the morning after a night of laughing and just being crazy together. So Saturday morning found Lauren and I in our PJs, sitting at the kitchen table for hours with our coffee and tea, just loving being able to be together again after so many months of isolation. Times like that feed my soul and bring me such a sense of peace. It’s hard for me to even put into words how much my cousins mean to me.

After enjoying the peace and quiet of Saturday morning and afternoon, we were ready for a night of fun. Since I had the fundraiser from 7:00-9:00, I had asked a few friends to come over for a firepit so they could hang out with Lauren and Kerri until I was done. Our neighborhood developed a tradition of doing driveway firepits last spring when the pandemic was in full swing. It was a way to have some contact with the outside world in a safe way. And since it’s March in New England and our backyard is still closed up, we brought the portable firepit into the driveway and the festivities began sometime around 6:00.

I pre-gamed with a glass of Pinot with my cousins and then headed up to my office for the Zoom. It was an amazing 2 hours with Nancy, Wally Kurth, Lisa LoCicero, and James Patrick Stuart. I am beyond grateful that they gave so generously of their time to help raise funds for ALS One. Everyone had a wonderful time listening to their stories about everything from their work on General Hospital to what was going on in their lives. There was an especially poignant moment when James was speaking about his father that hit especially deep for me. Living with ALS for the past 2 and a half years has been nothing compared to dealing with my father’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer almost 2 years ago. Hearing James speak so eloquently and lovingly about his dad was just so deeply touching. It made me appreciate even more the time I get to spend with those I love and those who love me. Being present and embracing life is so important, and after a year of isolation I am ready to get back out there and live.

The 2 hours flew by and before I knew it, it was time to say good-bye to Nancy and my new friends and all the wonderful people who joined the Zoom. I look forward to seeing them all again soon, and I cannot thank them enough for their time and generosity. ALSOne until ALSDONE!