Happy Holidays!

When Denise and I got married, one of the first things we talked about was doing a Christmas card.  I did a Christmas email last year, and this year I figured the best way would be to to a Holiday blog card.  It has been an eventful year as you all know very well.  It was the first full year of treatment for Denise.  She has been fighting the disease now for about 15 months.  Today we are flying to Honolulu for her latest PetCT scan.  There's a lot of mixed emotions for me.  I'm not sure how it's going to read and I'm not sure what to think just yet.  There's so many ways that this could turn out.  I do know, that this will not be the end by any means.  This will shape the course of treatment for the year to come.  I do understand that the "end" is not a word that we should be talking about.  This disease is something that we are going to have to live with forever.  We must fight on and give medicine the most time possible to reach for new treatments, new theories, new methods and new technologies.  I'm humbled to have some of the best minds in the world thinking about this with me.  They are doing they're best to make our quality of life as good as possible and for this I say 'Thank You!'

Other than the obvious, this year has proved to be difficult in many ways.  The economy finally reached the Bay Area.  I was lucky to be employed for so long through some of the craziest financial times ever.  Up until I moved to Hilo I was working as much as possible and trying to stay focused on the Home as well.  It proved to be a little too much in the end.  I became a person that I didn't want to be at work.  My patience was gone and I was becoming more and more irritable.  I knew something had to give.  It just so happened that meant moving.  The move in itself was a bit stressful, but that sigh of relief when I got off the plane in Hilo was priceless!

Here we are almost three months later, and I have a comfortable house thanks to Denise's mom, a great wife who cares for me even though she's the one that needs caring for, and wonderful dog who just went through her own stress in her first flight.  It's a beautiful Monday morning the 28th of December.  I'm writing with a smile on my face knowing that we have a tough day ahead of us.  I keep coming back to this, but it is a monumental day.........

Denise has been doing a great job at a couple of things since she's moved here.  In order to get our group insurance, her dad put her to work at the clinic.  She's reshaping the way the clinic handles its website, which is right up her ally when it comes to work.  She's also been helping our good friend Kanoa Miura with his catering company Aloha Mondays.  Those of you at our wedding in Tahoe or at the party in Hilo will remember Kanoa's food!  She's been coordinating jobs for him and handling the office part of the job which has been key for him in focusing on the kitchen.  I too have been helping out where I can and have bartended one party with another coming up New Year's Eve.

I played baseball again in San Francisco this summer.  Our team was not that good, however the guys on the team made the summer a success.  It's so much fun to get out with a good group of guys, talk story and play such a fun game.  I will truly miss that!  I'm looking forward to seeing all of you again soon and good luck with the coming season.  I will also miss all the opportunities to go to the SF festivals.  Now that I'm gone, I'm realizing all the missed opportunities I had to go, but had a great time and a lot of great memories from the festivals I did go to.

I'm not sure that there will be any traveling to the mainland for us this winter.  This means another winter of no snowboarding, but that's the breaks for living in the tropics.  My board is ready to go in Dina's garage if I do make it to California.  We are gearing up for a trip in June.  For those of you who don't know, my sister Alyssa is getting married.  The next question is who is the man that can control that one?  His name is Mike and he's a true class act!  Just don't give him any fireworks or let him start a bon fire.  He's a hard worker and a great compliment to Alyssa, I'm looking forward to the wedding.

My brain is fried right now and we're getting ready to leave the house.  The flight to Honolulu is at 10:30 and the flight back is at 8:20.  This is good, since will be in our bed again tonight.  I love that thing!  To all of you have a safe and great New Year!  We are doing as well as possible and live with has many smiles and laughter that we can handle.  This is made possible due to your continued love and support!  I don't know if everyone facing these tough situations has this type of support network, but they should.  It's something we think about every day.

Love and Aloha to all of you,
Bri