July 31

That’s my date. A bit later than I had hoped, but coordinating the schedules of 4 surgeons in the summertime is a bit like, well according to the secretary at the Department of Surgery, “getting an audience with the Pope.” Since I’ve never tried to do either of these things, I have to take her word on this. I’ve already entered the next planning stage – deciding when to start my leave from work, figuring out what needs to be done around the house beforehand, scheduling flights and caretaker time after the surgery, etc. Fortunately Pat and I just returned from a 10 day vacation to Banff and Jasper (Alberta, Canada) and while I can’t say that we “relaxed”, we did have a fabulous time – spent out days hiking and enjoying the Canadian Rockies. While early June was a bit chilly, it was the perfect time to see the wildlife – just out of hibernation, but not annoyed with the tourists. We saw white tailed and mule deer, goats, sheep, elk, moose and bear, lots and lots of bears. And the baby animals as well – fawns, lambs, and even a mama bear and 2 cubs. I took tons of pictures – will share some soon. All in all we had a great time – like I said we were busy so it wasn’t like sitting on the beach with a book for a week, but it was the perfect change of pace. We planned this vacation knowing it may be the last time for a while I am comfortable traveling (though who is ever really comfortable with port-a-johns???)

I’ll write more later, just wanted to send out the “save the date” info.