I love travel, seeing and photographing new places, meeting new people, learning languages (focusing on French, although I've recently started also learning Spanish). In the past few years, I've been discovering the joys of poetry, both reading it and writing it. You can reach me at sunnybridge@msn.com.
We’re back in La Rochelle, first time since our long séjour in 2014. Planes, trains and automobiles were all involved, but we’re here at last. I can already tell I’m a bit more comfortable speaking French. I chatted with the Paris taxi driver most of the way from the airport to Gare Montparnasse, then dealt with an issue on the train without switching to English. When asked if I spoke French or English, I said “les deux” (both) and defended our right to our seats in French without hesitation.
What fun it was to walk out of the train station, to the familiar streets of this charming town . . .
Rue Bazoges, La Rochelle
Yesterday afternoon, we scrambled to get a few groceries to tide us over until Tuesday, since most shops close on Sundays, and Monday is a holiday in France, so we weren’t really able to take advantage of the warmth and sunshine–not to mention being nearly comatose from fatigue.
Today, Sunday, after an excellent night’s sleep, we were ready to reacquaint ourselves with one of our favorite places. Half a block from our apartment, the main central marché was open . . .
Le Vieux Marché, La Rochelle
This marché is open every day, so we buy only what we need for the day or in this case two days, since I wasn’t sure about the holiday tomorrow.
The breeze was a bit brisk this morning and the sky was overcast, but it wasn’t too bad. Then the weather went a little crazy around noon, sending chairs and signs flying. Fortunately, we were already installed inside a port-side café by then, with pineau des Charentes and moules frites, so were able to watch the drama from l’intérieur.
Here’s le vieux port on sunnier days back in 2014.
Le Vieux Port, La RochelleView over Le Vieux Port, La Rochelle, to the famous three towers
The space got a bit cozy as more and more people sought shelter, but that created an air of camaraderie enough that we (well, mostly I, since it was in French) ended up chatting a bit with the people at the next table. (Remember the “next” table in France is often only 3 or 4 inches from your own.) It reminded me of Frederick Buechner’s comments about rainy days.
We lingered a bit over coffee and dessert, but finally ventured out to head back “home.” What a relief it is, having an apartment this time en plein centre ville (right in the center of town). Still David has done more walking in the past two days than he has in months, but he insists he’s doing well.
With the intermittent rain, we took advantage of les arcades . . .
Les Arcades, La Rochelle
. . . which covered us nearly all the way back to the apartment.
Tomorrow, we’ll see Pascale and Jacky, our companions in so many adventures. Can’t wait.
The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship. Amelia Earhart
Wishing you congenial companions in both adversity and adventure!
So sorry! It’s been a while since my last Movable Assets post. As you know if you’ve read the last two, most of our attention these days is focused on David’s battle with pancreatic cancer. For the time being, though, I’m VERY happy to report he’s doing remarkably well. Regular updates are on CaringBridge.org.
The number and frequency of house guests has diminished considerably as David has improved, but we did host our girls and granddaughters at Christmas . . .
Felicity, left, and BaileyDavid appreciating Felicity’s balloon-animal-making skills
. . . but since David ended up in the hospital on December 26th and for the three days following, the above photos are about all I have to show for the Christmas visits. Fortunately, David bounced back quickly from that bug.
In early January, he was doing well and we were interviewed for a video to be shown at our church, and to have as a keepsake for our family. What a gift that will be and already is. Here’s a link that should allow you to see it, if you’re interested: http://counciltreecovenant.com/resources/sermons/david-bridge-testimony/
February was challenging, with David . . . er . . . enjoying a week-long hospital stay, but his chemo has since been adjusted and he is doing very well now.
Ship Tavern, The Brown Palace, Denver
Which brings us to this past weekend’s return guests: David’s brother Doug, of course, and David’s mom, Helen. They had flown in from opposite coasts, so we decided sitting around in the living room was not quite entertaining enough. David is doing so well these days, we were able to drive down to the airport to pick them up and head into downtown Denver for lunch at the Ship Tavern in The Brown Palace.
Then Saturday, we drove down to Longmont to the Cheese Importers where we had lunch in the bistro, perused the stacks, shelves, piles, heaps, mounds of goods for sale (most of it about or from France, which I love!) and finished with a quick trip through the chilly cheese room, where we stocked up on not just cheese, but also my favorite butter with sea salt crystals. Yum. You can see the butter choices on the right in the photo below.
Jazz at Jay’s with Linda Briceño
Saturday evening, we decided to revisit the venue for Doug and Kristl’s rehearsal dinner and treat Helen to a bit of excellent jazz, one of her favorite things. Unbeknownst to us, we were about to be treated to a special Fort Collins appearance by Linda Briceño, renowned Venezuelan trumpeter and vocalist, playing along with Myles Sloniker on bass and his dad Mark Sloniker on piano. We knew we would enjoy hearing Mark and whatever group he had for the evening, but the three of them together were an amazing, rare treat. Boatloads of talent in that trio! Loved it!
Helen and Doug have both gone home, but Doug says he’ll be back again before too long. He’s a VERY easy house guest–when he’s not setting our toaster oven on fire–so always welcome. We supervise his cooking now!
In other news of returns, Chelsea will be soon be back again, this time for the foreseeable future, maybe for good!
Chelsea and Brian
She’s moving back to Colorado and hopes to be here by Easter. David’s cancer was the impetus for reevaluating how far away she wanted to live, and the answer was NOT that far. Bonus: Brian also lives here in Colorado. She’ll fly to DC a few times a year for work, and we enjoyed our visits there so much, we may even join her sometime, but mostly we are very much looking forward to having her closer. Brian’s pretty happy about it, too!
And yet more news of returns: We will be returning to our beloved La Rochelle (France) at the end of April and have the blessing of David’s doctor to stay for the entire month of May (stellar timing–Chelsea can house-sit). I promise more regular Movable Assets posts while we’re there!
Love makes you see a place differently, just as you hold differently an object that belongs to someone you love. If you know one landscape well, you will look at all other landscapes differently. And if you learn to love one place, sometimes you can also learn to love another. ∼Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces (Love that book!)
There is certainly a LOT of love going on here. Beloved family and friends visiting from far and near, emailing, sending cards, commenting on my posts here and on Caring Bridge, praying and thinking of us so faithfully. And now we have a chance to go back again to see our very dear friends in La Rochelle. I’m hoping to astound them and my tutor/friend Natacha with my improved French. On verra! (We’ll see!)
Wishing you excellent times with people you love in places that resonate deep in your soul!
Since the end of August, when we learned that David has stage IV pancreatic cancer, we have been sustained by an outpouring of love and support. We’ve received so many cards, emails, texts, as well as wonderful life-giving comments on his Caring Bridge site www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidbridge. Be sure to check it periodically if you’d like updates on how he’s doing. I try to update it at least once per round of chemo.
We’ve also received LOTS of visits, and this seems a better place than CaringBridge to share about that. I know there are some who would like to visit, but are staying away out of sensitivity to David. It is unfortunately true that even simple conversation can be exhausting. Anything over 30-40 minutes can begin to tax his strength, so thank you for being considerate about that.
But of course our daughters visit as often as they can . . . ↓
David and Courtney, ThanksgivingDavid and Brittany, 30 SeptemberChelsea and David, 4 November
And David’s brother Doug has been a regular . . . ↓
David and Doug, SeptemberI actually managed to get in a photo! Doug snapped this one.
Fortunately, they do much of the laundry, vacuuming, even grocery shopping, to spare us extra work.
Helen, Thanksgiving 2016
Thanksgiving weekend, we were able to host the aforementioned regulars, along with David’s brother Eb and his mom, Helen, who pretty much NEVER lets anyone take her picture, so ENJOY this one! Looking pretty great for 89 years old, don’t you think?
Thanks to kind friends, we had enough Aerobeds to go around, tucked into random spaces, and had a really great time. David was given an extra week off from chemo, so was doing quite well for the most part. When he occasionally ran out of steam, he went to the bedroom for a bit of quiet or a power nap. We are so very thankful for how well it all worked out.
David DONE having his picture taken!
What a journey this has already been, now roughly three and a half months in. David is feeling much better now than he was at the beginning, so the chemo so far is working, and the side effects have not been much more than cold sensitivity, fatigue and loss of appetite. The original “11-month average” life-span estimate now seems unnecessarily pessimistic, but we know the future remains uncertain. I find myself on an emotional roller coaster way more often than I’d like, and David has got to be tired of seeing me bursting into tears at random moments, sometimes only seconds after laughing together about something. Sheesh.
But when those emotional times come, we remind each other of all our blessings, and they are MANY.
Super-moon, 14 November
Each new sunrise brings one more day to enjoy with each other. We had never before experienced this profound gratitude just for waking up feeling pretty good and being together. And as the moon shines down on us after another good day, we remember all of you who have taken time out of your day to reach out with a note or a text or a meal or flowers or a home-maintenance task completed or an encouraging comment after a blog post, and we are very grateful indeed.
Doug left this on our magnetic poetry board after one of his visits:
yesterday, as then
you, my friend, sing of eternity
needing no voice
&
devouring our languid winter away
He never said a word about it, but what a beautiful image to discover during the quiet of a lull between house-guests. What would we do without all of you, our dearly beloved? You are the hands and arms and feet of God in our lives. Thank you.
Our life of adventure has taken a sudden sharp turn into difficult territory. We have had some very devastating news about David’s health. We should know something more definite tomorrow, but what we’ve been told so far is bad enough. More on that later.
David and Sunny in France, 2014
I was planning to tell you last week about our recent road trip to Portland, Oregon. But before I could get it done, David was hospitalized for three days. Now that David’s home, we’re trying to rest and soak in the quiet for the moment. Seems a good time to try to write this. It’s the best way to reach many of you who are not on other email lists of ours.
Here’s how the past couple of weeks unfolded.
Road-Tripping Sunny — Day 1
Day 1: See photo at right: David refused to get a passer-by to take the photo so he could be the moose. Who wouldn’t want to be a moose? Same old David. No problems so far.
Day 2 — Walden to Steamboat and Beyond — 11 August 2016
Then, the next day, David’s difficulty climbing the stairs up to this view was our first clue that something might be amiss.
Back Down from Atop Homestead Crator
Mount Hood, Oregon
Another bit of walking and stair climbing, a couple of days later, to see Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge, was also surprisingly tough for him.
View from atop Mt. Hood — Oregon — Day 4
I was worried about his heart, but it didn’t seem there were any obviously ER-worthy symptoms, and David insisted he just wanted to take things a bit easy and see a doctor when we got back home.
Day 5: Sunday, we were in Portland and visited the Japanese Gardens.
Beautifully serene, and we all quietly strolled and rested on benches, so no problems here.
Day 6: Monday, we all took it easy, only strolling to the shops around the corner from Doug and Kristl’s, David’s brother and sister-in-law.
Day 7: Tuesday, David was not up for going anywhere, so he stayed back when several of us went wine tasting . . . .
Willamette Valley Vineyard
Day 8: Wednesday, another quiet day, only walking a block or two over to some friends’ lovely wine shop . . .
Portland Bottle Shop —Multnomah Falls, Oregon
Day 9: Thursday morning, David and I began the long drive home. We took a short break at Multnomah Falls . . . →
. . . then on to Lewiston, Idaho. Early dinner and to bed.
Day 10: Took the scenic Route 12 across northern Idaho and into Montana. David dropped into bed in Butte, Montana, around 5:45, no interest in dinner.
Day 11: Through Yellowstone National Park, lunching at the Old Faithful Inn . . . ↓
Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone
Stopped to stretch and take a few shots of the geysers . . . ↓
Yellowstone Geysers
David again dropped into bed around 5:30 p.m. in Lander, Wyoming (AKA, the middle of nowhere), with still no interest in dinner. I was starting to panic, but he refused to go get checked out, and I had no idea what quality of care to expect in a small town, so allowed myself to be convinced, after locating the nearest hospital (1.5 miles away) and making him promise to tell me if he started to feel worse.
Day 12: Four and a half hours from home, mostly through a VERY EMPTY part of Wyoming, with hardly even any other cars on the road. I drove the whole way, a bit white-knuckled, then right over to Urgent Care, since it was a Sunday and our clinic was not open. The Urgent Care people did a quick EKG, but sent us to the nearby ER to better check his heart: another EKG, lung x-ray, blood tests, etc.
But his heart was fine. So after a few hours to be certain of that, they told us to follow up with our primary care physician Monday morning and sent us home.
Day 13: We got an appointment for Monday afternoon with our family physician, and we both went in, so I could help describe symptoms and we’d have two sets of ears hearing information. Dr. Duran suggested additional blood tests and an appointment with a cardiologist to get a stress test. David didn’t want to go straight to the lab, but said he’d have blood drawn after the 7 a.m. cardiology appointment Tuesday morning.
Day 14: The cardiologist also saw no sign of a heart attack, but scheduled a stress test for Friday. We headed home, only realizing we’d forgotten to go to the lab after we were halfway home. David said he’d go first thing the next morning.
Day 15: Early Wednesday, David went for the requested labs and we went about our day, David dragging a bit and still somewhat uncomfortable when trying to breathe deeply. Around 5 p.m. Dr. Duran called and said get to the Emergency Room RIGHT NOW — DO NOT DELAY. One of David’s lab numbers, from the blood test that morning, indicated that he was at grave risk of a pulmonary embolism, which could potentially kill him. Meanwhile, he’d been having the exact same symptoms for the entire trip and at least low energy and some chest tightness for some time before that. YIKES. Dropped everything and got right over there.
David was immediately admitted into the ER, where yet another EKG was done (fine), and then a CT scan. And here’s where our world was turned upside down.
The ER doctor came right back and told us yes, there were multiple blood clots found in David’s lungs and an IV blood thinner would be started immediately, but there was worse to come. The CT scan had revealed multiple lesions on his liver and an enlarged pancreas, which he suggested may be the source of a metastatic cancer. David was admitted immediately, and a lot happened very quickly, with more the next morning, including a biopsy of one or more lesions in his liver. These are the results we are expecting tomorrow morning.
Our hearts are breaking, even as we are so profoundly grateful for so many things.
All those days on the road and in Portland, where a blood clot could have killed him at any moment, but didn’t.
A beautiful road trip together that David very much wanted to take.
The excellent care David has so far received from the medical professionals.
The messages we’ve already received of love, hope, faith, courage, and much more from our dear ones, and even from a few we barely know, since I sent this news to the prayer chain and set up the CaringBridge site.
Of course, we’re so deeply grateful for the 38 amazing years we’ve already had together, including our thirteen-month adventure in France and on the road. We absolutely still hope to extend that into more years and more adventures.
And especially right now, we are grateful for the comfort and peace of our great God, who seems even more present to us in these recent hard days than in the easy days that have gone before.
I could go on and on (and already have, I know). Not sure when the next post on this site will be, but for updates on David, see the CaringBridge site www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidbridge where I will post regular updates and thoughts on this new hard journey we are just beginning. Your prayers, well wishes, and encouraging comments after journal updates are, and will continue to be, appreciated more than you know.
From Psalm 27:
The Lord is my light and my salvation–whom shall I fear?
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.
One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent.
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Thank you for lending us your strength and taking heart with us on our way.
Then Saturday, we drove down to Longmont to the Cheese Importers where we had lunch in the bistro, perused the stacks, shelves, piles, heaps, mounds of goods for sale (most of it about or from France, which I love!) and finished with a quick trip through the chilly cheese room, where we stocked up on not just cheese, but also my favorite butter with sea salt crystals. Yum. You can see the butter choices on the right in the photo below.
We will be returning to our beloved La Rochelle (France) at the end of April and have the blessing of David’s doctor to stay for the entire month of May (stellar timing–Chelsea can house-sit). I promise more regular Movable Assets posts while we’re there!
Movable Assets 