Snow in late May...Lake Tahoe, the big water

Two years yesterday the nightmare started. As my hubby was wheeled into surgery (a right inguinal orchiectomy), the urologist told me the tests had confirmed the tumor was malignant.

My daughter and I held each other, sobbing, in a waiting room where some other woman yelled about everyday nonsense to her friend. I was angry that her husband’s operation was some minor thing with his ear, so minor she could whine, loudly, about jewelry and leftovers. And toss her empty Starbuck's cup toward a wastebasket and miss.

Well, the three months of treatment that followed (3 x BEP) still make me shudder. While the diagnosis was terrifying, I have to admit the prognosis always was hopeful. But chemo itself can kill, and there were mornings I woke up and was positive he wasn’t breathing. After a collapse at a CT-Scan, I saw him flat on the ground, his arm wearing the yellow Livestrong bracelet flung unnaturally across the tile. It was like my eyes were in someone else's head. I can't explain it any other way. I was sure he had died…and how would I find the words to call our kids?

In all the horror was the hope. We took a “live like you were dying” Tim McGraw approach and planned some trips several months ahead, when he would be well.

One of those places was Lake Tahoe. It was late spring, 90 degrees in Placerville down the mountain, snowing three days later at Echo Summit. Dang, he wore his warm knit hat over that bald head on a good day! Snow was a no-brainer.

But it was here, in God’s country, that the two of finally talked about it, about the darkness and the terror. About him getting to watch our grandbaby grow up. About him giving his daughter away at her wedding someday.

I didn’t have to be strong anymore.

And we let the healing begin.

“I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords,” said Mark Twain upon his first sight of the “big water” on a summer day in 1863.

Tanya Writes About the Marrying Minda Trivia Contest

Yee-haw. The cowboy in me (make that cowgirl, I guess) is holding a contest to celebrate my first-place win in the San Antonio Romance Authors' Merritt "Magic Moment" Contest for my historical Western romance, Marrying Minda.

Check out my website www.tanyahanson.com for the excerpt and e-mail me the answers to the five trivia questions below.

One name will be drawn randomly on July 31 from those who get all five answers right.

Come on. It's easy. And the reward is great: there's a ten-dollar Starbuck's gift card waiting for the winner.

Here goes:
1. Where does the story take place and when?
2. What's the name of Minda's intended bridegroom?
3. What's she wearing when she comes to town?
4. Who is Priscilla?
5. What color are Minda's eyes?

Come on! Play with me!

P.s. The picture was taken in Lake Tahoe the end of May. Unbelievable...it was like Christmas and had been 80 degrees just days before. Wow.

Tanya Writes About Vacation with her Hero

Wow. Here we are, Lake Tahoe. So deep and blue and fathomless. Green trees reaching up to the endless sky. Bright white swatches of snow waiting to melt.

We planned the trip on Day 11 of the BEP. Just to remind us that we had a future.

It's a most significant vacation even though we were here exactly a year ago. What a year it's been. Whew.

Our grandson took his first steps and is learning his first words.

Our dearest chidhood pal Mike died from cancer.

And my hero survived it.

Our beloved niece Katie got married and asked me to read a scripture verse during the ceremony. In fact, we visited her and her new hubby at their darling new house in Reno on the way here.

So many memories.

We came here with Katie's folks, my beloved Roberta and Timmy. You remember me writing about them. It's in the archives. Those awful months would have been unendurable without them. But now, we here again, just back to having fun. Timmy even mentioned how good it is to be together us four, because we can laugh at and with each other. They're on the plane back home now, and how we'll miss them.

My hero is taking a nap. His appetite is soooooooo good these days and he's gotten so strong. Naps are no longer an every-day thing. But yesterday the weather was very, very hot (we live on the coast and aren't ued to it) while we four trundled all over historic Placerville, explored a gold mine and investigated a real stamp mill. Tuckered us all out.

With me working on a gold-mine set historical romance that I want to pitch to an editor at the RWA concention in July, this was just the place to investigate. And the Gold Bug mine was about thirty degrees cooler inside the mine. Yay.

The weather's back to spring here at Tahoe today, instead of summer. My hero and I will be here all the rest of the week, then spend a few days in Monterey, back to the coast.

Then back home where the rest of our future waits for us.

Tanya Writes About Crackerjack

Oh, on Saturday, my hero took me out to the ballgame...and bought me crackerjack and a frozen chocolate malt.

And we won!

Sitting in the sun, surrounded by happy families (tons of little kids; it was Helmet Day) reminded yet me again of the blessedness that has come upon us with remission. His health returns markedly each and every day--along with his appetite. It was only days ago that he slept and slept, and slept and slept.

Thank you, Jesus! The ugly thing is gone.

I wandered to the souvenir shop to buy a new team hat for our little grandson. He outgrew last summer's "baby" size and now needs the toddler one. Oh, and I couldn't resist a blow-up bat. That way if he bashes something, it won't break LOL. My hero had a hot-dog and slathered on the sunscreen. It's been so long since he spent any time in the sun.

Afterward, we spent the night at Roberta and Tim's and my MIL took us all out to a yummy steakhouse. This morning, we had breakfast (cinnamon-roll french toast) at a lakeside restaurant. And my hero ate all three slices!

The days of a mouth so sore he couldn't chew or swallow anything seem nightmarish, and we've woken up.

I will never be able to forget all the out-of-body experiences of those horrific three months, how it had to be happening to someone else, but it really was us after all. But the warm spring sunshine wraps us in a coziness that helps ease the nightmare and reminds us of the faith and love in our lives.

In a couple of weeks, we'll be spending time in Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

And all we're gonna do, says my hero, is rest and relax.

Hey, he deserves it.