I wrote this essay months ago, just as schools across the country opened amidst a worldwide pandemic, and we faced yet another unique set of challenges in the Storms household. Months later, as 2021 comes to a close and the schools plan to open on schedule starting January 3, 2022 regardless of the dramatic spike [...]
Yesterday, we received a mystery package in the mail. We receive a lot of packages* in the mail, as husband is an avid collector of many things fishing-related. I assumed the small manila envelope contained a fly-fishing tin of some sort as I'd seen several of those make their way through his hands recently. So [...]
The day after husband's oncologist used the 'C' word at his 4-year followup visit, he got up early to go fishing. (A common occurrence in our household, as our friends and acquaintances know well.) When he returned, he was mumbling to himself as he walked in the front door, but I caught only the tail [...]
How do you begin a blog post you never wanted to write? How do you type the very words you never wanted to see again? How do you convince yourself that there's anything good or fair or right in the world when you get the news that your loved one has cancer? Again. I don't [...]
It’s a very good day. An important day. An anniversary. No, not a wedding anniversary, or a dating anniversary, or a birthday. Today marks one year since my husband had a drain tube pulled after six months of complications from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor that invaded his pancreas. One year. The difference between [...]
Can you measure the worth of a year? How do you set the price? In dollars? In euros? In pesos? Can you put a price on it at all? When you get a cancer diagnosis, you find out just how much your time with loved ones is really worth, and just how much more of [...]
Happy Holidays, friends and family! This is the official 2017 Storms Christmas letter! (Look - I even went red and green! Festive!) Before you start in on me about how lame I am for sending you to my blog for warm wishes of holiday cheer, remember it’s been a fairly tough year. Go easy on [...]
It’s Saturday. More specifically, it’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I’m supposed to be happy. We are full-fledged into the Christmas season. I should be baking Christmas cookies (and eating half of them) while my husband strings the lights outside and I watch from the warmth of our living room. The kids should be bouncing off [...]
L. Ryan Storms 