Benjamin and Cousin Ariel

Yesterday was a beautiful day and with Benjamin's cousin Ariel in town, we took advantage of it after a little indoor soccer.

Basement soccer with Real Madrid vs Barcelona on in the background


We moved outdoors as it was a beautiful day


Benjamin working on his free kick


Park time!

An Early Thanksgiving

Today we celebrate!



Last month my Mother in Law Aida was diagnosed with meningioma.
Meningioma is a form of a brain tumor that is on the surface of the brain and lodged between the layer of the skull and the brain.

Aida had successful surgery on October 21st, the tumor was benign and post surgery she spent a month at a rehabilitation hospital recovering and re-learning how to walk and use her left arm and hand again.

It is with great happiness that I report today that she was released from the rehabilitation hospital and is home safe and sound. Once we got to our house I was going to use her wheel chair to wheel her to the front steps and assist her into the house but she insisted on walking up to the front door with her walker. She said she wanted to walk into the house and she did.

I have much respect for Physical Therapists and Nurses now. The dedication I saw from the hospital staff during the time Aida was there was simply incredible. Today there were a lot of tears shed as Aida was hugging the folks she got to know there over the past month. She called this her graduation day. We dropped off a lot of baked goods with the staff and Benjamin made a card.

I felt sadness for the people there in recovery who not as fortunate, the one's who can't talk or do much with out assistance, the one's with cages to keep their head steady and neck in place. The one's with a longer recovery road ahead of them. These are someone’s grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers and husbands too. Today I was near tears watching them for the last time today. We are extremely blessed.

This was a difficult time in all of our lives and Aida has been through a lot. I am very happy she has progressed and is not in pain anymore. She still has some work to do in regaining her strength to walk properly again. We are hopeful she will do so. She had a lot of love, support and prayer to guide her along the way. All of us thank you very much.

This was our Thanksgiving. I hope your holiday is as wonderful as ours.

Benjamin's Holiday Show

Benjamin told me tonight his class is working on their music for their annual Holiday Show on December 10th. Every day he has a half hour of Music and he said one of the songs they are working on is Santa Claus is Coming To Town.

Of course we broke out the iPod and listened to Bruce Springsteen's version, then thanks to Google I found this from the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank NJ on December 22,2008. Enjoy!



One more from London, December 19, 2007 with the Big Man

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

I had a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band last night. It has been a rough month for me personally and yesterday was a very difficult day. So I definitely needed this show. Bruce is always clutch when one is down and inside I knew he would come through with a fantastic show. And what a show it was.

I had a great seat in the lower deck to the side and stood with the audience the entire show. He played the entire Born to Run album which was incredible and of course I lost it when Clarence did his sax solo during Jungleland. Couple other tunes where I was thinking about things and I lost it too. Overall I laughed, cried, sang, chanted, bounced up and down and had a fantastic time. Every emotion I had was on display last night.

It is always a thrill to see Nils and Bruce dueling with their guitars and last night they put on a hell of a show during Prove It All Night. The energy Bruce and the band have just continues to amaze me. This show was just what I needed last night. I am still in awe of what I saw and have no voice now. Thank you Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

The setlist:
Outlaw Pete
Prove It All Night
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Night
Backstreets
Born to Run
She's the One
Meeting Across the River
Jungleland
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Stand on It
Seven Nights to Rock
Growin' Up
Pink Cadillac
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Badlands
* * *
Hard Times
No Surrender
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita
Higher and Higher

The Washington Post review here

Ted Leonsis, the Caps Owner was at the show too. Here is his blog post

PS-I didn't take these pictures, cameras were not allowed and these were on The Washington Post web site. I *wish* I could have taken them though.