The Lindenbergs

Last Father's Day I was dozing on the couch while Pierce and Anna were playing in the other room. Apparently they were playing Legos together when Anna decided she wanted to play with the same parts as Pierce. Pierce delicately tried to point Anna to some different Legos, but Anna wasn't to be re-directed. Having exhausted all diplomatic options, Pierce yelled at her to get away from his toys. It got very quiet for a few moments, then the following conversation ensued:

Anna: "Pierce, you've broken my heart."

Pierce: "Anna, I love you. Our house wouldn't be the same without you. But when you try to play with my stuff I don't like that."

Anna: "You have broken my heart."

-Eric (
dad)

T-Ball started last Tuesday. It's Tuesday/Thursday at 7:30pm. Both Pierce and Anna seem to be enjoying it, and we really enjoy watching them play. Pierce has played T-Ball for the past 2 years, but this is Anna's first time. She seems to have a great time with the other kids, usually follows the directions given by the coaches and she is very excited about getting a trophy or medal at the end! She and Pierce are on the same team - the Royals - and they have royal blue team t-shirts.

Tonight (6/14/07) was a night of injuries! We got there a little early so we could practice grounders, catching and throwing with Pierce and Anna. I tossed the first ball to Anna and she missed, but Pierce scooped it up and threw it...and Anna turned around just in time to get beaned in the nose with the ball! Injury # 1 - a Nose Bleed! I ran to get tissues, but neglected to tell Anna to tilt her head back, so blood dripped all down the front of her clothes. So Pierce and Eric practiced while Anna and I tried to stop her nose bleed. Finally, it stopped and when my parents arrived she proudly told them her shirt was so messy because her nose bled!

Then, just after practice started, the kids were instructed to run after Coach Brian. Somehow, Pierce fell and got kicked just above the eye by one of the other kids! Injury #2 - a Black Eye! He is OK and the bruising is not bad, really. He finished the practice and looked like he was having a ball the whole time.

I hope this is not going to be a regular thing, but I better bring the first aid kit from now on, just in case!!!

-Nora (Mom)

Labels: Sports

Tuesday morning Anna wandered downstairs while I was in the kitchen. After a few minutes she moved to the bottom of the stairs and made the following pronouncements:

"Pierce, don't forget to come downstairs and play with me..."

"I get lonely down here...."

"...and its a little scary."

-Eric (Dad)

My friend from Maine, Steve, came to visit us for the weekend. For those who are not regular readers of our blog, Steve is a fraternity brother of mine who’s been battling pancreatic cancer for a couple of years. After a short time in remission, the cancer has returned and chemotherapy is no longer effective. Steve has chosen to allow the disease to run its course.

Our visit was a very good one. Steve had not had the opportunity to meet Pierce and Anna and they all immediately took to each other. Steve flew into town on Friday afternoon and was picked up by Nora and the kids. Kansas rolled out its best weather for Steve and he was met with cool Spring-time temperatures and gentle breezes.

Steve looks good, but has a limited amount of energy. I got home about the same time that everyone was getting out of Nora’s car. After a warm greeting (consisting of a handshake and a hug), Steve wearily announced he needed a nap. We cancelled our dinner reservations and let him recharge his batteries for a couple of hours. He awoke, refreshed, about 30 minutes after Pierce and Anna were in bed. With a renewed appetite he tore through a couple of cheeseburgers I’d grilled for dinner. We visited late into the night.

Having been out of work for awhile, Steve has developed some pretty strong nocturnal habits. I think his usual bedtime is about 2:00 or 3:00 am and, in attempt to maximize my time with him, I tried to match those hours. Needless to say, I’m a hurting puppy this Monday.

Nora picked a couple of packages of Oreos, both chocolate and vanilla, that were a huge hit. Interesting how when weight-gain is not an issue Steve can work his way through a package almost as fast as I can.

Steve’s body is a little like a prize-fighters that’s been through a lot of rounds. It will support him in his time of need, but its starting to wear out. He takes hearty naps in the afternoon and tires easily. He and I both wanted him to see and experience as much of the Kansas City area as he could manager without wearing him out. On Saturday, we all took a drive out to the University of Kansas (KU). Steve wanted to see the native terrain and farmland, and pick up a KU souvenir. Nora’s a graduate of KU and was able to give us the $5 tour of the campus and guide us to the bookstore. Pierce and Anna enjoyed the drive, mostly because they had Steve’s undivided attention (Anna serenaded him with Frosty the Snowman and 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall).

Saturday evening, after Steve’s nap, we had a couple of his friends over for dinner. Steve has been an active participant in the cancer support arena and had been corresponding with a couple of women in the KC area; one a cancer survivor and the other an active organizer. We grilled ribs and chicken and picnicked on the patio. Both women, Barbera and Sherry, were extremely personable. Barbera became Anna’s new best friend and the talk around the dinner table was lively and diverse.

Steve used the opportunity to catch up with both of them. Prior to Saturday night, he’d only corresponded with Barbara, and had met Sherry once (when she came for a visit). I think having the opportunity to talk shop with people who are so intimately familiar with his situation was a tonic he sorely needed. They talked very openly about what Steve was going through, and talked about death and how they viewed it. It was very humbling to be part of the conversation. Steve is showing remarkable strength and clarity as he continues to both fight, and accept, the cancer’s progress.

As the sun went down, Pierce and Anna got thier bug jars and started to catch lightning bugs. Nora and Barbra, a former school teacher, were active participants. The evening ultimately wound down about midnight. After Nora went to bed, a thunderstorm rolled into the area (about 1:00 am). I’ve described some of Kansas’s thunderstorms to Steve and he was hoping one would come through while he was here. We stood out on the driveway and watched it slowly blow in; Steve even videotaped about 10 minutes of it. The lightning was at a pretty good altitude so the thunder was just a low rumble, but the light show we got was definitely in the top 10. As the storm got closer and more intense (with much better thunder), Steve figured he’d rather watch the rest of the light show from inside. We sat in the dark, in the dining room, watching out the window and talking quietly until the storm dissipated.

Surprisingly, Steve got up early on Sunday with a good level of energy. Pierce and Anna kept him entertained while Nora and I slept in. After a pancake breakfast, cooked by yours truly, we headed off to Crown Center and Union Station. We took Steve the scenic route to show him some of the older wealthier neighborhoods that border the Plaza (Kansas’s world-renown shopping district). Steve’s area in Maine is dotted with wealthy neighborhoods and old money (the Bush’s have a compound in Kennebunkport) so he’s certainly seen big houses before. But I think we impressed him with some of the pinnacles of conspicuous consumption we have out our way.

Crown Center is an upscale shopping mall just outside of downtown Kansas City. We had lunch at the mall, at Fritz’s, a hamburger restaurant (founded during World War II), that not only features a train motif, but the country’s only train-based food delivery system. The burgers were surprisingly good and we all ate with gusto.

Union Station, the country’s second largest train station (NY has the biggest), abuts Crown Center and features an elaborate Children’s Museum and a new train exhibit that includes refurbished railcars from the 1920s. Nora took Pierce and Anna off to view some of the other exhibits while Steve and I walked through the trains. Union Station has volunteers that answer questions about the railcars and they were able to provide all the answers to Steve that he could ask for (I’d proven to be a pretty ignorant host). We did a relatively quick walkthrough of the station -and watched an IMAX-style movie about cowboys from around the world, before Steve’s energy ran out.

Again, after a revitalizing nap for Steve (and a short catnap for me), we headed out to another Kansas City institution, Hereford House; one of the oldest and best steak restaurants in the area. Prior to getting sick, Steve wasn’t much of a beef eater (he was a chicken guy) so he was definitely swimming in unfamiliar waters. Nora and I made some recommendations as to what we thought he’d like (and talked him out of order chopped beef). Steve ultimately decided on the always-delicious filet mignon and, according to him, it exceeded expectations. We had made plans to drive around town for some additional sightseeing, but Steve begged off after dinner. So we had a pretty quiet last evening at our house.

One of the unexpected occurrences during Steve’s visit (in a good way) was the back massager Nora gave me for Valentine’s Day. Steve has chronic low-grade back pain. Apparently, due to his diminished digestive capacity (his pancreas and liver don’t function well) he gets a lot of gas that seems to cause back pain (yeah, yeah, we won’t talk about how he delights purging the gas in front of me). The tumor itself also pushes against the nerves in his lower back. During his first night at the house he kept getting up to stretch or adjust his position. As somebody who periodically deals with back pain, I recognized the symptoms in a fellow sufferer and I volunteered the use of the chair massager that was sitting, folded up, next to the couch.

Steve joked that if we’d gone the whole weekend before he’d realized what the massager was he would have cried. As it turned out, he talked of buying one as soon as he got home. Most of the time we were at the house you could hear the hum of the massager as Steve sat contentedly on the couch.

So, to sum up, it was a great visit. Steve is in good spirits and retains his sense of humor and upbeat demeanor. As much as possible, Steve has come to terms with his situation. He hopes that by some miracle, be it be God-supplied or man-made, he’ll be able to make a visit to Virginia to see friends and hopefully entertain me at his home next year. I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

I drove Steve to the airport early this morning. At Anna’s request, Nora called my cell phone while we were on the way to the airport so she could tell him goodbye. I have no idea what she said, but he smiled the whole time he spoke with her. Now that he’s left, our house seems too quiet and too empty.

-Eric (Dad)

Monday evening we went to the pool after dinner. The walk over was nice and warm, which was a little deceiving because once you got wet it felt cold. Nora was smart and just sat at the edge of the pool with her feet dangling in the water. Of course, I was not quite as smart. Brrrrr.

Pierce is a proficient enough swimmer that we just keep an eye on him, but no longer try to stay within arm’s reach. He spent most of the evening dive-bombing the pool. Anna had a surprise up her sleeve. Shortly after we got in the pool she said, “Dad, watch this”, then went completely under the water. I don’t mean just face, I mean actually submerged even with the water wings on. We spent the rest of the evening taking turns going under water.

Pierce, of course, has the most notable story from the evening. After we got out of the pool and getting dried off he said he need to go to the bathroom. Our pool has a couple of small bathrooms, one for each gender. I told him to go ahead and to make sure he closed the door but NOT lock it. A minute or so later a little girl about Pierce’s age came by and said, “umm, your son didn’t close the door.”

I walked over to check on his status and of course I could see his lakes poking out from behind the stall partition. I asked if he was done and he said yes, he’d just had to pee. Then he hopped of the toilet. His rear-end and legs were covered with toilet paper. “Pierce,” I asked, “why are you covered in toilet paper?”. “Because, I thought the seat might be dirty and I layered it in toilet paper before I sat down”.

Good idea, bad timing. He was so wet from the pool that the toilet paper immediately shredded, clumped and adhered to his butt. He had so much on him that when he had a bath when we got home tp was floating up to the surface.

-Eric (Dad)

Our extended family spent the last week in Corolla, NC for our annual beach trip. Attending were our family, my Mom, Nora’s parents, both my brothers and their families, and my youngest brother’s inlaws. As always, we had a great time. This year’s weather was probably the best we’ve ever had in the 20+ years we’ve been going out there.

Some highlights from our trip:

• My nephew, Chance brought a friend with him. Mason was a great addition and fit in like he’d been with us for years.
• Doug’s twins, now a little over a year old, are walking and very active. Both are very engaging and when they smiled they made the whole room laugh.
• Pierce, with a little help from me, did some boogie boarding. He liked it.
• Each night one of the families prepared dinner. Mmmmm. Every night was delicious. For our turn we made our version of Kansas City BBQ chicken.
• During movie night we watched Herbie Fully Loaded. Pierce and Anna are enthusiastic Herbie fans and have seen the DVD many times. They dance during the music montages and describe each story element before it happens. One of the adults watching commented that they thought Pierce may have seen the movie once or twice. Pierce commented, “oh, more than thrice”. Every adult in the room turned to Nora and me and said, in unison, you’re not going to need to worry about paying for college for that kid.
• Doug’s oldest son, Kevin, is about 6 months younger than Anna. Pierce, Anna and he got along great. Anna and he played around the pool for hours and Pierce and he played with cars together continually.
• We had decent surf. Doug and I got some good sessions in.
• Nora, the rest of the girls, and Scott’s father-in-law (Jim) went out for pedicures. They all had very pretty feet.
• This year’s Corolla video (from last year’s footage) was a hit. Which is good, because it took a VERY long time to make.
• Chance brought his Playstation 2 with him. The two most popular games were Guitar Hero 2 and Burnout 3. Burnout is a driving game with the primary goal of trying to crash as many of the other racers as possible. Pierce and I took turns playing it. His comment, can we have this game at home? (I wholeheartedly agree).
• My Mom, Bubbie, baked cookies with Pierce, Anna and Kevin. They were very excited and couldn’t wait to both eat, and distribute, the finished cookies.
• On the flight home, Pierce announced to the flight attendant that he wanted to be a pilot when he grows up. You wouldn’t believe the level of attention he received through the rest of the flight. After we landed Pierce and Anna got to sit in the cockpit and wear the pilot’s cap while Nora and I snapped pictures.
  
  -Eric (Dad)