The Good and the Bad of 2009

The new year just started and there's already a couple defining moments...at least in my life. Starting off with the good news, I am very excited to have a new President in office. I'm working in Virginia right now just outside of DC so it was an exciting place to be during the inauguration. The crowds were so enormous for this event that many agencies worked together to make sure everything went smoothly. Over 300 TSOs (Transportation Security Officers), most of whom were part of the NDF, were brought into help. I was hoping for a more direct role in the inauguration but I had to work behind the computer writing reports just like any other day. It was fun to see so many of my NDF friends though. It had been year's since I've seen many of them.

I was able to get together with Patty, Alice, and LaDonna. We had a chance to catch up and play Shanghai Rummy. I'm sure Patty would want me to let you all know that she won with 125 pts. It doesn't happen too often so I'll let her have a moment to shine......Okay, moments over.

The other big news was that LaDonna's engaged!!! She's been keeping this very quite so she caught us off guard, but we're all very happy for her and wish her the best! (If you look close, you might be able to see the ring! I should have made her show it off but it's hard enough to get her in the picture at all.)
Now for the bad news. As many of you have probably heard, my dad will begin radiation treatments in about two weeks. After rereading his test results, my dad's doctor noticed that there are signs of cancerous cells in the "margins" surrounding his prostate. It seems as if the same test results were misread back in September. Of course this was a major blow to my dad and my family since we were all very hopeful and happy with his recovery after surgery. The good news is that time wasn't lost on treatment because he would have had to wait at least 4 months even if he had known right away that there were still cancerous cells. That fact didn't help on the emotional side of things however. So now it's another waiting game. We're all praying for the best results possible.

Well, that's all for now. The invitation is still open to come out for a visit to DC if anyone wants to come and can get the time off. I've got plenty of room for guests. And one last note since every one's asking...I'm still here until March 15th as far as I know.