Tag Archive: Personal

My name is David

I have been given an opportunity to take part in an incredible adventure. My life is full of meaning, I have reconnected with friends and family in ways I’ve never known. I am loved, appreciated and feel overwhelmed by what people have done for me over the last couple of weeks.

What is important has been completely re-written for me. I have a new understanding that changed so much of what I believe in. I have been challenged, my friends and family have been challenged by this, and together we will not be found wanting.

I have been humbled, tested and inspired by the people I choose to share my life with. It is my privilege to have these people in my life, and every day these unassuming, modest people do something incredible and pass it off as nothing.

This has changed my life. And I have no doubt will continue to do so in ways I can’t imagine today. And I get six weeks of not working if I want it, I will catch up on my sleep, my reading, meet new people, and at the end of it have a  new appreciation for all the energy I have.

My name is David, and I have cancer.

Some personal thoughts…

When I went through HL the whole tumour thing was more of an abstract idea, I could feel the enlarged lymph nodes, but had to go looking for them. They showed on the scans, but I needed my oncologist to provide narration.

This is more real, it’s presence if far more tangible as I feel its pressure 24 hours a day on my ear. There is no escaping what is going on and this is making it much harder in some respects.

It’s more than being unable hear out my right ear, I feel it every moment of the day, and it’s tough to be reminded of it’s presence like that. It’s there every time I close my jaw. I can put my hand against my neck and feel it, there is no looking for it, it is there.

Look at the CAT scans and it’s clear what is going wrong, where there is supposed to be air (dark) there is a mass (light). On the left you can see my ear drum and canal, on the right it’s not there. Compare side to side and it’s not symmetrical and it’s supposed to be.

This scared the living shit out of me, it’s not supposed to look like that. Even I can see that.

Do I feel sorry for myself, I don’t think so, but I’m perhaps not the best judge of that. I have dark moments and I think that’s inevitable, but I do believe in my strength and myself. I do believe in the people I choose to have in my life and feel very fortunate.

I am lucky, I am spending the weekend doing something I have a passion for. The hospitality shown to me has been wonderful, it’s been much more than just a “race weekend”. The first five-day course of drugs is long over, I don’t start the nasty stuff again until tonight and that gave me three days to have fun. Yeah I still have to take the antibiotics, steroids and so on, yes I still need to nap (one of the bonuses this weekend has been to catch up on sleep) and be careful, but no blackberry, no checking in with work and that’s part of what I need.

A little change is good for the soul.

This is a post I’ve composed in my mind 50 times today, I’m still not sure I’ve got it right, but please bear with me it’s been a brutally long day.

One of the things that has been so freeing about the last year has been the reestablishing of a couple of very important friendships, these are people I can talk without feeling like I need to justify myself, and I think we all like that.

Yes they will happily challenge me, and what I have said when it’s justified. In fact they seem to take delight in doing that, but in a way that is really asking me to look deeper and understand what I’m saying rather than putting together an argument about why I’m wrong.

As I evolve and change, and it’s change I’m very happy with, I’m understanding more about responsibilities I have, those I can put to one side and those that have to stay close. And as I learn more about the writing process I understand better and better that the people who read what I have to say have a wide variety of views and mindsets. I’ve spoken before about not grasping how interactive this medium could be, and I still have occasional “oh yeah moments” and try to go on a journey with that viewpoint.

I’m in a place in my life where I’ve put a lot of work, a lot of therapy and many, many hours into really understanding myself. And I am seeing how that was a great investment.

And so I’m finding it harder to write about that lately, in part because I’m taking opportunity to do something wonderfully cathartic away from this site. A because of that some of the more personal stuff will be put on another website, ungroundable.com” to be worked on and expanded into a long format. It’s not going to be accessible to all, you need to have registered here and ask for access, and that’s by choice as I work on my writing and attempt to find “my voice” as an editor put it.

I will continue to try things out here and love the feedback I get, all of it. I have discovered that I enjoy writing, and after getting a “could try harder” in every English class I’ve ever taken that came as something of a surprise to me.

But now, picture of the day. I spent an hour working in the garden today, feeding the lawn (turning very nice and green) and planting a couple of young Japanese Maples. They are not terribly mature trees, but will grow into something wonderful.

Building…

After some interesting discussions today I feel more positive than ever about the future and what I’m building. I am making my house my own, it’s so exciting to have the stability and surety that I’ve been missing.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the creativity I spoke about a few days ago, I am building something just wonderful and feel so positive about tomorrow. I am so fortunate. I have a great career that is getting back on track, wonderful friends and a great family.

Now it’s about medical insurance

As time goes on it keeps getting more and more ridiculous. We’ve been through the car insurance drama (apparently my fault) and so much more (also all my fault), and the latest is my ex deciding not to provide medical insurance for her kids. Over the last year I’ve heard the “I’m just being a great parent” or “It’s for the kids” or some other version of this so many times in response to decisions she has made

Living in a house she can’t afford – it’s for the kids… … Not paying for medical insurance… Deciding she does not have to make the car payment… Not paying the loan she took out back…Leaving the house a total shithole… Spending $1900 playing poker in Las Vegas while out of work… You get the idea, except for the last couple; those are total white trash…

Yet time and time again her actions have not actually matched her “it’s for the kids” words. The kids were allowed to live in that place with dog feces in the living room and so on (the photos are on the site). She spent years putting down their father because he was deadbeat, and then she spent months doing exactly the same things she condemned him for. It’s the hypocrisy.

I knew she got the job in Renton before she did. Did she really thing HR would not at least make a courtesy call before employing someone with a current employee has a restraining order against? I know what she said in November about unemployment running out and not paying the mortgage for the house was total bullshit. Just so many lies and excuses time and time again in an attempt to justify her decisions. One thing work is good at, following processes.

A lawyer put it best and said “when you keep score with money you would be surprised what people can justify to themselves.”

I get the commute from Snohomish to Renton is crappy, but to use that as an excuse to your friends for the house being a total shit hole? Really?

The latest in the long line of lies is over the kids again. She got put onto her own medical insurance on the first of January, this took her by surprise and from conversations from her friends I understand her plan was for me to continue paying her and her children’s medical insurance.

Unfortunately with the insurance at her work if you do not nominate the policy you wish to be on the company assigns you one. It’s all clearly laid out on the benefits website.

Not only does it give you 31 days from the date of eligibility to decide what policy you want to be on, it also clearly says “and your dependents”, what’s more it clearly lists dependents as including (drum roll) kids!!!

So of course one of the questions between lawyers was why her kids are not on her insurance, after all remember being a providing parent is so important to her after being so critical of their deadbeat dad… She had the option, and because it’s all about money for her she thought she would get a win by stuffing me with the bill. Has not quite worked out the way she wanted. She had the option, it was even open for 31 days, but decided not to take it.

There are other lies and marginal truths in the letter to my lawyer, and we’ll get into those some time. Her family read this blog, I get a regular visitors from Castro Valley (I love analytics) and a couple of her friends have contacted me worried about her and her state. She is lying to her lawyer, extensively to her family and friends.

She is not about being an involved parent, she is the selfish, self absorbed individual more worried about being right than a good parent or person. Being called a hypocrite is one of the worst things you can call her, but it’s so true. She just has to think about which of her friends are no longer returning her calls and hopefully she will understand how lonely her life is.

We make our choices and live by the consequences, hers are starting to spiral further and further out of control. I love my life; rediscovering this incredible journey and I have some wonderful the people in my life. It’s a shame she can’t find the same.

Among those consequences is this post, she decided to have this play out in the public and I feel I have no choice but to respond in kind. If she wants this to go away then it’s really simple, all she needs to do is take responsibility for her actions and deal with the issue. She can live in the web of lies, she can make me out to be what ever she wants, she is doing that anyway and I’m a big boy and can handle it. I’ve been far from perfect and I’m owning and dealing with that, I just want her to do the same.

Edit – I had a couple of details incorrect and have corrected that, sorry about that.

It’s still really hard

I’ve talked a number of times about being without mum and how difficult that transition been. I spent a little time today at the garden of remembrance at Guildford crematorium where her ashes are spread.  I got some flowers and after spending a couple of hours with dad in the Royal Surrey I was probably not in the best frame of mind for it, but none the less I went.

I still get emotional about it, I know dad misses her terribly and in his typical “I’m a Scotsman and we don’t complain” stoic demeanour he’s not going to share his pain unless you corner him. And even then he’s going to fight it. It’s just how he is and we all know that.

First thing is how well my niece has dealt with the transition; my brother and his wife have been masterful in guiding her through this process. Protecting her from some of the more harsh realities, but letting her express how she feels. They have done a hugely impressive job in always setting a positive model for her and letting her recognise mum in a way that’s meaningful to her.

To no ones shock this has unquestionably been a huge thing for me. The biggest, most emotional thing I’ve ever been through and it’s affected me in many ways that I’m only just coming to recognize. It was not so much the death that changed things for me; it was more what went on before hand. Mum’s passing was expected somewhat, we knew it was coming despite the time line being uncertain, even right at the end.

It was what went on leading up to that, it was a roller coaster ride of emotions for many months before hand. The really hard part started when I found out it was about managing quality of life rather than treatment to save her. It was well over a year before hand, we all knew, but denial as a coping mechanism does run strongly in my family. And I think we were all happy to buy into that, including mum.

I know it worked for dad and to find out what was going on I’d have to read the rather meticulous notes that were kept by the McMillan nurses that came to look after mum a few times every week. Mums last letter to me, written only a couple of months before she dies was especially poignant, it took me months (and a very good bottle of wine) to open it and read it. I had it today in my pocket, it weighed heavily as I wandered around the garden of remembrance today.

It was the late afternoon when I got there, not long before it closed and the sun was low in the sky. The air was very still and it was cold, well bellow freezing. I went and looked in the book of remembrance to see where my grandparents were interned and spent a few minutes there before wandering through the very peaceful glade before sitting down to contemplate what’s gone on.

While we had our differences, the love mum and I has never been in question. Interestingly she brought up a couple of times that as the eldest child she felt some extra responsibility fell to me, I’m still not sure what that it, but she was the eldest and when my grand father passed she did feel the pressure of being the eldest child herself and felt she needed to in part take on some of Granddad role.

I’ve said all this before somewhere in this blog, but this really has been incredibly tough. It has given my significant perspective about what is important in my life and what I need to do to align myself to these changed realities.

Having said all of that, if I ever find out who stole my case last year in Minnesota with a couple of mums letters to me in it I’d take a baseball bat to them. These little notes was meaningless to them, but was everything to me.

My final thought today goes back to sitting in the garden of remembrance and rereading her last letter, she said she saw my pain and just wanted me to be happy, more than anything else. While it’s taken me time to discover what that really means for me, but I have a better idea now and embrace my life in a very different way. It was inevitable that your passing would change me; with a little distance I believe that change was for the better. I’d swap it all for you.

Mum believed in an afterlife, and got a lot of comfort from that. I hope she is right and I’m wrong, I love you mum.

My friends called it…

I’ve been travelling a lot for work in the last few months, and there will be more plenty more in the immediate future. There have been times when inspiration has been difficult to come by and motivation may not be totally there.

One of my friends called it before I recognized it, I’m approaching burnout.

I’ve been here before, taking a few moments to look I recognize the symptoms and about the only surprise is that it’s taken this long to get here. So what do I do about it? How do I handle it?

First, work less. Doing what I do it’s way easier to say “work less” than actually do it. I’ll start small, lets say no weekend overtime for the next month or two.

Then reduce what I work on from home by leaving my laptop at work and only take reading and editing stuff home. From experience, working less does not always mean getting less done; it means being more focused on what I do work on and delegating to my group more.

Hand in hand with not working, as much is a little redefining of what a good or successful day looks like. Progress on the program can be somewhat stop-start. The goals can be huge and occasionally unrealistic. I think I deal with it better than most, but the frustration of a perceived lack of progress is obviously felt by many around me. Maybe it’s time to step back and examine the goals. Are they achievable and is the time line realistic? If not they need to be changed.

I see progress, positive progress towards the ultimate goal (proven processes in place and metrics showing cost saving), but I’m also too close to appreciate what we’ve achieved as a group in the last few months. First glance I see what’s left to be done, rather then what we’ve done. The overarching plan that I first saw six months ago is “chunked” into very large blocks. Stepping down a level and examining the project work breakdown got us to somewhere with a little more granularity. These steps are way more achievable and make recognizing the progress we’ve made easier and more fulfilling.

That’s work dealt with, what about real life? It’s that delegating thing again and looking after myself. My lawyer is very good, we had a discussion last week and I trust her to take care of what needs to be done. She is the professional and looks after my corner. So far I’m very happy with that.

There is one last part of this, if after taking it easy for a month, getting more sleep, more exercise, reducing stress and so on and I feel the same way, then perhaps it’s just time to apply myself and get on with it. Not use burnout as an excuse, manage my stress and health and ignore the fact that I feel burned out, and just work through it until I can take a couple of weeks off in the spring.

The view is beautiful

Last night was fun, New Year should be a time spent with friends, old and new. Last night was that and more.

Today I woke up to a beautiful, but awfully cold morning. This is the view from my bed and one of the reasons I love this house.

Once again I have to address the rumours

She wanted to make this personal, and I don’t have too much of an issue with that, but feel once again I need to use this forum to respond to personal attacks and lies. To the people who have sent me supportive messages thank you. It’s got to the point where I’ve installed an alarm system.

She feels she has the moral high ground, personally I feel that bringing her kids into this and using them against me and spinning a story full of lies about what went on kinda looses that high ground in a very big way.

A little while ago I received a comment to this site from the fat ugly troll that in part said “and physically abuse 10 year olds”. This is not the first time I’ve brought this up, but after what’s been said about me today I feel a further response is due as once again this accusation has been forwarded to me.

First, I’ve never lived with the young lady who claims I hurt her when she was 10, this could only have come from my ex as the kids 10th birthday was months after I left (and let me be clear here, I left and I filed the court documents). My first point is that as a mother she is willing to bring her daughters into this and use them against me.

This is the same mother that when the incident happened was clear that it did not happen, the father was clear it did not happen and the woman who looked after them during the day was clear it did not happen. Yet some time later when it suits the story about how big a shit I am (remember, I left and I filed with the courts) she drags out the story of me abusing he daughter and feels it’s OK to share with her so called “friends” at that time.

At the time I stated that I wanted it investigated by CPS, but she said no, that was not required and I have an e-mail that states that very clearly. Interestingly the same child had made accusations against her father prior to her previous divorce, CPS investigated and he was cleared. Again, I have the details of that if anyone is interested.

She knew this was my biggest issue around the whole parenting thing. I find it strange how it comes up now, rather than her dealing with it at the time. I would like to note that the accusation did not directly come from her, but clearly it came from her.

This child had some issues around anger management and acting out. In her bedroom there are multiple holes in the wall that she kicked or slammed door handles through the wall. The holes were generally hidden behind the door and who knows when they happened.

Since the accusation was leveled against me her behaviors escalated. Bicycle tires were slashed with a box cutter that I had in my tool box, both mine and her sisters. Yet my ex’s bike never got touched…

Car paint got badly scratched. An attempt, thankfully unsuccessful, was made at my car tire. There was two clear cut marks where someone tried to piece the tire carcass with the same box cutter. They were clearly recent and had she actually cut through then she could have been badly injured. She agreed that they were from the box cutter.

At one time some rather substantial damage was found in the kitchen. Someone, and my ex, like I did, assumed it was this daughter, took a large metal holder and broke a couple of tiles and cabinet fronts in the kitchen.

The list was substantial and went on. Electronics, lap top computers, walls in her sisters bedroom and so on. For me the final straw was a screwdriver blade being stuck through the soft top of my convertible. I was away in London at the time, I came back and there was the damage.

The escalation and methodical, planned nature of the damage was disturbing.

Another part of this that my ex has really spun her own version of events I around the girl going to live with her father for a while. It got to the point where we installed a number of door locks to keep her out of rooms. Again this was first suggested by her, a point she has conveniently left out in the past.

Something else that is rather important, but again was mysteriously forgotten when she was sharing the story with “friends” was that my ex first suggested her daughter go live with her dad, I said no. I did not feel I could work on that relationship if the kid was not with us. It was only after further damage that I agreed.

The next part of this, and again this an important addition to the story, is I had no idea it was to be permanent. The first time I knew that was two days later is when I called my ex and she told me she was just leaving a meeting with the kids new teacher. The moving of school and the permanence of the stay at her fathers had never been discussed with me. The first time I heard it was even on the table was after it had happened.

There are other points that are very, very relevant to the story and omissions that have been spun around this subject. I’ve been accused publicly by one of her friends of abusing her child, yet at no point has she felt the need to contact CPS, even though as someone who holds a teaching license in Washington she a mandatory reporter.

I’ve addressed this before, yet the story keeps on being repeated. Once again I stand by every word I’ve written here.

Seven rules of step parenting

I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently and this is an attempt to distill my thoughts and those sent to me in e-mails and the comments I received on this particular subject.

  • You are not a substitute for the other bio-parent. “You can’t tell me this because you are not my dad” You live in our house and I pay some of your bills, so when you are under this roof, yes I can. I’m an addition to their life, not a substitute.
  • The better the step kids relationship with both their own parents, the better your relationship will be with them. My relationship is made easier by them getting on with both households. Everyone is less stressed and life is so much easier.
  • Perhaps the golden rule, don’t allow the bio-parents to bad mouth each other, even little barb filled comments will confuse and cause the kids to be defensive. Never, ever do this when the kids are around, even the sarcastic tone on the phone will cause loyalty issues and trouble in the house. This I speak from painful, painful experience.
  • Reinforcing time and time again that the current situation is not their fault. They may have preferred it when they were a family, or when it was just them and mum, but life changes and the mum and dad are not getting back together, and it’s not their fault that happened. Getting a stepparent reinforces that mum and dad are not getting back together.
  • Be firm with your boundaries, if you are uncomfortable doing something with the kids, taking them to school every day, supervising when the bio-parent is gone, discipline or what ever it is. If you don’t want to do it talk it out, but when you are uncomfortable let the bio-parent know.
  • Read some of the books on the subject, share concerns and get professional help from a good family therapist in how the household should be set up, house rules and so on.
  • Authority of the stepparent comes through the bio-parent this touches on the other five rules in some way and if there is a golden rule, this is it. Any authority the stepparent has comes from the bio-parent and how they are treated. This can take the form of playing adults off against each other, or one parent referring to the family home as “my house” and not “our house”. Any little hint that the stepparent is seen in a lesser light is a potential OK to treat them the same way.

These are my thoughts mixed with a lot of input from others, I’m still shocked by hte interest and feedback this particular series of posts have generate.. So to Ludmilla, Karol, Elenor, Steven, Jill, Marcus and a few other, thank you for sharing your stories, it helps.

I think there is a book in this experiance somewhere. If anyone else has any comments thoughts or think I’m wrong, feel free to e-mail me at dave (at) davekean.com.