Family, Friends, Flexibility and Fun

So there are many sayings to cover those times when plans don’t quite go as planned:

• If life gives you lemons, make lemonade
• Silver linings on the clouds
• One can’t make an omelet without breaking the eggs etc.

And there are also many exhorting us as to how to find the good amongst the bad.

I recently came across John Wooden’s « Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. » (Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnwooden120997.html - fdzrdllXUBo1PvF5.99)

Yesterday was the proof of the validity of that sentence.

Originally my housemate and I had scheduled one of our quarterly “adventures”. Day cards on the train were bought, the Airbnb booked for two nights in Lucerne, Switzerland where we intended relaxing and making a trip to one of our favorite Swiss artist’s museum – the Hans Erni museum at the Verkehrshaus, Luzern.

Then came the bad mammo, the biopsy showing cancer and the PET scan showing other hot spots. Gall bladder removal as well as a snip in the intestine showed those hot spots to be simple inflammations – yeah! However, there was the breast cancer still to be treated.

A mastectomy had been scheduled for July 17^th. . That however became gall bladder removal on the 17^th with a re-schedule for July 28^th.  We figured, based upon my experience in 2013 that although she wouldn’t be up to the two-night trip, we could still do a day trip and have lunch somewhere.

Meanwhile my cousin arrived the 28^th and had intended leaving the 30^th, until the friends with whom she had planned going to Interlaken left things a bit late and changed the destination to Paris instead. She was not interested so stayed on for the weekend.

I had planned on joining her in Zurich after my trip to Lucerne.

So first switch – sell the return day card that had been intended for my housemate to another friend needing to go to Basel. That left me still with an extra one for the 3^rd. As my housemate didn’t finally leave the hospital until the 2^nd she suggested that I do something with my cousin. It was just a hop, skip and a jump in the thought process to decide that said cousin could go one day early to Zurich thus eliminating the need to pay for an expensive train ticket the 4^th and I’d use my own and accompany her part of the way – having lunch in Bern. (Convoluted I know, but I hope you have been able to follow)

What a fun day it turned out to be: weather was perfect, the scenery at its best and my cousin treated me to lunch on the outside terrace of the “Casino” overlooking the Aare River.

National Capital - Federal Building in Bern

National Capital - Federal Building in Bern

The Bern "Münster" - the tallest church in Switzerland, overlooking the Aare River

Funnily enough my cousin had just been to this cellar (Little James Basket)

We had the delicious Viognier

My salad

Iced Coffee to die for - but we survived

Looking over Bern towards the Eiger, Jungfraujoch etc.

 

Even coffee on the train on the way home was from a proper machine!

The view of the Mont Blanc coming along the lake

Just another example of how one can truly turn something that at the beginning seems a disaster into something fun. My housemate also got the bonus of having the house to herself (o.k. her husband was also pretty happy to finally get her alone and out of a medical situation).

It’s what we call a “win, win, win”.

And, for me, a wonderful - if totally different from planned - birthday.