11.3.2008 | 2:41 pm
Earlier today I posted that Twin Six was being really thoughtful by passing along all the profits for the XL-and-larger Fat Cyclist jerseys on to me to help defray hospital and ambulance costs.
Well, it turns out I was mistaken.
They are much, much, more thoughtful than I expected.
What they’re actually doing is, this week, sending Susan and me 50% of the purchase price ($35 per jersey) for any Twin Six jersey sold in Men’s XL-and-larger and Women’s L-and-larger.
I called and verified, because I simply cannot believe it, but it’s true. This week, every Twin Six Clydesdale and Athena jersey is a Fat Cyclist jersey.
Brent and Ryan are the coolest.
PS: Be sure to check out the Twin Six home page. I admit, it choked me up.
Comments (65)
11.3.2008 | 1:28 pm
Right now, I expect pretty much everyone who comes to this blog is first and foremost interested in how Susan is doing. Well, I’m happy to be able to say there’s good news. Susan’s been back to herself since late Thursday — more than three days ago, now.
She’s also very weak and tired now, though. She’s unable to use the walker at all anymore, and sleeps about 16 hours per day.
She worries a lot about needing so much help from me right now. I have a simple and effective response: “If the tables were turned, would you resent having to help me this way?”
And of course she wouldn’t.
The real surprise, for me, is how much I enjoy taking care of Susan. I’m still very clumsy and slow at a lot of stuff, but I’m improving. It gives me lots of time to be with Susan, and it feels good to be needed.
I even feel like maybe I’m becoming a less selfish person because of this. And my kids have seemed to intuit what mom needs. Brice reads to her, Nigel’s typing Susan’s handwritten chapters for her novel, and the twins climb up on Susan’s bed and talk with her.
I’ve got a remarkable family.
A Whole Bunch of Cool Fat Cyclist Stuff Now Available
Long before Susan’s cancer got to this point, the guys at Twin Six and I started talking about making some other cool cycling gear to go with their awesome 2009 Fat Cyclist jersey design.
And now a lot of it’s arrived. I think you’re going to like it. Let’s take a look.
The 2009 Fat Cyclist Jersey
Originally, this jersey was only available by pre-order, but we went ahead and got a few extras. This jersey is available in both mens‘ and womens‘ sizing.
These are in stock now, so you can easily get them by Christmas as long as you order in time. However, there aren’t a lot of these in any given size, so I’d recommend against waiting.
By the way, the Twin Six guys are doing something very cool with this jersey: for the XL sizes on up, they’re turning all the profit over to me. To help defray ambulance costs, you know?I misunderstood; the Twin Six guys are being even more generous than I thought. See this post for details.
The Twin Six guys are cool.
Pre-Order: The WOOL Long-Sleeve 2009 Fat Cyclist Jersey — Limited Edition
If you’re planning to do some serious late-Autumn to early-Spring riding, you might want to take a look at this: The Fat Cyclist Wool Jersey. It’s 100% Merino wool with three pockets in the back, and we’re only making 100 of them. And one of them’s mine.
Pre-order is this week only and ends November 10 at 10:00am CST.
Bib Shorts and Womens’ Shorts
Want some bib shorts (for the guys) or shorts (for the women) that go perfectly with your Fat Cyclist jersey?
I do.
These are 8 panel shorts with a super soft, completely seamless and fully perforated chamois. I am told that bib shorts make me look ten pounds lighter, and so always wear bib shorts, even when I am not riding a bike.
Arm Warmers
Is there a piece of cycling clothing more practical and portable than arm warmers?
The answer is: “No, there is not.”
And now your nice, practical arm warmers will look sassy, too.
When people see you in full Fat Cyclist kit like this, they will think you are a pro cyclist, no matter how slow you ride.
Comments (51)
10.31.2008 | 9:48 am
It’s been a draining week. Let’s finish with something good. The twins’ Halloween costumes.
Katie’s a princess.
Yes, a 7-year-old girl being a princess for Halloween. Unbelievable.
Carrie’s a sorceress.
Note that she is not a witch. I am not clear on the distinction, but she is emphatic.
Happy Halloween!
Comments (88)
10.30.2008 | 7:45 am
Susan’s good stretch lasted maybe 20 hours. In hindsight, maybe it was foolish of me to hope that it would last much longer than that. In fact, I had hoped that she’d be OK for weeks, or at least a few days.
So I couldn’t sleep last night.
Instead, I laid beside Susan as she pressed her hand to my chest to stop the flow of blood from the knife wound she was certain she had just given me.
There was more. All of it horrible.
Around 2:00am, I gave her more drugs, hoping they would help her sleep. They did not.
As the night wore on, I tried new tactics.
I stopped responding directly to what she said, instead telling her what I wanted her to know. This didn’t work; for the first time since we’ve been married (yes, really), Susan started shouting at me.
Eventually, I stopped responding at all, figuring that nothing I said made any difference, so maybe saying nothing would be an improvement.
Around 5:00am, Susan went to sleep. But by then I was — am — too frazzled to settle down.
Through the night, I kept thinking: cancer isn’t just bad-as-in-unfortunate. Cancer is evil. It took my wife’s breast, then her health, then her hip, then her energy, then her dexterity — all things she cared about.
But Susan stayed tough and positive through all of that.
And so now it’s taken her mind and her ability to enjoy being with her family.
Right now, to me, cancer seems both insulting and malicious.
I hate it.
Comments (290)
10.29.2008 | 10:01 am
By the end of Monday, I didn’t really think I’d ever get a chance to talk with Susan — my real Susan — again. And that, more than any of the other fifty things that have me messed up, left me on the verge of panic.
And then, yesterday afternoon, Susan became herself again. It sounds odd, maybe, but others noted it too: you could tell even before talking to her. Just looking at her eyes was enough.
And so she and I (with the help of my Mom, who is doing a wonderful job of taking care of us) went about having an ordinary day: helping the kids with homework, planning Halloween costumes, going on a walk in what must be the best Fall weather the world has ever had.
Until yesterday, I really had no idea how wonderful an ordinary day is. But as I watched Susan help one of the twins with her reading homework, I thought to myself that I would rather be right there than on a trip to Hawaii or Italy or anywhere.
Then, after the kids went to bed, I talked with Susan about our hospice nurse and how we’re focusing our efforts right now on helping her keep her mental clarity — though I really had no idea we’d have such great success.
It was such a relief to have the conversation with Susan, to have her be a full partner in this, instead of it being a decision I was having to make mostly on my own and imposing on her. Now I can feel right about it.
More important than the talk about our shift in focus — from fighting the cancer in her body to fighting the symptoms coming from the cancer in her brain — I got an opportunity I expect billions and billions of people have wished for: Having thought I had missed my last opportunity to tell Susan all the things I want to, I suddenly had a new opportunity drop into my lap.
A second chance.
And you can bet I did not pass it up.
Susan’s still herself today. She got up with me and helped get the kids ready for school, just like any ordinary day.
But ordinary now feels so amazingly extraordinary.
Now, I don’t consider this a “call to action” blog (though, honestly, could fatcyclist.com now be any further from its original purpose of being a cycling lifestyle / comedy / weight-loss blog?).
But I’m going to make an exception today. I’m going to tell you to put yourself in my shoes.
Think for a moment about the person you care most about. Now think about what you’d wish you could have said if that person were taken away from you. Now think about how glad you would be if you were given a second chance to say those things.
And then go say them.
Comments (190)
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