Lovely Times || Cheese + Chocolate Party

At Dan’s last platinum chemo treatment day, February 21st, we joked with our friend Patrick that we should have a “Cheese and Chocolate Party” in six weeks to celebrate the supposed return of Dan’s taste buds. We origicnally christened it the “5 C party,” the C’s to stand for Carlton Crest Cheese and Chocolate Celebration. We were a little dramatic about it, possibly due to a post-Lardo sandwich blood sugar drop, or we are all just super nerdy. Patrick set up the date on the Google calendar and sent us reminders. My face flushed with excitement. (I will later explain to Raine that it is that quarter slice of French heritage that gives me desire to have a fête, no matter the reason.) And because I am also addicted to design, I was already imagining the cool invitations I would send out.

It felt good to be looking forward toward the positives. Of course, my time to devote to planning a party and making invitations was non-existent. We almost cancelled it altogether, and then decided to reschedule and I sent out a frantic text message the weekend of April 18th to invite Dan’s co-workers, who I also begged to help plant our garden. Dan had been too sick to get his garden going during the start of our early spring. And I know absolutely nothing about plant things.

In the end, Dan had some taste buds back and a swarm of co-workers and friends arrived (in addition to our friends who were visiting from Illinois) to save the day and celebrate. It was quite special with hard work, warm laughter, delicious food & drink, and beautiful sunshine. C’est parfait pour moi.