Alex had his annual eye exam last week. The doctor wanted to see me after the exam was finished and my mind immediately went to 'what now' mode. But the optometrist was very excited, Alex's eyesight (with his glasses) had improved to 20/20. Alex has always had really bad eyes, 20/300+ and even with eyeglasses the best he could see was 20/40 in one eye and maybe 20/25 in the other but today he's seeing 20/20 in both eyes. The doctor wanted to know if anything had changed and I told him about the cancer and chemo, etc. The only thing that could account for this rather drastic change is one of his meds. Apparently, there's a local 'round table' for optometrists and our doctor was very excited that he would now have something to share with the other doctors. There is a presidence for chemo drugs being linked to other positive side effects so he will find out if any of the other doctors have heard or read of a connection to the ones Alex was taking.
The second bit of good news about Alex is his blood levels are starting to look normal again. His platelet counts, which have been low since we discovered the cancer took a big jump this last month along with his other red cell counts. All are going back to pre-cancer levels.
Now, those blessings (aka gifts) that give us hope. Ian's librarian from his elementary school found some pictures of Ian from the 5th grade when he was painting the reading teepee that she keeps in the school library. He was so happy, slightly plump and painting away....I'd never seen these before; now they are treasurers.
Through our nephew, Troy, who is an amazing ceramist (and currently teaching in the South of France - slight bragging rights since we're related) has the opportunity to dedicate a brick in a new building on the campus of Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts in Montana. This is a mecca for ceramic artists and when they approached Troy about adding a brick in honor or memory of someone, he thought of Ian. So Ian's name will be inscribed on a brick for their new building.....how cool is that? He never made it to college to study art, but he made it to Archie Bray.
Lastly, yesterday, June 30th, we held our 2nd Art Show for student artists from the Vocational Training Center. It was a huge success, 19 pieces of their work were sold last night (19!), we had around 100 people come by to support them (including some local dignitaries). What most people didn't know was yesterday was also the day, 6 years ago, that we held Ian's Memorial service. So on this day, that we celebrated the short life that he lived, we also celebrated the legacy he left behind....by encouraging and supporting these local artists. I like to think that Ian would tell us we're doing a good job and remembering him just the way he would have wanted. 
