Deborah Horwitz and Paul Nierman Choosing Life - Simcha/Celebration: Our 46th wedding anniversary August 24, 2020 Hiking and exploring new places, and dinner at our favorite, Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook. On March 11th at a routine medical appointment, our oncologist ordered us to begin our quarantine immediately, with instructions limiting the places we could go: 1)out for a walk, 2)to our boat, 3)to the medical center for labs, appointments and infusions. Since then we've lived day by day by taking care of our usual chores; walking, yoga and stretching; cooking with fresh produce from the outdoor farmers market; listening to music; reading; watching plays and concerts on the internet and WTTW; participating in NSCI Talmud and Mindfulness Zoom classes; calling friends (especially single and elderly friends who are especially lonely); and completing projects (e.g. organizing our records and end-of-life instructions and making our burial arrangements to ease the responsibilities for our sons and families). As our 46th wedding anniversary approached, we tried to think of some way to celebrate someplace outdoors without staying overnight. Result: we spent one long day exploring the trails through woods, savannahs and along the Fox River marina and launching ramps at the Chain O'Lakes State Park and then hiking the fabulous McHenry County Glacial Park & Conservancy, up steep hills and through forests, around swamps and bogs, stopping to view distant fields, rolling hills and winding streams with kayakers. A downpour ended our last hike so we started for home -- and right on the way we stopped for a wonderful and relaxing (and Covid19-safe) dinner at Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook. We stayed home for the night, and the next morning got up and drove west to Geneva, IL, much farther south from the previous day's exploration. Despite the extreme heat, we walked along the now much wider Fox River and explored the charming downtown, and enjoyed another lovely meal on the patio of the riverfront Herrington Inn and relaxed in their cool, high-ceiling lobby and bar. Back home that night, we both felt good that we'd talked a lot about our parents; our children and two grandchildren, our life experiences, road trips, overcoming the problems that everyone must deal with. We felt we'd been away on a vacation. A perfect gift to each other.
