Vince's Journey

Earlier this week (April 20), Julie and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe it's been 24 years - what's harder to believe is how swiftly the years have passed! But it's been a wonderful ride and we've been blessed with many beautiful memories. We really don't put much effort in to actually celebrating the day; Julie played volleyball, I watched Dancing With the Stars and I think lights were out by 10:30 pm. - just another typical day in the Hopkins house. And that's what was so nice about the day. We spent it being who we are. I know in recent years we've 'celebrated' by being at Judd's volleyball match or Aaron's lacrosse game but this year we had nothing going on and I have to admit, I kind of liked that.

I actually remember our wedding day like it was yesterday - it was a beautiful, sunny Cincinnati day with the temperature close to 80 degrees. I spent the night before at a Red Roof Inn with my brothers. We got up and went to breakfast and then I hooked up with Tom (my old college room mate) and his wife Jody (who might as well have been my room mate, as well) who I hadn't seen since we graduated. Tom and Jody actually got married the same day as graduation and I was the best man in their wedding - Tom had accepted a job with Boeing and they had to move to Seattle immediately following the wedding. We went to lunch at Ponderosa Steak House (of all places) and then bowling at Madison Bowl with my dad and brothers - I have no reason why. Ours was an evening wedding so I spent most of the afternoon catching up with Tom and Jody as well as Danno (my other Ohio State room mate) and his first wife, Susan. I was also the best man in their wedding. (Dan has remarried and I was also able to attend his second wedding - his wife, Celina, is very nice and we still keep in touch via e-mail) These guys were great friends but I don't think the three of us have been together since that day. Tom lives in Montana (which we visited in 1997) and Dan is now in South Carolina.

Anyway, our wedding started at 6:30. It was at St. Antoninus Church and at the time, their church was similar to a basement. Quite a few people attended - many from Julie's side who I really didn't know. On my side, it was the typical misfit collection - God love my family but there were people there who I don't think we invited but they came any way. I'm talking about friends of my brothers and sisters - obviously they came as their guests. Throughout the night I was explaining who most of them were. It was kind of strange. But, it was pretty typical of my family so I just rolled with it.

I remember watching Julie walk down the aisle and thinking how the heck did I pull this off? (I'm sure my room mates and friends were thinking the same thing.) Afterall, I had told her when we first started dating that I couldn't drive because I was an epileptic - the truth was I had had my license suspended because I was involved in an accident with no insurance and I was too embarrassed to admit to that. So I lied which led to me getting slapped when she found out the truth. And despite that, she still agreed to marry me. Despite a pathetic proposal (I didn't have a ring), despite an equally pathetic scene when I finally got her a ring, I was hapless. So as I watched my beautiful bride walk down the aisle I couldn't help but think I was the luckiest guy in the world. And I was so taken over by the emotion of that moment that I actually kissed her as soon as she got to the altar. We had a rather long ceremony - probably because I had recently became Catholic and wasn't really familiar with what goes on at a Mass. The highlight for me (besides the vows) was when Danno did, for lack of a better term, a little talk at the end of the ceremony. I had tears in my eyes; it was so perfect because he had remembered a conversation we had one night at Ohio State - just a couple of college kids sitting around thinking about the future - and it tied in perfectly with our wedding. I had actually forgotten the conversation, myself, but Danno said he always hoped he could share it with my wife on my wedding day - if in fact that day ever arrived - and he was able to do it in beautiful fashion.

From the end of the mass to the end of the reception, everything else was kind of a blur. We drove around Western Hills in a convertible, drinking champaign and blowing the car horn. One of my favorite pictures is of Julie and me sitting in the car, huge smiles on our faces - that's my happy moment picture - it never ceases to make me smile. We didn't get to the reception until late and it was such a whirlwind the rest of the night - you try to get around and see everyone but you also want to soak in the entire moment. It was just a wonderful day.

And 24 years later, we're still going strong. And we owe it all to a little Christmas party at the Cork 'n Cleaver restuarant where Julie and I first hooked up. It was her last day working there and had we not talked that night, we may have never seen each other again. And yet, we did. We made a date to see 'Terms of Endearment', I told her she was going to have to drive because I was epileptic and the rest, as they say, is history. The epileptic story has recently resurfaced - our kids know about it, Julie's mom knows about it, people tease me about it but at the end of the day; "By the way, you're going to have to drive because I'm epileptic and can't drive." turned out to be a pretty good pick-up line, didn't it? (Well, actually, not really!)

Thanks to Annonymous, Maureen Brandel and my wonderful wife for letting me know that you do, in fact, continue to read my blog (although you haven't been able to read much the past few months). I'll try my best to post on a more consistent basis. Of course this is the same thing I say in our kids' memory books and then I go to write something new and discover its been 18 months since the last entry - I guess it's the thought that counts.

This Friday marks the third anniversary of my first 'clean' PET scan after being diagnosed with lymphoma - April 17, 2006. Hard to believe it's been that long! It was quite an emotional day and it ended with Jules, me and the Emmings at the St. Bernard Dairy Queen celebrating my great news with a Blizzard. We're heading over to Pittsburgh on Friday for Aaron's lacrosse games so I'll have to make sure I find a Dairy Queen over there to celebrate this wonderful anniversary.

Aaron has made it official - he's going to St. Louis University! We've accepted the FACHEX scholarship and sent in the deposit so it looks like I have another decal to add to the rear window of the RAV-4; OSU, XU, UD, Moeller, MND and now SLU. Any more and I won't be able to see through the rear view mirror. Next up for Aaron? Find a date for the prom; but why hurry - it's only next weekend.

I'm continuing to train for this year's endurance bike ride - I'll be going to Asheville, North Carolina in early June to participate in the Fletcher Flyer which is a 100 mile bike ride to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Last Saturday our training ride was 50 miles and we'll build up to 80 miles by the end of May. Training is going fairly well and this year we have about 25 bikers from our chapter who will be making the trip to NC so we should be able to generate quite a bit of money for the LLS. I don't expect this ride to be nealry as large as the one out in Tahoe but I hear it is a beautiful ride and the society won't have to spend nearly as much to get everyone to NC so more money should go toward finding treatments and cures - that's what it's all about, anyway.

Judd just got back from participating in the college national club volleyball tournament in Kansas City. He said his team didn't play very well but on the plus side he said he had a blast - imagine how much fun he could have had had they played well. I was thinking about Judd's high school volleyball team this morning as I was driving in to work. His senior year was such a wonderful experience; he had tremendous team mates and they played so well together, you couldn't ask for a better way for your son's high school career to end. It was a lot of fun to be a part of. I miss the kids and their parents, it was just a special season. That's why I'm so glad Aaron decided to play lacrosse this year; it's nice to be part of a team, again. His team has been struggling a bit but with a couple wins, they can turn things around and have a wonderful season, as well. All they need is to stay confident and things will fall into place. Maybe this weekend in Pittsburgh will be the turning point!

Thanks again for checking in. I'll post again real soon.

Wow. I can't believe it's been since the Super Bowl since I last updated this blog. I think because I've gone so long between medical updates I just kind of lost interest. Plus, I wasn't exactly sure if anyone continues to read the blog - I guess I felt perhaps everyone else lost interest. But I've recently connected with an old friend who keeps his own blog and he writes on his almost everyday. I'm not sure who, if anyone, reads his but you can count on him having something to say about the episodes that make up his daily life. So I thought I should probably get back at it - if no one reads, no big deal; at least I'll know I've thrown something out there if some one does want to read.

I did have a check-up with Dr. Leming last week. It went pretty well but he did tell me that my recent CT scans indicated that I have one lymp node that has actually grown by appx. 6 millimeters; obviously not what I was hoping to hear. Dr. Leming told me not to get freaked out about it, he said its basically the nature of the disease. He said I'm fine, healthy and that we'll just keep an eye on that particular node. He said he'd see me in 6 months and sent me on my merry way. I look at this recent development like this - I knew from the start that the type of lymphoma I have is very difficult (if not impossible) to get rid of. In fact, I think a better discription than being told the lymphoma was in remission would have probably been to say it's currently dormant. I also know that Rituxin has been very effective in keeping the lymphoma at bay so if I do have a relapse I'm very confident a couple rounds of Rituxin will take care of it. So my approach is to keep on doing what I've been doing, go back in six months and see how everything looks and go from there. I can't worry about what might be, if the doctor doesn't think I need to be worried about the small change in size then I'm not going to worry about it. Look at it this way; 6 millimeters is smaller than the size of my pinky thumbnail. I weigh about 210 pounds. When I was diagnosed I had numerous affected nodes and some were as big as 7 or 8 centementers long - thats about 3 inches. Still, I wasn't having any symptoms of the disease. So why worry about the latest news? Its just someting I have to deal with.

In other developments; it looks like Aaron will soon become a Billikin! He went over and checked out St. Louis University earlier this week and really liked the campus. Julie and I are going to go over with him next week for a final look and if everything goes well, he'll make it official. He is set to have all his tution covered and they offer engineering which is what he wants to study. He currently has a severe case of senior-itis and all we want to do is get this decision behind him and make sure he gets to graduation with no problems. He basically is in cruise control mode and doesn't see any need to apply himself any further (not that Aaron ever did push himself very hard in the first place). He's also playing lacrosse for Moeller and the team is off to a shaky start - they're 1-5 with 3 of the losses coming in overtime. Hopefully they'll turn things around after the spring break.

Judd is currently on ihs way to Kansas City to play in the university club volleyball tournament. He's having a great time playing this year and next year he's been selected to be an RA at UD. Hard to believe he's almost halfway through his college years.

Abbey is doing great at MND. She's set to be a lifeguard at The Beach this summer (providing she can pass the test) and will have to get herself outside to get ready for the upcoming field hockey season.

I'll try to do updates more frequently. Here's hoping everything is great with you and your families.