Life Lesson

The shell must break before the bird can fly.
~Tennyson

Beautiful Imagery

(left) Gail visiting CO for Larry. Basking in the sunshine atop Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, CO.

Cloud formations in Golden, our first night home from the hospital.

Larry Recovering from Heart Surgery

My apologies for not updating our blog sooner. It's always hard when to know whether you should share a subject like this or not. I'm sorry if I have failed to communicate to everyone the situation that has taken place within the last month. But as you can imagine, it's been a crazy, and almost surreal these past four weeks. ~ Rebecca


In early June, Larry suffered from a heart attack while on our drive home from Boulder, after playing racquetball with his friend John. Luckily, we were still in Boulder when it happened and a good Samaritan Dr stopped when I screamed for help. He gave Larry CPR and had a pulse for the paramedics to shock him. We were only a good 5 minutes from Boulder Community Hospital where he was taken, thank God! This story is filled with miracles from God!!!

The doctors at the hospital acted quickly and gave him four stents in his left ventricle in order to remove the plaque build up in his major arteries, providing larger amounts of oxygen and blood flow to his body. His recovery was a bit more difficult from the normal patient receiving stents, as he was admitted as a trauma patient. He got out of ICU after four days and moved to Telemetry, step down. His breathing progress was improved and he had a new found energy than he's ever felt.

Larry was scheduled to have a defibrillator placed in his chest to save him from ventricular fibrillation going forward; but the morning of surgery he had another heart attack. Luckily, he was already in the hospital and the doctors were able to record this attack on EKG. The doctors acted quickly, giving him a fifth stent. After further review of his heart functions in the Cath Lab, the doctors recommended bypass surgery.
On June 14 Larry survived sextuple bypass surgery. It was a long and tedious process, but he's guaranteed a better, healthier, and longer life now.
A week later, Larry received a defibrillator to prevent V-fib from impacting his daily life. Larry was released from Boulder Community Hospital the next day, Saturday, June 22. He was delighted to be out of the hospital and rejoiced to feel the fresh air and summer breeze on his face. As you can imagine, Larry has a new perspective on life.

Larry's family has a history of heart disease, and Larry and I knew that eventually this would catch up with us sooner or later. We just didn't realize it would this soon. Larry has always thought of himself as healthy and active. So don't be deceived if you feel similarly. You never know what you may encounter until you see a doctor and take a stress test and heart scan.

I want to thank all our friends, both near and far, for their support, prayers, and thoughtfulness during this strenuous time. We couldn't do life without you!!!

Life Lesson

There are two ways to live your life. One as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
~Albert Einstein

Back into the swing of things

We've been back in the Denver metro area now for 4 weeks! Our roommates have been perfect hosts during our stay in their home. Life just seems to be in limbo and a bit stressful. Which isn't a surprise to either of us. We're trying to find our routine to daily life; which can be difficult without a job or familiar work on repetitive basis.

Larry begins teaching this evening. He'll be teaching Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings until the end of August. He looks forward to continue contract work with local engineering and architecture firms and has some news clients entering the mix.

Rebecca has made great strides looking for her next career. She's joined a career networking group that meets every Friday, has attended a job fair, and has had two interviews within the last week (one in Boulder, the other in Denver). as always, Rebecca isn't one to just sit back and relax, she's also volunteering for church. She's constantly networking with new people and building her career pipeline. The Denver market has improved over the years and the job search looks promising thus far.

We are delighted to see our old friends again! And soon we'll be saying "Bon Voyage!" to two dear friend making the plunge and relocating to Switzerland at the end of June. We've also made a few new friends.
It's hard to believe that we left the mecca of micro brew to return to Boulder where a friend of ours has begun his own brew. Jon has released a Scottish Ale and a Raspberry Wheat so far. Both magnificent! We look forward to the other brews he has scheduled in upcoming months.
Our roommates, Brian and Diane, have been wonderful to us. Their home in Golden has been our home these past few weeks and it's perfect. We get great views of the foothills and the great colors Colorado has to offer this year with all the moisture they've had. We're all avid hockey fans, so we'll be tuned in for the Stanley Cup playoffs. We had a BBQ at the house with 20 guests last weekend. Brian prepared a tasty Pork Shoulder (like pulled pork when done) and great burgers. I must admit, his desserts were my favorite... a Blondie brownie and this gooey bar with butterscotch and chocolate chips. YUMMY!

Life Lesson

If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.
~ Virginia Woolf

Life Lesson

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
~ Marcus Aurelius

Back in Denver

We arrived in Denver, CO on Wednesday, May 2. There was snow at Vail Pass and we stopped to visit a friend's store on the way into the city.
We've had the opportunity to revisit with most of friends over the weekend. We're happy to be "home" and tired of eating out. But our reconnection with our dear friends has been a gratifying experience. Thank you to all of our friends who have stayed in touch and helped us feel right at home on our arrival!

Hot in Arches

Our trip back to Colorado had us stop in Arches National Park in Moab, UT. We had 80 degree weather and sunshine both days we in the park. Our hike to Delicate Arch was fabulous, with an early start in the morning hoping to miss the heat. We started out with a long climb over the red Navajo Sandstone to reach our destination. It was steep and hot.
When we arrived at the vista of Delicate Arch, a fresh breeze captured our attention. It was delightful! We explored around the rim that has been weathered over the years and took in the landscape. We took many photos, too be posted soon. As other tourist lingered at the Arch we decided to make our back and refresh ourselves by our vehicles air conditioning.

We made another hike to Landscape Arch located in the northeast section of the park. It too was hot with the occasional breeze. We met many friendly visitors in the park on the trail, which was a pleasant surprise coming from Bend.

Though we covered ourselves in sunscreen for protection from the heated sun, we found we were not prepared as we thought. Rebecca burned her calves and Larry had crispy red ears. Next time, we'll bring hats and load up on the sunscreen.

Moving Back to Denver, CO

We're happy to report to those friends in Colorado, that we will be back in the Denver area next week! We're sad to say goodbye to Bend, OR, to new friends, my brother and sister-in-law, and Gail and Billy in Whidbey Island. Central Oregon was a great place to spread our wings as newlyweds! We will always hold Bend dear to our hearts!

For those of you who wish to remain in contact with us, you can still reach us on our Colorado cell phones. There's always our blog, and our personal emails are as follows:
rebecca.zent@gmail.com and ldzent@gmail.com

We packed our truck this afternoon and are living in an empty house. We will depart Bend early Sunday, April 29 and plan to stay in Ogden, UT the first night. We will detour to Moab, UT and spend two days in Arches National Park for some Rest and Relaxation. Moving to Bend has allowed us to see two National Parks that I doubt we would have traveled to earlier. This is Larry's first time to Arches as were the Tetons last summer. What a great adventure!
Rebecca will be delighted to return to the Park as well, as her memory of the National Park system holds a dear place with her. Natural scenes will be great to see again and there will be many photos to post to the blog!

A New View - Retro Chicago

Chicago at Dusk from Above

Walk Through Chicago

Life Lesson

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Whidbey Island- Gail's Birthday Weekend

Mt Hood in fog and clouds at sunset on the drive on scenic byway Highway 97 -

It's a fun drive with curvy roads and not that much traffic. The views are incredible as the dusk lighting plays on the landscape!

While visiting Langley (a small tourist town on the south part of Whidbey Island) it began to rain lightly. We encountered this rainbow on our walk to see the shops after purchasing fabric at Quilts by the Sea. Gail found some wonderful, lively, oriental fabric to make herself a purse. She's so creative!

Langley plans to have Mystery Weekend, February 23-25, "Death By Chocolate". Apparently, you go store to store collecting clues, and you gather in town later that day to solve the mystery. Note-the town writes the mystery.

There's a chocolate flower farm outside of town that creates all sorts of products from candles, chapstick, to soaps from these plants. It's amazing what you learn by exploring a small town...

Last weekend was Gail's 23rd Birthday. We drove to Whidbey Island on Friday, Feb. 9 and returned to Bend on Monday, Feb. 12. It was great to see her again and celebrate her Birthday! Billy, her husband, has been on detachment since early December, so celebrating with family made her day.

Larry always painted Gail's fingernails and toenails since she was a little girl. It was a treat to have him do it again.

(Kit, her American Eskimo, is in the background)

Deception Pass is north of Oak Harbor by ten minutes and is on the way to Anacortes, the main land. This is the only section of Whidbey Island that connects, via bridge, to the main land.

The waters of Deception Pass are know to have strong currents, so it's always fun to watch boats pass underneath these large bridges.

Life Lessons

Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can.
~ Danny Kay

Life Lesson

If friendship is firmly established between two hearts, they do not need to exchange news.
~ Sa'ib of Tabriz

Thank you to all our friends in Colorado who've made our friendships conquer the distance.

Life Lesson

In the end, these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you love?
How deeply did you learn to let go?

~ the Buddha

Friendships across the miles

Landscapes from Denver, CO