If you’ve read my Raisin’ Cane page, then you know I was introduced to Russ by my BFF Crystal. I belonged to a dating website (that could be a hilarious blog all by itself!!) and they were having a mixer night at a local bar. Not wanting to go by myself, I asked Crystal to go with me. She had my back, no matter what, so off we went, with an “Oh, by the way I invited my single friend Russ too. I hope that’s OK?” Poor guy, we hardly talked to him all night. Crystal and I had a blast and didn’t meet a single…single guy! But Russ did ask Crystal for my phone number. We talked on the phone several times and ended up going out a couple of weeks later and well, that was 8 years ago and we’re like an old married couple now! We have nothing in common! We don’t like the same music. We don’t like the same foods. We don’t like the same types of movies or books. We don’t even like the same type of animals! We don’t like the same sports although I did manage to turn him into a Blues Hockey fan!! Opposites attract! The one thing we both love is the mountains and Colorado. And going through caves and antique stores. I guess that’s more than one! And we discovered we both love hiking. Russ had back surgery a little over a year ago and he has a lot of numbness in his right thigh still and has a bad right hip, the result of a horrible auto accident many years ago. So he also has some difficulty and is a little slow hiking…we make a great pair!

And just this past Friday, after a trip to urgent care to see what the pain and swelling in his hand were all about, Russ found out he has a Ganglion Cyst in his palm going into to his middle finger. Now he has to find a hand specialist to see where he goes from here. Our last hike he had a hard time using the trekking pole with his left hand. He just started using trekking poles recently and decided they’re pretty handy things to have when the terrain is steep or rough, even if your hand is hurting.