Today, November 14, marked one month since my MitraclipTM procedure. I was quite shocked when I realized it. To tell the truth, I thought it had been much longer. It seemed like at least three months that I’ve been recovering and trying to manage things, riding the sadness train. I had expected to be up where I started activity wise[…]
On Flowers for Jean (and the rest of us)…
Charles and I were pallbearers at a funeral today. Our good friend, Todd (one half of the couple that introduced us), buried his mother today. He was her pride and joy. He was a good son to her. But Jean was more than just Todd’s mother. She was special to many people. She was special to me, too. After my[…]
On Giving in to Darkness…
First of all, let me apologize to everyone in my life with chronic illness. I have people in my life with RA, MS, heart conditions, diabetes. If being in heart failure and having bad valves has taught me anything it is that being “chronically ill” isn’t a choice. Who would choose this? Sure, how one deals with it is a[…]
On The Porch (To Sit or Not to Sit)…
I didn’t insist on the porch to improve the curbside appeal (we have no curbside), I had envisioned a place to relax and observe God’s beautiful work.
On Unicorns and Rainbows…
“It’s not all unicorns and rainbows,” someone says to point out that whatever they are going through isn’t all fun and games and they shouldn’t expect it to be. Whatever it is might be college, a job, or raising kids or just a random Tuesday afternoon. The point being, we have to live in reality and not be all “woo[…]
On My Heart (A Series) … Here We Go Again
A year ago next Tuesday is the anniversary of my open heart surgery to replace my leaking aortic and mitral valves. As it turned out, the surgeon made a (poor) judgment call and decided the mitral was not bad enough to replace. I say this again, not because you may have forgotten that I mentioned it several dozen times in[…]
On Turning 60 Part VI (Getting Angry, Then Getting Over It)…
Charles and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary this week in the Great Smoky Mountains. We rented an AirBNB on a small family farm outside Gatlinburg, where the owner provides farm fresh eggs, goat milk soap and other natural products from her garden and animals. The cute one bedroom cabin was decorated with bears and Dolly Parton themed pillows and[…]
On Saying Goodbye…
Today we said goodbye to the father of a good friend. It was an informal service and, as is proper for a well done graveside service, a light rain fell intermittently – enough to hold an umbrella but not really enough to open it. I didn’t know Mr. Collins very well. We had met a few times. He was very[…]
On Dreams…
The only thing that remains the same is that things change.
On Turning 60 Part V (The Body Snatchers)
Drive by my house on any sunny day, and this is what you will see. The picture above is me looking over my garden, taken secretly (see, without permission) by my little brother. He didn’t bother to honk or give me a heads up so I could smooth my gray frizz or duck behind the compost bin like someone yelled[…]