New England in the Fall

Our plan was to travel to New England to take in the fall sights and to visit family, Mr. G's sister in Massachusetts and then on to NH to check in on my Dad for a few days. On the drive up north, the foliage didn't disappoint. My sister had warned me ahead of time that Dad was getting weaker since he'd returned home from rehab a few weeks ago; and yet, even with that in mind, nothing prepared me for how much physical decline had occurred since I saw him last, six weeks earlier. It quickly became apparent that he needed to be seen by his doctor ASAP; getting up and walking was out of the question, he was unable to move at all without acute pain! Last Monday, through a series of stops where he was unable to get any accurate diagnosis whatsoever, it was ultimately determined that he needed to be transported to a larger, more comprehensive hospital via ambulance. Once there he was seen in the Emergency Department where a broken and displaced right hip was revealed through a CT scan! It was the final piece in a weeks'-long puzzle being dropped into place that ultimately completed the picture. The sad truth of the matter is that the fracture had occurred back on the 12th of September, it is barely detectable on an x-ray done at that time and was overlooked. Now, with new information, he became a patient of the Orthopedic Team and hip surgery was scheduled and performed right away. 

He had a partial hip replacement late last Wednesday afternoon and came through with flying colors! He was carried by his own resiliency as well as a raft of prayers!

Here he is, the morning after getting his new hip. He's on the mend and back in rehab as he heals, gets stronger and back on his feet once again. He's been through a LOT, and, at 97 years young, it's going to take time.  

Here he is, on his birthday back in April of this year. I'm eager to see that smile return to his face. The sights that I'd hoped to see up in New England this fall weren't quite what I had hoped for, but, I must say, those two thumbs-up following surgery last week might just be one of the best sights I've seen!

Back home in North Carolina again, yesterday afternoon was an especially GOLDEN one.

Life is Good!

On A Break

You might have thought that I've been on a break. Well, let me tell you, it's not been an intentional one (however break may just be the operative word here). I've got lots to write about and plenty to catch up on; that will all happen soon enough. But, in the meantime, I've been sidelined with a cracked distal radius bone. Yep, that's me and, of course, it's my right wrist. Sigh. Every event like this has a story behind it, I wish mine was more exciting. I weeded the perennial garden on Saturday, every square inch. It looked beautiful. I stepped back to admire my hard work and noticed that the bird bath needed a good spraying off with the hose, the base was splattered with mud from the last heavy rain and the basin needed refilling. Easy peasy. I walked a few yards to the spigot, unrolled the hose and headed, lickity split, toward the bird bath. Unbeknownst to me, the hose had snagged on a branch of shrubbery located behind me pulling me to an abrupt stop. Well, as you know from Newton's 1st Law of Motion: objects in motion (me) stay in motion at constant velocity, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force (the branch); I tripped over the hose that I was carrying when I was suddenly jerked backwards and came to a crashing halt (left knee, extended right hand) onto the brick walkway. Ouch! My knee hurt but it became immediately clear that my wrist got the worst of it. Icing and pain relievers helped, marginally, but by Sunday morning it became apparent that X-rays were going to be needed. The rest is history now. I've progressed from a splint to a cast yesterday when follow up from Urgent Care occurred with Orthopedic Specialists. Four weeks now of figuring out what I can and can't do. Hmm. I've already learned that I can do a LOT more with my left hand than I ever imagined. Time flies and these next twenty-eight days will too. Because I know it could have been a lot worse I'm counting my blessings big time; that and catching up on those quiet, mundane tasks that I'd set aside for "someday". In the kindest showings of Christian love our freezer has been filled with dinners for at least a week to come, another generous stranger came yesterday and brought our trash can in from the street to its resting place behind the garage and carried our mail to the front steps. There's oh-so much to be thankful for; believe me when I say that I most certainly am, it's all good! 

    Life is Good!

Surprises Along Life's Way...

We're most comfortable with what we've come to expect. A little surprise along the way adds excitement to our every day lives but it seldom causes us to stop and reexamine the direction of our path. I had to do just that the other day when I ran across something totally UN-expected! Life is an adventure; embracing and accepting something we never expected only adds to the richness of the journey. My Mom and I were talking about someone that we knew from my hometown fifty years ago. At this time, while home from college for the summer, I had taken a weekend job at the Police Station as an emergency dispatch operator. (I'll bet this former job of mine is unexpected to those reading this right now!😉) Anyway, we remembered a wonderful police officer who would run by the local ice cream stand on slow days, while he was on patrol, and bring me chocolate chip cones purely out of the kindness of his heart. We wondered whatever had happened to him. I did a little Internet research and learned that he had a exceptionally varied career path throughout his lifetime! Expect the unexpected: apart from serving as a police officer he'd been a quality engineer for Lockheed Aircraft, a Civil Defense Director, a pipe fitter on the Alaska Pipeline, an elected Town Selectman and a published author of five books! Sadly, I also learned that he had passed away three years ago. I ordered one of his books, I felt that was a tiny bit of repayment for those long ago ice cream cones that he had generously treated me to. Oh, you might wonder what the title of his book is that I'm currently reading: The Unexpected Patriot! Don't you just love it when something you never saw coming catches you up short and brings a happy smile?

Yep, life's and adventure; expect the unexpected

and remember... 

Life is Good!

Accepting the Unexpected

I'm a planner. I don't like surprises; my ideal day skips right along from one scheduled and anticipated event to the next. Yesterday wasn't that ideal for me. It all started out okay... but then, when I plunged my hand into the freezer to remove what I needed for our dinner (pre-planned and on the calendar, of course!) something wasn't quite right; there was no icy blast of air, no rock-hard piles of carefully wrapped steaks, chops and fish... in fact, I was greeted by the exact opposite. Warm air, not good; thawed meats and prepared-ahead casseroles, they weren't even slightly cold... the contents were a complete loss. This refrigerator-freezer is probably 25 years old, it has served us well as a kitchen back-up; in all honesty, it is used almost as much as our primary one. It was dead. I had not planned on this.

In the mid-afternoon we lost our power. It was back on within an hour later; I have no idea what happened, but the day's plan was eroding... and fast. What next?

Now, imagine if you lived without weather forecasts (in a cave?); you would just wake up in the morning and deal with whatever the weather gods have in mind for you that day. Welcome to my world; this is what we awakened to today... surprise! I don't like surprises. I need to work on my flexibility.


I imagined that Mr. Goodneedle and I would shop for a new refrigerator-freezer to replace the one we've lost, I was looking at the planner to schedule a time to leave with one eye on the now snowy roads... perhaps we'd have to wait. He had another idea altogether... he thinks he can fix it! Oh. I hadn't planned on that. I should have... what was I thinking? After a string of suprises it's comforting to recognize that this handy husband will most definitely take the time to try and fix what's wrong before we hastily schedule any appliance shopping trip; that's a behavior I can always plan on. I had almost taken leave of my senses; reacting to too many surprises all at once, I can't be held accountable. He's got the back off of it now and a volt-ohm meter in his hand, all is right with the world...

almost!

...There was that light and fluffy, smooth loaf of bread I expected to remove 

from the breadmaker to serve with our spaghetti and salad this evening... 

 I'm going to go do some stretches... I'll jot that down on my calendar!

Life is Good!