One year ago today I wrote my first blog post.
This is the photo that accompanied it.
This is that sweet girl several months later, doing her own laundry.
This was taken at Christmas, 2011.
Like Baby Z, my blog has grown over the past year, thanks to YOU. Your posts and comments have inspired and encouraged me; I look forward to another year with you, celebrating life.
As the years go by and family politics often get in the way of your plans there is always on constant. Those Christmas songs that touch your heart in a special way. It’s been a tough year in many ways and I just wanted to see my mom at Christmas but she decided to go be with my sister in Chicago. We were invited to drive from Nashville to Chicago to join them. That wasn’t going to happen. The “kicker” was my 10 years old niece was tired of not being at home at Christmas. So my sister caved in to a 10-year-old. When you allow children to make adult decisions these things happen. My mother is into her 70′s. This could be her last Christmas. So we are going to be with my step-daughter and her family. One of the good things about that is that I get to give her a bunch of stuff I don’t want.
So enjoy your favorite songs for they may be the only things you have to hold on to.
There has been some rain in Music City USA today and that hasn’t been a bad thing. We have had some pretty warm weather for this time of year. This is my 17th Christmas in Dixie. Its different from living in the Gateway to the West. Winters up there can get really cold and snowy. There is a part of me that misses that and there is a yearning to return home. However as we grow older we realize that there are circumstances that are beyond our control. That is the case this year. The really tough part is my mother is past 70 now and you begin to think of how many more she will have. As with life itself nobody knows for sure when their time will come. I find it funny that people try and project the future. I have enough problems recalling what happened 2 hours ago let alone what is going to happen somewhere down the road. So it will be another Christmas in Dixie. Not the worst thing on earth.
Its been over a year now since the battle with my health started. In some ways there has been major progress. In other ways we have hardly moved an inch. That begs this question? Isn’t that how life goes? You make progress on some things while something else never seems to be going anywhere. There does come a point where you are thankful for the first and stay frustrated over the second. The hard part is taking the second part and just realizing it very well may never change. Especially in our culture today in which we want instant results. Some of the finest medical people in this city have looked at my shoulder and they are stumped. We have started some pain management to see if that gives me some relief. The next logical step would be narcotics and that simply will not happen. I will live with the shoulder the way it is before we go down that road. That is just a non-starter for me. At some point you do need to take back some control and say enough is enough.
Contrary to popular belief I am still on this side of the sod. There are days I wish I wasn’t but that’s another story for another time. The shoulder is no better than it was last spring. We have no idea why. Maybe using that chainsaw wasn’t such a bad idea after all? Then again there may be an issue with the insurance company fussing about paying for such a radical step!
Somewhere through all the surgeries and stuff I changed and with that it does bring uncertainty. In ways I’m less tolerant of nonsense or maybe that is just getting old. For those of you that have not followed the story its a long and storied one. One of the things that got lost was me taking the time to write. It just did. Along with that something much more important got lost. That is my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. One would think that after what I have been through that would not be the case but it is. I had breakfeast a few weeks ago with a Pastor friend trying to find the answers. I’ll just keep plugging away and maybe the answers will come.
I heard on the news this morning that most people buy online things that include free shipping. Which of course is stupid. These companies are simply adding the cost of shipping into their cost. Part of that is because its easier for them. Trying to figure out rates is nothing but a headache. I know for me its easier to do it like that. Trying to figure out the postage to Alaska from Tennessee is a nightmare. My advice is try and use as many flat rate boxes as possible. Even then it can be a tricky situation.
