Blast from the Past

My sister has been busy scanning old family photos. She sent me this one yesterday:

Gosh, I was such a cute kid. What happened? Anyway, that's me, with my grandfather on my Dad's side on what was probably my first motorcycle ride. He passed away when I was 11 or 12, but I still remember being tiny and sitting in his big rocking chair with him. I have that rocker now.

Seems like it's a grandpa's job to give their girls their first rides on the really fun toys. Jack takes Jenna for rides on the tractor every chance he gets, she loves it. I'm sure she's going to adore motorcycles - the child has no fear whatsoever. This is a good thing in many ways, although it is probably a good thing also that her mother knows Miss Clairol really well already, as I'm sure Jenna's fearlessness will be the cause of a multitude of grey hairs for her mother.

My car is now paid off.

The title arrived in the mail today.

You know what this means, don't you?

In one or two weeks, there will some woman on a cell phone following me too closely. She will be late for an appointment. She will not notice that I have slowed down, for whatever reason I have slowed down. She will plow into the back end of my car, and try to make it out to be my fault. It won't work, but still...

This is exactly what happened the last time a car I was driving was paid off. That's how I ended up with the current vehicle. To say that I'm going to be, um, driving on eggshells for the next month or so would be a gross understatement.

Update on Dad - He's a PT Graduate!

Got this from Dad a few days ago:

Good evening all,

And a good evening it is, for I are now a gradjeeate. I gradjeeated from therapy today, attending my 31st session. It was a very bittersweet moment. It is something I have looked forward to, but not really thought about it much. Seems as
though they had taught this old dog all the new tricks he could handle.

I cannot say that I will miss the work, the sweat and the grunts and groans, but I will definitely miss Karen and Nedra, my therapists. They firmly, caringly and gently guided me along, always setting new and higher goals, but letting me work at my pace. They undoubtedly love the work they do and it reflects on how they carry out
their trade. I cannot speak highly enough of them.

My wear time is up to about 9 hours three days a week and 5 to 8 on the other five. Now that I will no longer be going to therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will be
staying at work at least 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Those are the 9 hour days, so I will soon be at 5 nine hour days per week. It looks like I may be going back to work full time soon and those days the wear time will go to 11 hours, at least.

Considering how much wear time I have been getting and the increased walk time, the problem with irritation and rash has decreased considerably. I still occasionally get a little, but not anything like it was a month ago. I am still having spasm problems in my hip, but that should diminish as the muscles get stronger. Conditioning is something I need to work harder at.

It is hard to believe, but six weeks ago I was just beginning to walk with the cane. Now I do it regularly and have not been taking my walker along with me to work as a back up this week. On Tuesday I walked about 1/4 mile at one time during therapy. It is very good to walk into a Lowes or a Wal-Mart and shop around a bit without using a wheel chair or walker. If I will be there for any length of time, I will use a cart if available. Stamina is still not a long suite, but it is improving.

The progress curve has taken a steep climb in the past few weeks, but there is still a long way to go. I guess I know pretty much what to do, now I have to learn to do a
whole lot more of it.

Thank you all for all your care and support.

The "Nedra" that he's talking about was a couple of years ahead of me in school. She was a fellow band geek. If I remember correctly, she was in the percussion section. Anyway, life is good, and God is wonderful!


We've all had the crud in our little corner of the world. Danny is the latest victim. He's plugging away at his schoolwork, though, and getting through it one day at a time. He's working on a class in automotives right now. I am so glad Jack knows this stuff - apparently, the book has taken some pretty basic information and made it as confusing as possible. I wouldn't have had a clue on how to help him understand it. Yayyy Jack!

Danny sent in his application for the the Automotive Technology program at the Tennessee Technology Center in Athens - it's about 35 minutes away, a two year program, and has execllent completion and job placement stats. There is a waiting list, but the counselor said that there would probably be an opening by the fall. Go Danny, go Danny!

Even though he's finishing his high school classwork through homeschooling, he will still be allowed to walk with his graduating class in Ohio. We're shooting to have his classwork all done by the middle of March so he can graduate on May 30th. Ruth, Ann, you guys doing anything that night? Wanna' go to a high school graduation? Not that I'm proud of my kid graduating or anything...

One more thing....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER!!!!!

Next year, we hit the 39 and holding pattern, eh? :o)