Sunday, August 23 as we march towards September

TERRY

Terry is now starting week 4 of being out of rehab.  I think she is better than 4 weeks ago but can not say for sure.  Philip is coming this week I think to evaluate her as he is the one who did that when we first got here.  It seems to me that we are doing a decent job of caring for her needs.  We have the meds down that are crushed and put into the feeding tube.  We do the Milk of Magnesia every other day and I promise that is enough!!!  Terry does not have any sores or rashes from being in bed so I think we are OK there.  NOW we just have to work harder at standing, moving and eventually walking, it will come.

For the first time we got into the car and went for a drive.  Nowhere, just drive, look and talk a bit.  I think we were gone about a half hour.  That is kind of a big thing as there is some work in getting into and out of the car but Terry did it just fine.  My ramp that I built is kind of upset as it just stands against the garage wall but that is good.  It would be good if we can inch towards a more normal life and I think a car ride was one way to start.

I did bike over to the courts yesterday as a group of guys play every Saturday at 9:00.  There were 6 guys so two always sat out.  I stayed for an hour and then came home.  If I were to judge my game on where it is at now comparied to last winter I would say it is at maybe 65% so Carmen you need to up the effort and do better!

August 17th, 1964

It is a Monday and I have a thousand thoughts going through my mind.  I had received a letter from our new football coach, Mr. Murray, that we would start fall football practice this day at 9:00.  I am nervous, apprehensive and proud all at the same time.  After the season last year I was voted the captain for this year.  That was a big deal for me.  However our coach, who was my favorite in high school, is not coming back for the year.  I thought he retired but I found out 2 years ago that he left for a position in a different school.  I am expecting a good year.  We graduated many good players last year but yet we have many coming back as well.  There is Todd, Larry, Danny and several others that should give us a good team.  I also know there is a freshman George who will weigh in at maybe 400+ pounds and should be a BIG help!

I also have many other thoughts going through my mind.  I had started dating Gail back in January but she was a grade ahead of me and now she is off to college in Minnesota.  I know, here I am only 17, a senior in high school and I should NOT be so serious about girls but yet that was me.  We had decided that as she left for college and I headed back to high school the relationship was off.  As time went on that proved to be very not true!  

So I was thinking about my social life as I headed back to school for my senior year.  No girl friend and really being 25 miles from school I was pretty much OUT of the social loop.  Little did I know that much of that was due to my shyness and my immaturity.  

So I drive up to the school at 8:45 on Monday to see the guys whom I had not seen all summer and to meet our new coach.  I walk into the school and one of the first people I meet is Mr. Murray.  We shake hands and I think to myself he seems to be pretty nice.  Really as the season went on he was about as bad as a coach could be!  We gather as a team and the first thing is getting our equipment which is a nice thing as the seniors have first pick.  AND there is George and I think to myself "we could have a good line with a 400+ person as an anchor.  The first day as we ran around the field it may have taken most of us 2 minutes and then I looked back and saw George maybe 1/4 of the way around the track.  I thought to myself maybe my hopes were only that, hopes!  

I have talked about this football season in the past and if anyone reads and remembers it was more than a disaster.  So on to other things.

In the fall Gail and I exchanged letters once in a while but as the fall wore on that stopped and I figured that was the end of that.  So my social life was nothing and with the disaster of the football season and then brother Ronald died suddenly in October and it seemed like my world was dark and upside down.  

Football ended and basketball started and that did not start so great either.  Todd was supposed to be our starting guard but he broke his arm in football and at the start of basketball it was not healed yet.  Danny had his ups and downs with injuries but a bright spot was Larry.  At the start of our high school days he was several inches shorter than I and now he was a few inches taller.  He had grown into his body and his skills this year certainly were a highlight for our season.

AND socially I connected with my old freshman flame JoEllen and that was my social life for the last half of my senior year.  I am not sure that was a good thing and that says nothing about JoEllen but more about me!

Band was a big deal in our school and I really enjoyed all our band trips.  We did not take many our senior year but after our junior year we marched in the Indy 500 parade.

So went my senior year.  I laugh about it now but our senior athlete banquet kind of said the year for me.  Here I was the captain of the football team, the co-captain of the basketball team and the leading scorer for basketball.  AND what did the speaker talk about at the banquet?  He mentioned Larry and Todd and how they were examples of good sports and athletics and said not one word about me.  I guess that kind of tells the story of my senior year but it also tells a lot about who I was at that point and it really is not very flattering.

I am now on my second cup of FP and Terry has been taken care of and is still resting in bed.  I guess it is time to clean up some things, get Terry's morning meds ready and start the day.  Kim has been coming every noon and evening but today she will just be here for the evening meal.