TERRY
There is nothing new about Terry. As I got out of bed this morning at 7:15 she was awake but now she is turned over and quiet so I don't know if she is sleeping or just resting more. Yesterday was a quiet day with no news of any kind. Of course I have the same concerns that have been present for some time now but!
What the heck!!! I glanced at myself in the mirror yesterday kind of sideways and was taken back as I looked like I have gained much weight. Then I stepped on the scale which I had not visited for several days and it was NOT kind. So this morning no sausage or hash browns but a more simple breakfast and it will stay that way for the day. I thought to myself IF I continue this way soon I will be back at my weight that I had 20 years ago and that would not be good. We will see!
Some thoughts "back" as I woke up this morning
Way way back in 1969 it seems like a long time ago and I guess it really is! August 28 was a Thursday and I was in the middle of my first week of work before school started. Little did I realize that I would be having 38 weeks kind of like this during my working career. We were in Devils Lake and our home was on the second floor of the almost empty dorm at the School for the Deaf. I say almost because they had made a first floor apartment for the principal. Gail and I had a bedroom, a bathroom and a living room in what used to be a boys dorm room. The windows were huge, the ceilings were 12 feet, the bathroom was antique at best and we had scrounged around our farm and Gail's farm for old furniture and iron single beds that we tied together and placed the 2 mattress crosswise! Gail was 6 months pregnant and I was looking at a teaching job for the first time. The superintendent had decided I could handle the 4th grade that had been a disaster the previous year! Our bank account was low and at the school we got paid on the first working Monday of the month. But in this case they considered the first day of school so we would have to wait for our first pay check until October as our checks came AFTER we had earned the money!!! There were some lean days leading up to that check! So this morning, as I got out of bed, I had memories of it way back then.
Then the thoughts came to mind of my last year of teaching. Gail and I had decided that I would retire after the 2006/2007 school year. Her cancer seemed to be in remission but we knew that could change any time AND my teaching assignment had become very stressful with the people I was working with. I had in the back of my mind that IF her cancer came back I wanted to be able to spent some quality time with her. We had worked hard at paying extra on our house and felt that if we could finish paying it off by the spring of 2007 we could live on my retirement check and maybe get some extra work along the way. So I had taken all of the months of the school year and counted them off so I knew, at any given time, how many days I had left. It turned out that kind of saved me as that last year was difficult at best.
I walked out of Highland Park Junior High on June 15th of 2007 feeling relief and free. Gail and I planned a long trip for the fall and winter and life seemed great. Gail was feeling OK but I could tell she was not her usual self in terms of energy etc. In late summer we signed up to work the Minnesota State Fair which was a fun time. We then packed the pick up, after putting a CD player in, and headed out for a two month trip to Canada. We slept in the back of the pickup most of the time!!! We arrived home in late October.
Life seemed to be what we had wanted and hoped for but then things happened again. In January Gail felt a lump in her chest and the test results came back cancer!!! The next eight months were difficult to say the least.
Boy I guess I went on and on some but will sign off soon. It seems unreal but this fall I will be starting my 14th year of retirement. It seems that how can that be but it is. So MANY thoughts this morning and really for the most part GOOD. We all know that life certainly has its ups and downs and that is true for everyone.
We got this VERY nice invitation to attend Joan/Ron's 60th anniversary dinner October 16th. Of course that is out of the question for me but I will try to send an equally nice note back. Sixty years, IF they share the ups and downs of married life over 60 years it could be an entertaining but long night!!! Actually the only other couple that could make that mark is Judi/John and I am hoping they make it. I think they can celebrate their 60th in 2029 and I will try to make that one!
Not much planned for the day. I will take a bike ride this morning as I missed that yesterday. AND NO snacking as that scale is not up to someone who is so so over weight! I have some things in mind that I may start today but they are no interest to anybody else.
I am still going back and forth with that possible trip to ND in September. At this time I am thinking there is a good chance I will do that. It would be fun and would also give me some diversion from my present situation. As I write Terry is now awake and reading the paper with the TV on.
Enough as my FP got cold as I wrote and forgot to drink. Need to heat it up and then enjoy just a bit more.
I will close with perhaps my favorite month of 2022, all of Mom/Dad's grandchildren!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment