Wow! Where did that two years go? I checked in for New Years 2007, then life went into high gear for a few months and here we are in 2010. Last time I posted was 2008 and that was just a photo update. Circumstance came calling and took me for a whirl!To answer my own question; I had a number of significant and time consuming things happen in my life, including the following:
*The passing of my husband's father in early January, 2007. He was 95.
*The birth of twin grandbabies in July of 2007...one of my last posts includes pictures of them within a day or so of their birth. We spent 6 weeks helping Mom and getting to know the babies before coming home to Texas from Colorado and enjoyed every minute of it! Their first Christmas was spent at our house and I had a great time getting ready for the family and just enjoying these new little people.
*A late summer 2007 family reunion at my cousins ranch in Bowie, Texas...where all but one of the 5 remaining cousins from my mother's side and their families had a really rewarding weekend.
*Knee replacement surgery...my second, in March of 2008 followed by weeks of rehab afterward. My sweet cousin Carolyn came down from Dallas and spent a month and a half with us acting as chaffeur and day care assistant until I could get fully on my feet and driving again.
*An auto trip back to Upstate New York for Bill's Dads memorial, a 10 day stay in Boston with a side trip up to Portland, Me, 7 days in Connecticut with my son and his family, 4 days in southern New Jersey with Bill's cousins, and a lovely trip back through the Appalachians with a stop in Nashville to see grandchildren and the Grand Ole' Opry, an overnighter in Memphis and home again through devastated Louisanna.
*The end of May 2008 we traveled to Branson to meet family for mother's day. We had a grand time with family, but not because we were in Branson (more on that another time). I guess I'm just not old enough to appreciate the talent niche there yet. Give me rock and roll any day.
*Nov 2008 was our trip to Ormond Beach and I did manage to post a picture here. My only nephew got married in St. Augustine, Florida and we were there for both the festivities and a week at the beach. Again the grandchildren came and stayed at our time share with us and it was a special time with them.
*Jan 1, 2009, my gall bladder went haywire and I ended up in the hospital in Colorado having emergency surgery after a really wonderful Christmas visit with my family.
*February 2009, Bill and I took off in our trusty Honda to Las Vegas via the Grand Canyon and other notable points. We spent a few days afterward in Henderson with Bill's cousin and his wife, toured the desert and lakes around the area and headed for Phoenix. This was just a pass thru for us, but we had a hotel across from a big entertainment and restaurant complex in Glendale, where we managed to spend several hours dining well, listening to outdoor entertainment and catching a good movie. From there we spent a night in New Mexico, then headed further south and spent two nights and three days in Marathon, TX at the Gage Hotel. I'd highly recommend them if you get down that way. Our purpose was to enjoy Big Bend and we did just that. Beautiful dessert landscape and a lifestyle pretty much untouched by the hustle/bustle of now. A stayover in Fredericksburg, TX and a stop by the famous infamous Luchenbach, TX and we were on our way home. I think we were on the road about 18 days total. A good test of "will the knee work on long trips?", and it wasn't any stiffer or in worse pain than the other knee, which I had replaced in 2004 in Boston.
*March of 2009 we traveled to Nashville, TN to check out a symposium on Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which is a neurologic surgery my husband was considering to help him with his Dystonia. He has had the illness since he was a young boy and we were hopeful that this would be the answer for some relief for him. Long story short after coming home and going through an extensive battery of tests, it turns out that the risks for him in particular are more than he is willing to take right now. So we've switched horses and the end of this month he will have a baclofen pump implanted if a trial run with the meds work out for him. This is an embeded delivery system that pumps medication directly into the spinal fluid and has been effective in reliving severe spascisity for many patients. We are very hopeful that it will help Bill too.
*We spent the long hot summer here in Texas (one of the hottest on record for this area with 75 days over 100 degrees....whew!) but took a break for Thanksgiving and went back up to Colorado to visit the twins again. They are 3 1/2 now...hard to believe, but do the math. I have more family there...two other daughters, my sis and her husband, their two grown children and my new grand nephew, who is now about 5 months old. How time does fly. I also have a son who lives with his family in Connecticut and grandchildren in Tennessee, who we hope will be at the next family gathering.
*Noteworthy as well is the fact that my grandson Dwight married his long time sweetheart Heather in August in Tennessee. Unfortunately we were unable to go to the wedding since we had just visited Tennessee in March, but the blessing in this is that we did get to visit with Dwight, Heather and my other grandson Corey while we were there. We missed seeing their sister Amber, but hope it won't be too long before we have another opportunity.
*Between the lines above, all of our normal life and not a few real life dramas occurred that pulled my energy back into family and away from some of the activities I enjoy, including this blog. Something had to give somewhere.
All in all I must say that we have been blessed and faring well though and I am so very thankful to be here. I have the blog on my radar for twice a week and I'll try to tackle more engaging subjects in the future. It's nice to be baaaaaaaaack!
.JPG)