Anticipation? or Trepidation? or Nausea?

There need to be more words. Do you remember how you used to feel the day after Labor Day when school started? When your pencils all still had erasers and your lunchbox wasn't dinged and your new school shoes weren't scuffed? When the whole bright, beautiful year was just waiting for you to unfold it?

That's sort of how I feel...when I don't feel like throwing up.

I am starting over and I am a little old to be starting over. There is no rush to my moving since I will be dogsitting for my own dogs for the next month or so while Shorty is on a road trip. Now I know how dads feel when someone says they're babysitting their own kids. Anyway, I digress.

I am not changing towns, just houses. I have found a rental which is really quite nice. It's a duplex with off street parking and big trees and someone else to mow the lawn. However, with interest rates what they are right now, we are contemplating trying to buy a house for me to move into.

First step taken today. We met with the mortgage lady at the bank and got the paperwork to fill out. I will probably do that tonight since I am sleep deprived today. I do feel a lot like I did, though, when I was taking the entrance exam for high school.

So, pray for me (and us). Thanks, y'all.

Summer Vacation 2011, Day 7

On which day, Juls and I left Corpus Christi and returned once again to Fredericksburg.

Does anyone know how to keep humidity out of your camera lens?

A truly amazing store in Fredericksburg

that goes on...

...and on.

This is where your knight in shining armor lives.

This may be my next purchase...

but I would have to put wings on it!

Baby Pictures - Corpus Christi 2011

This is my baby. This is the smile you see EVERY time you point a camera at her face. There are NO non-smiling pictures of Juls. She decided early on that there would only be smiling pictures. I love this face.

Irish eyes (even is she is half German)

The requisite picture of the picture taker.

Then I got bored, waiting for the boat to depart on it's little cruise and I just started clicking. I think it was the sea air but Juls indulged me with an expression or two. I do have her permission to share!

Oh, fine!

You know I hate this

Smile? I show you a smile!

Sad Juls

Happy Juls

Smart alec Juls

You're actually taking these?

Seriously?

Wow. You do know that I love you...

... a lot!

Summer Vacation 2011, Day 6, Part Two

This photo was shot through the rails of a boat, underway. Please excuse the aspect and the focus. Thanks.

This is the other boat which tours the bay. I am VERY glad we booked the one through the Aquarium!

This is the placard with the dolphins' names and a brief history. A lot of the following pictures are about Shadow. We do not call him Shadow. We call him...

Bob.

Bob spends what seemed to us an inordinate amount of time on the bottom of the tank, just hanging out. To be honest, at first we thought he was...

dead.

See what I mean?

This little boy is saying, "fissie seepin'".

And then, repeatedly, Bob would bob to the surface, get air and sink himself again. He did not cruise nor cavort nor caper. He sank. He bobbed. He laughed.

This is the only decent picture out of approximately 37 taken of the art work done on the overpass piers. I liked it. I liked it a lot. Julie laughed at my efforts.

Back home for the night to Corpus Christi NAS where, by the way, they sell Vera Bradley in the Exchange!

Hope = The Greatest Gift

Last Saturday, on August 6, Juls and I attended the Amarillo Diocesan Council preparatory to the beginning of Faith Formation classes concurrent with the beginning of the school year. I teach 5th graders, theoretically about their faith, but in all honesty, class often decomposes into a question and answer period about current events.

There were several gems that I gleaned from the presentations. Sister Carol Cimino made sure to remind us that, while the Church appreciates us donating our time and energy, She really doesn't care what we think. We are to teach what the Church teaches and not what we believe. OK, that's fair.

She also said, that in this day and age of instant, global news with it's gloom, doom, and despair, hope is the greatest gift that we can give these children.

I grew up hearing, as I'm sure you also did, this quote from 1 Corinthians 13:13

"So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." This is what I have always known - that the greatest of these is love. Love of God leads to love of self, love of others, love of righteousness, love of justice, love of all that is good and holy.

Yet hope is the greatest gift?

I think it is. I think that if we love God, if we love ourselves, if we love others, including these children, we must give them hope. We must give them the talent to see the world through lenses of hope, through rose-colored glasses, through the eyes of Pollyanna. When all that they hear in the news is war, murder, rioting, starvation, suicide and hatred, we must give them the tools to see peace, life, justice, solutions, and love. We must teach them that the world is not a terrible place. The world is a wonderful creation, given to us by God, to cherish and of which we are to be good stewards. We must teach them that the world is inhabited by wonderful, caring, loving people who never make the news. We must teach them that every day lives are saved, disasters are averted, food and medicines are donated and distributed, friends are made and hope, in the name of love, in the name of God and His Son and the Holy Spirit, will prevail.

We must teach them that they are not the problem. They are the solution. They are the hope of the world. To do this, we must give them hope.

Summer Vacation 2011, Day 6, Part One

On our second day in Corpus Christi, Juls and I went to the Texas State Aquarium, directly adjacent to the USS Lexington Museum.

This is the entrance, where you walk through a curtain of water. Very cool.

Texas size turtle!

The aquarium also has a birds of prey show in conjunction with their rehabilitation program. This guy was in residence when we were there.

So was this guy (or girl) nesting in the corner.

Julie, the tortugas, and the coastal breeze.

Because Julie insists that Moose will want pictures of his Gram.

The Wetlands, built just inside the breakwater.

Dolphins. More to come. Way more to come!

This is the boat on which we toured the inner harbor.

Such a tension filled day!

God's in His heaven and all is right with the world!

Heading out!

Pain? I don't got to have no stinking pain!

God bless my mom, my sister, and Julie.

When I was 16, I went to my sister's house to help out with her 2 year old when she had the new baby. At least, this is what I was told. In all reality, and with the clarity of hindsight, I think I went to my sister's house so my mom would know where I was and what I was doing.

I am sure that I do not have the medical details right but I will tell you what I remember. My sister had a "saddle block" which at that time involved injecting not only drugs into the spinal system but also gas. I do not know what kind. I do know that part of the recovery instructions involved staying flat. Absolutely flat. For 3 days.

We, as a family, are not great at following directions. The three of us girls, in particular, follow the example of my mom, who is one of the great stoics of all time. We were also brought up in a culture of, when given any trouble, offering it up to God. We were not great at pampering ourselves or putting ourselves first.

My sister moved. The top of her head tried to come off. It made a definite impression on me.

Fast forward 4 years. I was pregnant and knew, beyond anything else that I knew, that I was NOT having a saddle block. No one was sticking needles in my back. No one did. I had both of my girls using natural childbirth. It hurt like the devil but at least the top of my head did not try to remove itself.

Fast forward 26 years. My daughter was pregnant and allowed me to be present while she gave birth to the Moose. She knew, beyond anything else that she knew, that she did NOT want to be in pain. I am not sure what they called it in 1999 but my daughter, who despises needles, allowed an anesthesiologist to stick a needle in her back.

My son-in-law and I sat with Juls. The only way you could tell that she was having a contraction was the way that her big toe twitched and the fact that you could see the contraction on the monitor. We watched her toe and laughed at her. I watched her son be born with barely a pain. It made a definite impression on me.

Fast forward 11 years. I went to take a step and my right leg refused to hold me. I did not fall but the pain was, literally, debilitating and excruciating. I cancelled the class I was supposed to teach that night and Shorty took me to the emergency room. There they did x-rays of my calf and ruled out a blood clot. They sent me home with Aleeve and told me to elevate it. I still could not walk.

The next day, I went to see my primary care physician, explained the pain to him and he immediately diagnosed sciatica and ordered a set of x-rays on my lower back to check for a pinched nerve. He ordered some better pain meds and sent me home. Turns out, I did not have a pinched nerve but the doctor did say that I had "significant" arthritis in my spine. I did not even know that you could get arthritis in your spine. He referred me to a pain specialist at the Acute and Chronic Pain and Spine Center.

There, I was once again examined and sent off for a Doppler of my leg to rule out blood clots and an MRI to figure out what was going on. I do have significant arthritis in my spine, specifically L4, L5, and S1. The game plan is to inject steroids in the facet joint between these vertebrae and see if that gives relief. If it does, they will use a laser to deaden the nerves between those vertebrae, thus completely doing away with the pain. Sounded good, except for the needle in the spine part. I prayed about this and I kept remembering, not my sister, but my child.

Today, I had the first injection, on the right side. Tomorrow, I get the second injection, on the left side. I try not to think about the fact that they do one side at a time so that, if they paralyze you, it's only on one side! The procedure - that's what they call it, a procedure - was painless. Now that the anesthetic has worn off, there is some minor pain at the injection site but not much at all.

So, in addition to thanking my doctors, I would like to thank the women in my past: my mother, who taught me to "suck it up", my sister, who showed me the importance of following doctor's instructions, and my daughter, who showed me how to not be a coward. Thanks, y'all!