2009 is already a Blessed Year

Wow, it's been two months since I posted. Obviously my plan to post late in chronological order isn't working. Too much happening to keep up.

So - it's 2009, the start of a New Year. A perfect time to get introspective AND bring y'all up to date on the last few months.

Another reason for the looking inward - on Christmas morning I went to the emergency room with a bout of diverticulitis. Not a bad one, but the infection got into my blood. After 5 days on IV antibiotics I came home feeling weak and tired. I'm fine now, back to normal except for watching my diet for a couple more weeks until my intestine heals.

So here's what must be the biggest inbetween in my life. Without knowing that the infection had spread, the ER was going to send me home with a bottle of Augmentin antibiotic. I told the Dr., "I can't ask you to do anything, but I would like to give you some information. I'm retired, no income and broke. I've got a great insurance plan BUT it only kicks in AFTER I spend a night in the hospital."

She said, "So you'd like me to check you in? I think I can make a case for that. Let me talk to the head Dr." She came back and said, "I put my reputation on the line for you - he's coming in to talk to you in a few minutes - look sick." Not to sound too dramatic, but if I'd gone home, there is a very good chance I would have died.

The infection was really bad and the angel of a nurse on the floor called in a surgeon - on Christmas morning - because she thought I'd need emergency surgery and a colostomy. She didn't know about the blood either, but she just knew I wasn't doing well. As she told Carol, "I don't know what it is, but something is very wrong." The surgeon agreed and added a second IV antibiotic. The next day when the blood culture came back, we knew what was happening. The Infectious Disease specialist said that if he had known about the blood, he would have prescribed exactly the same antibiotics that the surgeon ordered.

My entire life has been full of times when I did exactly the right thing, at precisely the right time. I used to get smug about it. But I've learned that if I look back from a few years - or in this case a few days - in the future I see that I made the decision for totally "wrong" reasons. It wasn't my wisdom or insight. It was God leading me for reasons that I wouldn't understand until some time later. Those "inbetweens" that I learned about in "Tinkerbell Jerusalem". I've now found another series of books, "When God Winks" that have many more examples.

"In betweens" or "Winks" - they're all the same. Everybody has these unexplained things - big and little - happening every day.

We just need to

1. Be aware, so we see them.

2. Be grateful, and

3. EXPECT more of them.

Every day.

EVERY day !

'cause Life is so good.

GETTING CAUGHT UP

I've been very negligent in posting recently. So here's an attempt to bring y'all up to date.

Carol and the kids and I have been doing and going and going and doing. And I've been having a ball. In August we drove to a small water park near here to "practice" for our BIG trip to Emerald Pointe a couple of weeks later. It only has one slide. I hurt myself. I've had a life long problem with an 18 yr old living inside of me that just won't leave. "He" tried to do so many foolish things when my kids were teenagers that for 4 or 5 years I listed an Orthopedic Surgeon as my Primary Care Physician. Because I never got sick, I just broke bones regularly.

When my kids grew up and left home, the 18 yr old stopped trying to do stupid things and I've had many years of undamaged bones. But now I have a 12 yr old and a 7 yr old in my life and "he" is back. I saw the sign that said, "Sit upright on the slide" but "he" saw all the young people lying down and going a LOT faster. The first few times I sat up but then "he" laid down and we really flew down the slide. Until the last turn when I banged my knee. Really hard. It hurt so much that I called my Dr. who said that since it was not a weight bearing incident he was pretty sure I didn't tear anything. If anybody offers you a "bone bruise", tell them you don't want it. It's two months later and it still hurts.

Then off to Emerald Pointe. Although the 18 yr old showed up, he stayed calm and reasonable and I returned to VA unscathed. We had a wonderful day. Even thought the lines were long, we got in lots of rides and came home happy and exhausted.


A couple of weekends later we drove to WV to take the kids to visit Carol's Grandmother. On the way back we hiked to Cascade Falls in Giles County. It's about a 2 mile hike along a beautiful stream. The weather was perfect. The were only a few people and they were all friendly.

I don't know if it was the 18 yr old or just my New York childhood, but I went swimming. While almost everyone else, including Carol, Emily and Andrew stood ankle deep or ran through the edge of the falls. SHIVERING AND TURNING BLUE. We didn't get the water temperature but it was either refreshingly brisk or freezing, depending on who you asked.




Well, that hardly made a dent in the last three months. But it's a start and I'll really try to post more regularly.

Life is so good.