As humans, too often are we faced with the loss of a loved one. In most cases, despite their age, that moment in time when we are informed of their death is still a shock. Tears flow, memories rush through our minds, and more tears flow. Eventually, we return to a sense of calm and our rational being takes over and you realize that they were what? 94, 97, or even older? When you finally put it all in perspective,…
If you’re in the same age bracket as me, I’m sure you find yourself opening boxes in the attic to find out what’s inside. In your mind you’re thinking, I don’t need my kids going through all that stuff somewhere down the road. That was me just the other day when I decided to open a mystery box. Well, it really wasn’t a mystery as I sort of knew the box was full of name badges and buttons from my…
Suzanne had her Monday and Tuesday all planned out. Since her Biopsy was scheduled for Tuesday at noon we made an appointment with her prosthodontist on Monday to maximize our trip. And since she had Monday afternoon off, a shopping visit to a big fabric store was on the agenda as well as a nice dinner out. As we packed and prepared to leave Monday morning, I got a call from the UIC Dental school that Dr S. was ill…
Like many families, our kids are somewhat scattered, each of them has developed their own local relationships. The chance to visit and share in their activities is in direct relationship to their distance away from us. Family and the relationships it provides are important to the human condition. Everyone needs that interpersonal connection and find a way to fill that void if it exists. For Suzanne, a local sewing group aids in that process, a golf league for me, but…
When my grandkids were little and we were all going somewhere in the car, they always insisted that I sing the song ‘There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea’. You could feel the excitement and anticipation as the items I was singing about kept getting smaller and smaller . . . . . There’s a spick on the speck on the spot on the hair on the wart on the frog on the twig on the branch on…
It’s hard to believe it was thirty-five years ago today that Suzanne and I were married which joined our two families together. This journey has had way more than its fair share of ups and downs, but how did we get here? After my daughter’s death, my wife Cindy developed cancer and she too died. This left me in Cissna Park with two sons, working in my new second profession, farming with my in-laws. With few friends in the area,…
In researching this inconsequential number, I discovered the band Smashing Pumpkins had a song titled Thirty Three; There’s a business in South Carolina called Thirty Three Butterflies that designs dog bandanas and hair scrunchies; for just a little bit more, Thirty Three & Third is the seventh studio album by former Beatle, George Harrison; the number Thirty-three is drawn about twenty-five percent of the time in the Loto, and unfortunately Lounge Thirty-Three in Riverside CA has permanently closed. So what’s…
Suzanne’s follow-up visit to the UI Maxillofacial Prosthetics Clinic proved again to be a new challenge for her. On this visit, Dr. S added more material to the prosthesis, both in the back and in the roof of the mouth area. In the back, the device reaches all the way to the back of her throat. This will replace the palate that was removed during surgery and will help prevent food and drink from flowing into the nasal passages. In…
In college, I minored in Political Science, hard to believe that was 50 years ago. I have always enjoyed discussing current politics and how our government works (or doesn’t). Lately though, with all that is going on, the extreme divisions in our country, the inability for people to even discuss different points of view, and the turmoil overseas, it’s hard trying to keep up. That same problem exists even in my own household. No, not turmoil or inability to communicate,…
Life’s experiences cloud our expectations, but today I couldn’t have been more wrong; even Suzanne’s oncologist expectations for Monday were wrong. You see since May and the two following PATHway Follow-up visits, a nodule that appeared in Suzanne’s lung has consistently doubled in size. This consistent growth along with anyone’s life experience would tell you that you would expect this visit would be no different and the nodule would continue to grow. So, in keeping with her tradition of not…