LONG ABSENCE BUT WILL DO BETTER

Where do I start?  Where did I stop the last time I wrote which was so very long ago?  I will simply start with yesterday and maybe work my way backwards.  Yesterday was a day when I saw prayer answered.  We talk about prayer in all of my Bible classes and I pray before rising each morning, before each meal and before retiring at night.  Sometimes I wonder if God is listening to me.  He has so many people coming at him from all directions that it would be easy to miss one or two, but not in this instance.  You see, a few days ago my daughter, Corinne, had a procedure done to see if she had breast cancer or if the mass in her breast was benign.  She called me yesterday afternoon to tell me that it was benign and we had nothing to worry about.  I thanked God for His mercy.  At the time she called me I was in a room where Paul was having a procedure to see if the place on his face was cancer.  After they checked the tissue it was deemed to be benign and the doctor put in a couple of stitches, put a bandage on his face and we left.  Again I thanked God for His mercy.  See why I say yesterday was a good place to start?

Summer has finally arrived.  After the cold, damp winter we now have really hot, humid days that are causing me to have to seek air conditioning and stay inside more than I would like.  I walk Houston in the early morning and again after the sun goes down, but even he doesn't like to stay out very long.  He begins to pant and walk slower and I know it is time to come back inside.  I never complained about the cold winter because I really love cold weather.  I enjoy the clothes I wear in the winter - sweaters, coats, etc.  Even the cold football games that I sat through this year were not a bother to me.  This hot weather just drains my energy and the humidity makes me have to use oxygen more.  The way that time is flying by, it will be back to sweaters and coats before we can turn around twice.  I can't believe that half the year is almost gone.

Nita and Ray have invited me to go to Jackson, MS for the 4th of July week-end  At first I was not thinking of going.  I really didn't feel that I was up to the long ride in the car and all of the activities that would probably be planned for us.  However, I am feeling better and have decided to go.  I know that whatever I feel ike doing I can do and if I feel like resting I will do that.  I have a great-granddaughter that I have only seen once and I would like to get to know her better.  She was born in November and already crawling and before long will be walking.  They grow up so fast that if you don't watch out they will be gone from you. Lucy has to grow up because she is the youngest of four children - two brothers and one sister.

Speaking of growing up, my precious Courtney who graduated from U.T. in May has moved to Dallas, Texas to work for a large advertising/marketing company, Crossmark, and she has an apartment and starting her new life.  I am so proud of her.  She is so confident and so strong to take on this independent life.  She is very close to her mother, father and brother but this opportunity came her way and she jumped at it.  I have talked to her once this week and she sounds great and says that she is loving everything about her job and making new friends.  Also, her brother, Carter, is now graduated from high school and will be moving to the campus of Trevecca Nazarene University in August.  He will play baseball for that school and, he too, will be living a new and different life.  My youngest grandchildren are now grown and "leaving the nest to try their wings".

My health is of great concern to me.  It seems that I am not having to use the oxygen as much and that is a good thing, but my eyesight is getting worse.  My doctor has assured me that I will never go blind, but everything is getting harder for me.  I have to have a magnifying lamp to read the newspaper now.  The writing on the computer is getting dimmer so I make more mistakes and that is not good.  I can't see my clock in my bedroom so I never know if I'm getting up at 5:00 or 9:00 until I go look at the clock on my microwave and for some reason it is very clear for me.  Last night I went to a banquet at the high school and they showed a film of the baseball team. I couldn't see it.  I saw the figures move but I could not identify any of the people nor read any of the writing.  I have a lot of work to do for the alumni association - letters acknowledging contributions - and I am dreading trying to get them all done.  I feel as though I should give up that job to someone but I guess I feel that nobody would do it as well as I.  Pretty cocky aren't I?  I have to laugh at myself sometimes.  The other day I walked into a room and started talking to Houston.  The only problem was he was in the living room and I was talking to a stack of pillows that was on the floor.  He is the same color as my carpet and the pillows but I sure did feel funny when I realized what I had done.  Speaking of Houston, he is the love of my life and my best friend.  He takes every step I take, stays right with me as I read or watch TV and sleeps in the bed with me every night.  What did I do before I got him?  Back to my health - an undesirable subject - I am still suffering from the shingles.  Of course the shingles are gone but the nerves that were damaged are causing me to burn and itch in the places where I had shingles.  This is not all the time, but happens on and off many times a day.  I have some pills that I take in the morning and at night (when I remember to take them) and they do help.  The doctor says it could last a year or maybe forever.  Isn't that a wonderful diagnosis?  I have to laugh at myself when I use the back scratcher that Sara bought me.  I remember my grandmother using one of those and I thought it was funny.  It's not so funny now.

I am going to stop writing now.  It is getting late and I am getting tired.  Sara is coming tomorrow and spend the day and night.  We will play Scrabble and I always get beat.  The margin of our scores is very tight but she always gets me by 10 or 11 points - sometimes more.  She is a master at writing on the spaces that doubles or triples her points.  Playing Scrabble is a delight for me except that I can't always tell what the letters are, such as a Q and O and some of the others.  I plan to play as long as I can and Sara is very understanding and helpful. I believe that I won't go blind and I believe that I will be able to live a good life because I have faith and I know that God is good - all the time.