A History Lesson - the people

I have been busy with work and not had a chance to continue my story about our trip. I wanted to show you a picture of my brother and cousins. The first one is of my brother, cousin Gary who was the 65th birthday boy, and me. I am the short one. My brother has my dad's vivid blue eyes and reminds me of my dad in facial expressions. However, my dad would never have dressed like John. I don't think my father owned a pair of blue jeans. Dad did have a mustache at times in his life and he preferred pink or yellow polyester slacks, shirts and ties. We actually buried dad in his blue and white cotton boxers that you could see through the pastel trousers most of his elderly life. We loved him just the way he was. My cousin Gary also looks like my Uncle Sherman that I loved.

The next picture is of Mary Lou and I. She is 6 months to the day younger than I am. When we were both a year old, Mary ran after a kitten in the driveway and my uncle accidentally ran over her. She has always had a very drawn face but is most lucky to be alive. She lives with her husband and son and was most happy to see us. She was very close to her mother who died a number of years ago and she called this past week to tell me how lonesome she gets and how much she appreciated our visit. Tugs on my heart!

My mother had one brother, Uncle Sherman and I have one brother. John is nine years younger than I am. His 54th birthday was two days after we visited Gary last week. I remember well the day he was born.

The rest of the people we visited last week are buried in Michigan. I am very interested in collecting information about my genealogy and work on it in my spare (LOL) time. Someday I hope my children want to read about their ancestors.

Last, but not least, I want to share a picture of my buddy at Coors Field in Denver a recent shot of the three Ds. We had a great SHORT baseball trip this year. We already have next year planned. D1 is an awesome big brother. D2 loves the mule and tractor and don't you just love the expression on D3?

Baba in South Dakota is Praying for Stellan

God is working in our "small world". Leslie wants us to wear orange tomorrow! This dear little one and his family are friends of my daughter and her family in Minnesota. I know God is watching over him and his family. Stellan is a precious child who is in the hearts and prayers of many. I pray that all of my blogging friends begin to pray for him and spread story far and wide. God will do the rest!

By the way, go to Leslie's post and add your post! http://www.lambertslately.com/2009/07/orange-for-stellan.html#links

A History Lesson

On December 5th, 1946, I was born in Hillsdale, Michigan. My great aunt Alta lived in this house in Hillsdale. It looked much the same on this trip as I remembered it (big and very nice). I lived with my father and mother, who were teachers in Quincy, Michigan on US 12 (east Chicago). It was a very busy road as it originally was the stagecoach road between Chicago and Detroit and became the main road in the early 1900's. That house has not really changed much at all. The two windows on the lower front were the living room where I remember watching the Republican convention where Eisenhower was nominated for President in 1952. I was in Kindergarten and we had a brand new black and white TV. I wasn't able to take a picture of my grandparents' house on the farm where I spent much of my time while mom and dad were at school. It was a mile south and east of town and is now a corn field.

My other grandparents lived in Hudson where my dad had been born. We visited Hudson and here is a picture of their home. I can remember many summers sitting on the screened in porch on a glider sofa and listening to my grandfather whistling in his rocker. Their house used to be covered with a shingle type siding that looked like bricks. Grandpa always had a new Chevrolet or Buick parked under the carport that has been removed. I always slept in the bedroom at the top of the stairs or the window on the left above the living room.

I have to go to bed now so that I am ready to drive Dillon and I to Denver for our summer baseball game. More later.

Oh the Itchies!

I have an allergy to paper tape and so when I have surgery they are alert to that. I have no rash or blisters but I do believe I am reacting to the steri-strips. The plastic surgeon performed normal suttures internally but the entire 10-12 inch incision is covered with steri-strips. New meaning for butterfly queen! I have been itching terribly for the past three days. It subsides periodically but when it is flaring it is terrible. I called the Doctor today and talked to his nurse. She was so nice and asked Vince to investigate for rash or blisters. There are none but if I scratch like a monkey I could change that. She suggested benadryl, so now I am a doped-up ape trying to scratch. I know better but you all can have sympathy while I vent. I have had itchiness when I am healing before but this is ridiculous.
Otherwise, I feel no soreness unless I roll on my side in the night and then I wake up with the pulling sensation. I have been working at home so that I can wear the surgical bra and relax when necessary. I will drive to the office tomorrow for a board meeting and then I am taking a few days off to travel to Michigan.
Actually, my brother and sister-in-law are going to drive as well. John and I have a cousin (my mothers' brothers' son) who will turn 65 on Monday. I haven't seen his dad's funeral in 1995. That is way too long for first cousins! Gary's sister, Mary Lou, is six months to the day younger than I am. Gary tells me she is not in good health so I plan to stop and see her on Sunday when Vince and I go to my early childhood stomping grounds. I want to look up some graves for details in my genealogy work. I hope someday my children appreciate my work but for now, I am having fun reconstructing some history.
I was thinking today that I lived half of my 62 years in Michigan and soon I will have lived over half of my life in South Dakota. Just wanted to let everyone know how well I am feeling and thank you for your concerns. Until. . .

Battle of the Bulge

I had Vince take this picture on Thursday so that I could make a comparison in a few weeks. I have never seen this before because I really didn't want to look at the lumps but you can see that on the left side right near the underarm there is a large bulge. Much scar tissue from previous surgery and yes, just a lot of fatty tissue and skin from losing weight. I am in very little pain but really stay ahead of it with the pain medicine. I have a drain on both sides but the right side is very light. I walked a few blocks this morning to get the blood moving. Went to Saturday Sampler at the quilt shop and after a couple of hours, I was ready to sit again.
I appreciate all the kind words from my blogging friends. I am very fortunate to have wonderful virtual and live friends. Again the hospital staff was outstanding. I even got a card signed by all who touched me in some way yesterday at the hospital before we left. From the greeter, to the OR Nurse, to the primary care nurses, they all signed it. What a place! Wanted to let you all know that I am still kicking and hope you have a wonderful weekend. Almost forgot to mention my dear husband, Vince. He is the best caregiver a person could have. I just need to tell him I love him more often so he knows how important he is to me. Lucky girl!

Here Goes

I went for my pre-op appointment this afternoon. Dr. Howard is going to try to make both sides of my back look the same. Cosmetic for one side and eliminating a point of infection for the other. I must admit the left side has begun to hurt most of the time.
Surgery again! I explained the problem a few blogs ago (May 1) and decided it was time to get it fixed. Maybe he will remove a pound or two. LOL. I doubt it but I know it will look better. I had Vince take a picture today so that I could compare the appearance in a couple of weeks.
I will be weighed in the morning at the Surgical Tower. We have to get there at 6 AM. Surgery at 7:30 AM and it will take about two hours. If all goes well, we can drive home in the afternoon. Do I sound excited? I always grow anxious at about this point. Vince says I will probably hold up the anesthesiologist with a call on my Blackberry. I don't think so.

Boys, Boating, and Baseball

Vince and I returned today from a wonderful weekend in Minnesota. We left on Thursday for Allison's house. We walked almost four miles that evening around her neighborhood in the heat and humidity and I did it.

On Friday, we took the boat out and the picture is current (yes, I mean moving water and taken on Friday). I can't believe I was bouncing around on a raft behind the boat. What fun! I also tried twice to get up on the water skis but the old bum knee (hurt snow skiing) warned me that I might want to continue my land exercise program and I had to give up. Don't have the strength I had 30 years ago. Oh well, wouldn't have even tried 50 pounds ago!

Friday night we went to the first 8 innings of a 16 inning game between the Twins and the Tigers. The Tigers won in the end but I had a delightful time watching Zachary and Garrett learn about Baba's favorite sport.

On Saturday we went into Chanhassen to the car show (Vince loved it) and the carnival. There were so many families and it was a beautiful day. After naps, we took our dinner and went to the boat. We watched the fireworks over the water. I have never been within 300 yards of the launch pad (it was on the island) and the sound and sight was breathtaking. I have a picture of the boys on their daddy's lap watching the show.

Yesterday, we took to the water again. I so miss the water as I lived in Michigan while growing up and we were always near the beach. The kids have a really nice boat and we spent from 10:30 am until 4:00 pm on the boat and swimming in the lake. The picture is of Allison and the boys bobbing together. We had such a great time.