The past year have been quite the arduous journey. Megan lost her father (my ex) in March. While it was expected (he had previously suffered a debilitating stroke), it was still very difficult for her. She still lives with us. As her health care costs continue to climb, it becomes more and more difficult for her to even consider finding a place of her own.
May started with something as “simple” as me breaking another toe. I knew I did it as soon as it happened. I buddy taped it and pressed on. Who would have known it was just the beginning of a string of events that would challenge our summer.
Two days after I broke my toe, I get a call from Jeff right about the time he should have been home. He tells me he’s been in a wreck and asks me to call 911. That gave me an indication of his state of mind and I tell him it would be better for him to call them. Someone who stopped had already called. He gets checked out by the EMT’s and gets transported to the hospital as a precaution. He’s just been plowed into by a girl driving a Cadillac that claims she did see that big white Goldwing that she just totaled.
Jeff checked out okay, he was just banged up and bruised. The PTSD set in when he saw the bike as did the thankfulness for Guardian Angels. A couple days after the accident, Jeff decided it was time to replace my 2004 Volvo station wagon AKA the mom-mobile. He found a nice 2012 Hyundai Genesis at dealership that was directly within view of the accident. Turns out a number of the sales staff had been out on the lot and saw the accident. They too now believe in Guardian Angels.
Insurance claims got settled and we continued to move on. In August Jeff decided it we needed a truck again, so we said goodbye to Elsa (a 2014 California Special Mustang). Jeff thought I didn’t like the car. I truly did love it. Sure my manual transmission shifting skills were a little rusty, but I could still run through the gears. Yes, I know, she was never meant to be a daily driver. Using his researching skills, we first test drove a number of used trucks from the same dealership that the Genesis came from. The Toyota Tundra, one that we thought would be our next truck, was very disappointing. The previous bad experiences with a Dodge made us leery but we test drove one of them too. Repair costs for Ford’s new aluminum unibody steered us away from even looking at them. Then Jeff found a really great internet deal on a new Chevy Silverado. Neither of us had ever owned a Chevy, they always looked cheap and plastic-y. He knew it was going to be a hard sell on me. I even let the sales person know my feelings about Chevy’s. When we drove away with that new Chevy truck, I sounded like Chevy commercial. The truck has both wi-fi and a 110v power port that makes it a rolling office for me.
We took the rolling office on a road trip to Gatlinburg for a couple of days. The whole trip was to enjoy visiting the moonshine distilleries, but I also road the Great Smoky Mountain Wheel. Pretty odd considering some would say I have a fear of heights. It’s not a fear of heights, it’s a fear of falling. Maybe I put too much faith in the engineering and technology, but life is too short to worry about those details.
We replaced a garbage disposal and I replaced the dishwasher that failed. I still love doing maintenance work around the house. I just have to outsmart some things, since I can’t outbrawn them.
In late September, Jeff finally decided to get his shoulder looked at. It had been bothering him long before the accident, but had tried to ignore it. He went to see our favorite doctor. He only does shoulders and knees (I wish he did backs). Dr. Atkison has done my knees and my shoulder. This would be Jeff’s third rotator cuff repair. Turns out the damage this time around was much worse than the other two combined. He had an easy time rehabbing the first two repairs. This time he’s having a much more difficult time. It was almost 2 weeks before he was comfortable enough to drive. He was so happy to be able to drive again, he truly does not like my passive driving style. 10 weeks out, he’s still lacking strength and range of motion. He is restricted to lifting less than 10 pounds and I’ve had to remind him more than once not to try to lift something using his left arm. It has frustrated him over Thanksgiving and Christmas not being able to help.
We had a nice quiet Christmas and New Years. Now we are getting ready to spend a few days in Orlando with my sister and her husband. Kelley & Scott are running in the Disney races. Kelley is doing the 5K & 10K with Scott. Scott is then going to do the half-marathon and then the marathon. Disney Race calls that the “Dopey”. I think the name fits. Now the made rush to get packed and get my Mac in for repairs while we are gone. Then it’s on to planning my trip to MivaCon16 in March.
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