Stopping By to Say Hey!

Tuesday, August 26th

How's your week going?  

I'm okay, but Tracy can't figure out why my iron supplement was discontinued (the nurse says she called to tell Tracy...yeah, right).  Subsequently, my iron level started falling off, so here comes Tracy with the chicken livers again.  I do love them, but it just creates another stop for Tracy on her way here.  I hope now that the iron supplement has been restored, the chicken livers won't be necessary.

I also want to say "Thank you" to Rocky Mount Baptist Church. Another thoughtful card received from them last week.  This is my son Greg's church.  I get a card from them every month. How nice that they do that.

What's This?

Thursday, August 21st

Hello, All!

I know Tracy and Greg are always wondering what's going on with me.  If I could communicate with them, maybe we could figure it out.  :)

But, seriously, for the past few weeks things have been changing.  Sometimes I really respond normally with word and action and my facial expression is often completely normal, focused and connected, without that vacuous expression I've worn for the past year.

Of greatest interest is that I've recently been attempting to feed myself again.  When given a cup of liquid, I drink it on my own, picking up the cup, drinking from it, setting it back down.  And as you can see from the picture, I can manage my fork.  Greg and Tracy continue to feed me because this is a very slow process and I might not be very well nourished left on my own, but it's certainly something new in our world.  In light of the fact I've put on some weight lately, that might not be a bad thing.  :)

Puzzled!

My Friends

Wednesday, August 13th

Good morning, All!

Today I'm remembering my sweet friends.  Both of them have passed on to their greatness, but here's a picture of them with me (center) taken at my Retirement Party fifteen years ago.  We shared so many good times together and we also shared some sad times.  I'm grateful for all of them.

I hope you're having a great week.

My good friends, Nancy and Kate!

Throwback Thursday

Thursday, August 7th

It's been 15 years since I gave up Frank's Cafe in Rocky Mount.  I always wanted to make it to the year 2000 to retire, and I almost did, but things don't always work out the way we plan, do they?  It was actually 1999 when I made the difficult decision to sell the restaurant.  It meant giving up something I loved very much; all the loyal customers we'd accumulated over the years and a wait staff that became like family.

When the final day came, this beautiful cake was presented by that wait staff.  It  meant more to me than they could ever know!

And there was another cake - 



My sister made this cake for me.  She said it was in response to all the times I told her on the phone that someone else on the wait staff had quit. Someone was always quitting.   Finally,

I QUIT!

After Frank passed away, I couldn't keep the restaurant open enough hours to make it worthwhile so the day came when I turned it over to Hema's. For many years after that I enjoyed going back, sitting in the same booth I always took my lunch in.  It wasn't the same menu:- simple family style dishes like country fried steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, tossed salad - or Frank's famous pizza at night - but I enjoyed it just the same.  And the new owners never once charged me for  my meal.  I really liked that :)
But what I missed most were all the people.

Memories, memories - good ones, bad ones - my life now in my memories.

WHERE'S MY HELMET?

Sunday, August 3rd

I hope you made it to church this morning.  (I see the writer of this blog did not!)

I was an active member of Franklin Heights Baptist Church for most of my adult life.  I was also active in my community, but did you know I was also a baseball coach?  Yep, that's me - full hair and make-up, coaching an intent Little League player on the fine art of bunting.  My son, Greg, was a Little Leaguer, too.

Never content to sit on the sidelines, at the ball field or in life, I put on my make up and showed up for life every day.

I'm still showing up every day - not as involved in my community as I would like to be, but I'm still showing up!

You can do this!