ESSAY ON TURNING 67  OCTOBER 2013

Well, all this year I thought I was 67, so it feels like I am getting a free year!

We are, as I write, dealing with fear and clinging to our faith as Blake was diagnosed last week with Melanoma again.  This time it is in a lymph node under his arm.  We have lots of prayer circles going and have great faith.

I have read several on line articles about “survival up to, UP TO, 10 YEARS!  It makes me realize there is an end to life.  When all is well and everyone just going about their daily tasks, that doesn’t come up in my thoughts.  Life as we know it could be changing drastically.

The hardest part is waiting for the pre-op doctor’s appointment Wednesday, now 5 days away.  We have had good weather and are enjoying picking up walnuts with our rollers.  The nuts are as big as oranges this year!  We turned in our first batch yesterday.  A truck load of full garbage cans weighed up to 260 lbs.  Rate is $13/100 Lbs, so we added $34 to our walnut fund.  We still have last year’s $200 because we never thought of anything “special” to spend it on!

It’s 6am as I write, and I am wide awake.  I am sleeping well, but waking earlier.  I am using the quiet early morning time while it is still dark out and very few cars going by to do research on this cancer thing that has invaded our lives.  I read until I get too scared, then I quit.

I pressed some button that brought up my other essays and one was about turning 60.  That inspired me to write another one.  Seven good years have passed.  In that time I quit booz and pot, found a great natural high, processed caring for mom 13 ½ years, let go of my buried resentments, and have celebrated life.

I have deployed to disasters with Kentucky Baptists and American Red Cross.  NAACP has been a joy and being Scholarship Committee Chairman, a blessing.  Helping with drug and alcohol counseling has enriched my life.  Working with home-bound senior citizens for years was a delightful!  All of my volunteer experiences have been very rewarding.

During the last seven years I have been blessed with another grandson and my first great grandchild, a wonderful little boy.  Taking up golf four months ago has been lots of good exercise and fun.  Arriving at Austin, TX, to granddog and house sit for daughter, Lisa, while she hiked the Swiss Alps was a wonderful experience.  A wonderful lady named Charlotte, head of the children’s First Tee Golf Program drafted me and I spent all day every weekday on the golf course with children.  It was 107 degrees, but I adjusted, learned to just live wet, and had a blast!  I learned the fundamentals of golf and the swing, too.  God is so good and my life has been full of miracles.  I know this cancer will be gone soon.  God will continue to give us blessings abundantly.

Looking forward to my upcoming cataract surgery, there is a little fear, but mostly joy that I will soon be past it and be able to see a lot better.  Getting my new driver’s license yesterday, the only difference I see from four years ago is the new turkey waddle on my neck!  This old lady looks and feels pretty good!

That’s all for now.   The coffee god calls.   Plans are to continue writing through this cancer experience.  Journaling is a very healing exercise for me.