Columbus OH

My, how time flies when you are having fun. I am in the living room next to Bobbi's hospital bed. She is gossiping on the phone with a friend. We look out the picture window at the slowly falling little flakes of snow - pretty. But a whole month of it? But when I talked on the phone with a social worker I know and thought it was Saturday, I knew that this has gone on too long.

Bobbi has continued to progress as expected. She is permitted outdoors - but that is scant comfort when the snow on the ground precludes doing so. She also has been cleared for driving, and did her first yesterday.

Lew's situation is less predictable. His back had been getting worse week by week, and he was fearing he was getting close to mandatory surgery. Neverthless he continued with PT, and suddenly this week there has been some notable improvement. He was able to see patients in Dayton both of the last two Tuesdays, and the past four days his back pain has dropped off considerably. So maybe...

Lew also has found a company that makes a recumbent tricycle which supposedly is good for backs. But their sales room in Newark has been closed through January, so Lew hasn't gotten to see one in the flesh and try it out. But he is hoping that this will permit him to get back on the road once again - which he has needed for years.

So we remain in a sort of nebulous holding pattern......stay tuned.

Columbus OH

As everyone knows, a snow storm has brought the central and eastern US to a halt this week. Columbus is no exception - there is enough snow on the ground to make streets slippery, close schools, keep the elderly indoors. However, Columbus so far has escaped the heavier falls that blanketed north, south, and east of this city. So Bobbi sits in her hospital bed looking out the living room picture window at a pretty scene, but one with no living thing moving. And Lew sits on the floor next to her, waiting.

Columbus OH

A new year! What will it hold?

Not being fortunetellers, it would be futile to speculate. However, we could stand improvements in our health. Some improvement is pretty much a given for Bobbi, since all she has to do is be careful and compliant while she convalesces from her hip replacement. Lew is more up in the air - his back continues to deteriorate. Fortunately, he has an appointment tomorrow with one of his orthopods, and hopefully she will be able to come up with the next move.

While convalescing, Bobbi has picked up a new obsession: genealogy. She became curious about her maternal grandmother, who always has been a mystery and a dark cloud over her life. Since Lew had subscribed to ancestry.com, Bobbi tried to see what she could find out about her grandmother & family. Lo and behold, the internet paid off. She has traced most of her ancestors backwards from Letart Falls to Virginia, and is busily pushing her envelope backwards in time. Lew continued to help her mostly because his own family had run into dead ends - records in the eleventh century are so incomplete and conflicting that it becomes impossible to follow the line with any confidence at all.

On the other hand, Lew's principle activities have been attending church, bringing communion to Bobbi, and complaining that Columbus is not Tampa. And whether we ever make it to the grandchildren at all this winter depends on how quickly Bobbi heals, and whether or not (and when) Lew must have surgery. Whether we will see anyone in Texas is even more dubious.

So there it is. Life is uncertain, we are not promised tomorrow. But we will do the best we can, and pray that God's plans for us coincide to some degree with our own.