New Years' eve. A time to look back on the highs and lows of the last 12 months and to look forward with hope and anticipation of what is to come.
This time last year I was remembering the worst day of my life (Friday March 17th 2017 when doctors told me Karen was not likely to survive her lung transplant and that I should prepare for a "turn off the life support" discussion early the following week) and the best day of 2017, exactly 9 months later when I watched Karen put together and decorate a new Christmas tree without any help at all. In between had been some very high and very low points as Karen's recovery seemed to be a case of two steps forward and one step back.
Today I look back on a year where I saw Karen's health go from strength to strength. I watched her walk to the Grand Canyon south rim on a day which had been wet and gloomy but cleared just at the right time to make that walk.
We took two trips on the Mississippi River and after the first she walked up the Grand Staircase and the hill to enter the St Louis Arch.
We travelled to the stars at Houston Space Centre, stood on the grounds of San Jacinto, The Alamo and the Wilson's Creek National Battleground. We ate at real American diners on Route 66 and walked the streets of New Orleans's French Quarter one Sunday evening.
And I met some of the wonderful people who reside part time on this forum along with some of their families. Spook76 and his family, Bro.Dave and his wife who invited us into their home for an evening, Toolguy and his partner, Garystl and Muss Muggins, they all made our trip extra special.
Unfortunately this evening I visited my mother who is in a rest home with cancer. She has been getting progressively weaker in the last six months and this afternoon she fell from her bed bruising herself badly.
For the first time she said that she thinks she is going, not that she wants to go but she is just so tired. Although she is almost constantly "confused" and she sleeps a good part of every day, she says she is just not getting enough sleep.
So 2019 will, probably early on, see some pain. But it will also see a whole lot of joy.
To everyone, wherever you are, a Happy New year and best wishes for 2019.
Brent and Karen.
This time last year I was remembering the worst day of my life (Friday March 17th 2017 when doctors told me Karen was not likely to survive her lung transplant and that I should prepare for a "turn off the life support" discussion early the following week) and the best day of 2017, exactly 9 months later when I watched Karen put together and decorate a new Christmas tree without any help at all. In between had been some very high and very low points as Karen's recovery seemed to be a case of two steps forward and one step back.
Today I look back on a year where I saw Karen's health go from strength to strength. I watched her walk to the Grand Canyon south rim on a day which had been wet and gloomy but cleared just at the right time to make that walk.
We took two trips on the Mississippi River and after the first she walked up the Grand Staircase and the hill to enter the St Louis Arch.
We travelled to the stars at Houston Space Centre, stood on the grounds of San Jacinto, The Alamo and the Wilson's Creek National Battleground. We ate at real American diners on Route 66 and walked the streets of New Orleans's French Quarter one Sunday evening.
And I met some of the wonderful people who reside part time on this forum along with some of their families. Spook76 and his family, Bro.Dave and his wife who invited us into their home for an evening, Toolguy and his partner, Garystl and Muss Muggins, they all made our trip extra special.
Unfortunately this evening I visited my mother who is in a rest home with cancer. She has been getting progressively weaker in the last six months and this afternoon she fell from her bed bruising herself badly.
For the first time she said that she thinks she is going, not that she wants to go but she is just so tired. Although she is almost constantly "confused" and she sleeps a good part of every day, she says she is just not getting enough sleep.
So 2019 will, probably early on, see some pain. But it will also see a whole lot of joy.
To everyone, wherever you are, a Happy New year and best wishes for 2019.
Brent and Karen.
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