2013 in Review...

I am glad today is January 1, 2014. I am glad 2013 is over, done and gone...never to return again. 

Like the old nursery rhyme says, "When it was good it was very, very good. And when it was bad it was horrid." That,  my friends sums up the year 2013 for me.

It was a year of 'firsts' and of 'lasts'. There was  never a blending of the two extremes. 

2013 began with Tommy being sick...very sick starting with the first week in January.  He was taking two medications that worked against each other. The meds. were slowly killing him. The only way we found out what was wrong, was by happenstance. Tommy's medication had run out and he called to refill them...he was told to go see a doctor ASAP.  He was in bad trouble,  his heart paying the price.  As soon as he quit taking the medications he immediately began to improve. Withing in two weeks he was seeing a doctor to have a heart ablation procedure done. It was to be a piece of cake. An overnight stay in the hospital  then he could go home.

The procedure was scheduled for February 4th. Every thing went according to plan until 'something' went wrong and out of nowhere Tommy bottomed out and ended up on life support, within a matter of minutes.

 For three or four days I thought he would die. Lisa, our oldest daughter, was with us. I can never repay her for all she did.  When the doctor told me Tommy couldn't live with his heart only working on 20% I was stunned. My heart was breaking and I went somewhere in my soul I had never visited. I cried, sounding like a wounded animal. And Lisa held me, cried with me and said the perfect words I needed to hear, "Give Daddy a 20% chance to live and he will make it.  Remember he is your Marine."

  Lisa kept me full of things I had never drunk before...and they helped. The green 'Naked' stuff soon grew on me and I looked forward to drinking that crazy concoction. Of course the "Mocha Latte Coffee" from Starbucks downstairs kept us going for 5 hours at a time. Lisa did all the updating on her cell phone. Bless her heart, she was busy all the time.

This was our lifeline while Tommy was sick plus thousands of prayers.  People all over the world were praying for him. They touched God's ear and Tommy began to recover on the 3rd or 4th day. 

Family from Kentucky came to see us at the hospital. I am so glad I took 3 pictures while Tommy was so sick, because by the time family members got there he was on the road to recovery. The staff were taking tubes out and reducing the monitors almost on the hour. It was unbelievable.
                                                            

Tommy was released from the hospital a week later. We stayed close to home for the rest of the month and the first two weeks in March. Then my father suddenly died on March 13, 2013. We made the trip home and stayed about four days then returned to Missouri. It still doesn't seem real. He was always a loner at heart. When his time to die came, he wanted to die alone. He refused to let family see him. 

          

 The Spring came in with April being our heavy duty birthday month. Logan turned 9 on April 1st. Tommy turned 65 on April 3rd and I turned somewhere between 9 and 65 on April 6. Tami was 37 on April 11th. It was a good month.

During the summer Tommy and I added a sun room to our house. I love it. It is everything I want and need to write, paint and read. No excuses now not to do any of those things.  When my house is noisy, I have a place of peace and quiet unless I want to rock the walls with music. It was a good summer.

Melodi and Lacey got married in California.  In October Lisa and I flew out for the wedding. We had a wonderful time meeting some of the nicest people ever to be born. The wedding was beautiful.
                                       

   Tami finished her novel  "Collapse". It is a wonderful book and I think it will be a t.v. series or movie if the right people read it. I am so proud of her and for her. She works hard and still makes time to be a great mother, involved in her church and community and to write a fabulous book.  
                                      

                                                          
On December 9, 2013 my best friend of over 20 years died suddenly.  Carol Shea was only 62.  She was too young to die. I miss her. When I try to write about Carol it is always in short, clipped sentences. Right now I can't express how much I wish her life had been different. Finally, I hope she is happy.

                                

This was made on a good day when we went to Kansas City. She had fun that weekend we house sat for Melodi.

This has pretty much been the highlights of my 2013. Like I said at the beginning, when it was good it was very, very good and when it was bad it was horrid.

Today is the first day of January, 2014. I am excited about this New Year. We have a lot of plans floating around in the air. Places to go and people to meet...maybe get off the beaten path a little more. I like it out there where you never know what lies around the corner, down the road or over the next mountain. I am expecting good things this year.