Goodbye to an Old Friend, Hello to the New

Thursday, May 16, 2024

May already. Beautiful, warm May. The day started with me saying goodbye to an old friend. Yes, I gave my friend the boot. Out of my life now, I learn to deal with the rebirth of living my life on my terms. 

With an orthopedic surgeon appointment at 8:00 this morning, I was told to never wear the boot again. This means learning how to walk in my normal fashion, with no limping, no crutch, no helpful friend in the embracing boot. Nothing. 

Scared? Oh, I'm scared shitless as they say. Who says that, I'm not certain, but I say it when the fear is real. The moment Terry helped me into our car, I winced. Anything and everything around that foot made me cringe. What if I turn my ankle? What if I hit it on something? What if ... Yes, the list goes on. Time to put on the big girl panties and pull this off. Hold my walker. I've got this. 

While the difference is scary to me, so is the joyful act of being able to walk again. I am so much closer to being back to "normal," or as normal as I can be. This is me we are talking about. 

So goodbye, old friend. Thank you for all of your protection throughout the healing process. Goodbye to the walker, the wheelchair too? We'll see. I'm not quite ready to release all of my "friends," giving me nothing to support my old protective habits. 

After the mental boot burial, Terry and I proceeded to the shoe store, where I could get myself a very sturdy, high-top tennis shoe with lots of traction on the sole. The old shoes were kaput. They had no traction left and I can't stand to wear them any longer due to the image ingrained in my brain of the fall. Another thing I need to kick to the curb. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we found the door locked. The store would not open for another hour or two. So off to pick up Mallory for the trek to the Eugene/Springfield area. Terry had to have his heart checked with an echo and then followed up with an attachment of his new friend, a heart monitor and all of this was happening in Springfield today. 

Terry needs to wear the heart monitor for about two weeks before removal. He is still seeing bigeminy and trigeminy beats within the sinus rhythm. It may be nothing because he is still asymptomatic, but it needs to be watched closely in case it takes a turn for the worst. 

The drive to Eugene was good. Our KIA Sportage also has a boo-boo and needs to be shown some TLC while we are there. Yes, already. We looked at a store in Eugene for shoes, and wow! It was a running shoe store, as one would find easily in Eugene since it is an athletic town. Eugene is also known as Track Town USA due to the accommodations the city has shown both Olympic trials held at Hayward Field, along with other high-caliber events. Steve Prefontaine ran on that track during his reign as track and field "king." Just for that reason alone, my heart still lies in Eugene. 

Locating nothing in terms of doable footwear, we headed to KIA for our car doctor to apply some touch up paint to the passenger side, front fender well. Pulling out from a parking lot at the store, we forgot the electric cart we used was parked so close and scraped some paint off the new car. It happens. Nothing stays new forever. 

Once there, we were told the paint they ordered was the wrong type. We needed to reorder the touch up paint and would have it delivered to us in Roseburg later. We could then bring it back for a quick paint to protect it from rust. Now, why they send it to us, then we have to take it back to them is beyond me, but hey, I'm not a repairman working at KIA. My hubby seems to know what's going on, so I leave it at that. 

After KIA, we needed to move toward Springfield where Terry's appointment was set for noon. At this point, I was using the walker for support, with no boot. We stopped by the house before driving to Eugene to grab my other shoe since I was told not to wear the boot again. My hip and foot were both getting sore at this point, but onward I wanted to move. I knew the strength of my leg had to be built up again due to the lack of walking since January. 

Terry pulled up in front of another shoe store to see if we could find anything at all. There was nothing we could find that would suffice in a bit of support in a shoe. 

While in Springfield, we stopped by the store my daughter Brandy works at. She is in retail, yes. Poor thing. The store is located in the mall and after our visit with her, she offered up the idea of a shoe store two doors down. That's where we went to look, with no luck. But we did enjoy a short visit with Brandy and invited her to lunch with us later. We were meeting up with Dawn, Jessee, Kylee, and Zyrah after all was said and done in the appointment department. It was a very busy day surrounding appointments and doctors and such. 

Terry made it to the hospital ahead of time. They called him back for his echo, and off we went to another floor of the hospital to have his heart monitor applied. After sitting in the waiting room for over 30 minutes, Terry finally asked someone if he could get some help in putting the monitor on so we could leave. Finally a nurse was located and she had a moment to help him. They shaved a spot on his chest and applied the monitor. After sending Terry the best thoughts I could muster, while I tried to swallow the fear of the apparatus catching something wrong, we moved on.  

We met up with everyone at the Mexican restaurant we chose to eat at. I had never been there before, but Dawn and Jess had. The restaurant is El Charro. Cute place on Harlow Road in Springfield. While I have seen it several times, I've never been there, so we'll see. 

(Photo by David Kennedy, Google)

Inside, the waitress seated us quickly. The food smelled great. I believe there was one couple sitting off to the back, on the other side of where we were. We were a group of six and a half, Zyrah being the "half." The dining experience always makes me wonder when a restaurant has so few customers. Although, this is the lunch hour "rush," so to speak. 

While waiting for food, we chatted, laughed, read the menu, and caught up on the "haps" of our lives. Since we saw each other last weekend, we had quite a bit going on in the family. 

Kylee is having her blood pressure looked at lately, as it is running low. Dawn is dealing with issues herself in the health department as well. But everyone looked great! Jess is due in a couple of weeks, so we are waiting for the birth of a new great granddaughter too. She had an ultrasound and wow! The baby is over five pounds already! We are taking guesses throughout the family as to how large we think the baby will be. My guess was seven pounds, eight ounces. 

The weight of the baby is important to watch, however, Novalee is doing just fine. Jess ended up with an ultrasound photo of her in utero, with her pudgy little face pressed against the uterus. My grandson, Keenan and his wife have a beautiful little girl with darker hair and gorgeous cheeks you want to snuggle against. I can't wait to see Jess's little one! The photo below is where Novalee is laying upward. 

The chatting ceased as the food started coming! Mallory, Terry and I had not eaten and we were getting hungry. Mallory's stomach was protesting with vigor during our wait in the hospital. She was up for some food!

The poor taco and tamale I ordered didn't stand a chance. Beans and rice alongside, the meal was awesome. Of course it all began with a side of chips and salsa, which were devoured during the wait. More chips were delivered, along with a couple of salsa cups to go along with the meal. 

We were all fighting the stringy cheese that happens during Mexican meals. I love it! The stringier, the better, as you know it's real cheese when it melts in this manner. 

Zyrah saw the camera and positioned her bean-covered chip for a photo shoot. Nice play, Zyrah. Nice play. 

Mallory has to be related. I eat my rice and beans the same way. Forcing the wet mixture up onto a chip is the safest way to get it into your mouth. 

Zyrah looks like she's ready to get into trouble. She was actually looking at Terry because he was doing the eyebrow thing with her again. 

The raising and lowering of eyebrows means something to Terry and I. When I was super dizzy and the world was spinning, Terry took me into urgent care. While laying on the table, I was hanging onto Terry's hand and the bed to avoid falling, as I thought I would do. 

The doctor on shift came in and checked things out. I told him my ears tend to retain wax and I felt that some was up against my ear drums. It's happened many times to me. He asked me the year, who the president was, and then the finale that had me stumped. Could this be a stroke instead? 

He brought his face toward me, lifted and lowered his eyebrows a few times in succession, then asked me to repeat the motion. I looked over at Terry, asking for a little help, as he and I joked about this all the time. I had a difficult time making my eyebrows move in that way. 

Terry laughed, looked at the physician and informed him that I'm not very good at that trick even when I'm well. We all laughed and called it a day. We joke that he could have put me into the hospital for a while, to keep an eye on me. Thanking Spirit that was not the case and that they were busy that day. 

Yes, Zyrah was finished and she was making it known. Everything around her suddenly became an interest. She was looking outside, showing us her taco, and being a cute, typical two year old. Terry tried doing the raising and lowering of eyebrows, to which she replied with a pouty look. She couldn't do it and that upset her. Ah, the girl is so related to me. I do love being a grandmother and a great grandparent. 

The girls looked adorable. Each of them were in matching yellow dresses, with Zyrah in a yellow outfit as well, even though it wasn't exactly like the dressed the older girls wore. It was beautiful to see them all dressed alike and together for the day!

During lunch, we contacted Brandy. She couldn't meet us for the meal due to her baby, Toski. Toski is the five month old pup she and Dan acquired and if y'all have ever owned puppies, you get what I'm saying here. She could come today because her dog was destroying her home. Yes, destroying, as puppies tend to do. They're little monsters you can't control until they get older. But they are so worth the frustration and time. 

So, Brandy did not feel comfortable leaving him all day while she was at work, and then again to go to the restaurant. Can't say as I blame her. The restaurant was not the Mexican restaurant we had originally thought of, so it was not dog friendly. But since she couldn't come to us, we went to her. We loaded up all three cars and stopped by Brandy's on the way out to Roseburg again. 

Brandy was a good hostess, as always. We hung out for a bit, watching Toski move around in his environment, and have some fun with his "sister," Chi. Chi-Chi doesn't care for him being all over her, so she would snarl back at him. It was entertaining, to say the least. 

Yes, odd names for her pets, but she names them that for a reason. Toski is a character in a card game she loves. Chi-Chi is straight from the word, "chihuahua." Chi is part chihuahua and it fits her. Kiba Kichi, her border collie, pit bull mix came from a character in an anime or a manga that she loved. I've had some odd names or "unique" as I call them for my pets as well, so I'm not one to talk, but Brandy does get imaginative. I like that.

Our visit lasted about 45 minutes or so. All of us began leaving, heading off to our normal, daily lives again. While I do love our visits to see my family, the other side of my family and I were worn out. 

Terry was exhausted since he stayed up late, unable to sleep, and waking again at 6:00 AM to be ready for my appointment. I was getting quite sore from trying to walk normally again, without a boot for far too long. I'm quite certain that when the doctor said to walk, he didn't mean all day. 

Mallory was tired from her constant lack of sleep and from sitting in the car all day. She has no padding on her derriere and was dealing with stiffness and soreness. I laugh at this only because I think, "Ah, just wait until you get older ..." 

Upon our return to Roseburg, we had our babies waiting to be taken out. We watched a bit of The Resident, our favorite show, and then off to bed we went. 

Friday, May 17, 2024

What day is it? It's our 11th month anniversary! 

Sweet man delivered a beautiful bouquet of flowers, telling me it was a reminder of just how much he loves me and how important our marriage is to him. Huh, ladies? Huh? Not bad, right? Next month, it will be one year that we have been married. Hard to believe. 

Our adventures every day show us this is where we are supposed to be. We laugh so much and so hard with one another that it's impossible to imagine myself with anyone else and the desire to be with anyone else is not there. 

Cutest floral delivery boy I've ever seen too, and that helps!

We talked about how beautiful the flowers were and sat to watch another episode of our show. We held hands, sat close together, and enjoyed those moments. Terry released my hand and stood up, stating he had to use the bathroom for a moment. Seconds later, he came out of the room and announced he would go to the store to get some vanilla ice cream to go with the sugar free Mug Root Beer we have in the fridge.  

My absolute favorite drink a while back was the Mug Diet Root Beer. Not being a fan of diet anything, this soda was different. It did not have that "diet" taste or after taste so many diet sodas have. It tasted like the original Mug Root Beer product I knew so well and loved so much. 

Suddenly, my diet soda favorite disappeared off the shelves, right about the time of COVID. I was upset. Then, a few weeks ago, Terry informs me he found a new form of the soda:

Now, I'm well aware that "sugar free" and "diet" are probably pretty much the same product. The diet form of Mug most likely was made with fewer calories as well as being sugar free, but once you remove the sugar from soda, it drops the calories by a lot, sort of creating a "diet" soda anyway. I do believe it's basically the same thing. 

Any hoo, Terry returned from the store with the Carb Smart vanilla ice cream. While it is not sugar free, it holds a very small amount of sugar for a diabetic to contend with. Everything eaten in moderation is the key anyway. I go outside the "moderation" window at times, as most of us do. Especially when it comes to Cheetos and of course, ice cream, so no, I'm not getting onto a soapbox here or anything. 

So, root beer floats all around to help celebrate our union 11 months ago. It was awesome! I haven't had a root beer float in quite a while. Well, since staying at Marina's house to heal anyway. That was at least three months ago. A lot of things have passed under the bridge since then. 

While looking through some photos on the laptop as one does, I ran across this photo in my memories on Facebook. My brother Mike, my sister Ginger, and I posed for this photo at Marina's house. Of course, I had to make some smart remarks and we were all giggling. Family. Wow. I love them!

I am from a family of seven children total. The oldest sister, Gloria, is a half-sister, but who counts halves? She is a sister, period. And a lovely woman she is. 

Gloria, Mike, me, Valerie, Mark, Gail, Ginger. That was our household of children. Of course, mom and dad was included in that somewhere. All but Mike and I are in Tennessee. In this photo, Ginger was able to line up a trip to Oregon for a day, on her way through the area as a long haul trucker. We had the chance to see her twice during that couple of weeks and it was so nice!

Terry and his brother have a loose bond. They are not in the same state, so the miles are between, but they still remain in contact through mail and some through social media. He and his brother are "half" siblings as well, but like I said, who counts the half? They are brothers and love each other.

Family. Family is the key to life, I do believe. Whether it's family of blood relation or whether it's your best friend who is your family. The love is there, the bond is tight. It's all about love. That closeness. Terry and I wish that family bond in all of your lives. 

Since COVID, it seems as though many have lost the desire to be within that familial bond and share that closeness. Many have lost the need to be around others, to share the good times. To share the laughter, the tears. We all need that. Humans are such social creatures. We're not meant to be alone. My heart goes out to anyone without someone close in their lives. It leaves such a gap of emptiness. 

Be kind to yourselves. Take time for yourself, and share your light in the world this week! We can use all the light we can get. Until tomorrow, Bootless Vicki and Monitored Terry wish you all the best life has to offer! Meanwhile, we are off of here and dancing in this beautiful sun. Enjoy this week of warmth outside!

My brother Mike and I, in Tennessee. I'm assuming this was Smyrna, Tennessee, as I was born there. 

Cloth diapers and sparkly couches. What a trend setter.