I'm going to try to get this done. I woke up with a killer headache that isn't going away. I've also apparently slept wrong the past couple of nights and have a very sore neck and shoulder. I'm just falling apart!

We had a nice visit in Illinois last week, which is why there was no post. Saw some classmates from the class of 1972, some I hadn't seen since graduation. Others for more than 15 years! We had a good time catching up. We also saw my nephew and met his girlfriend. They seem very happy together. Didn't get to see Mom and Gene much, they weren't feeling well and Gene was diagnosed with shingles, so we said we would spend more time with them on the next trip, whenever that will be.

Bill did quite well on the trip. He didn't seem to get too tired out. He really wasn't looking forward to the reunion, but he knew it was important to me, so he toughed it out. We haven't done too much since we've been home, but that's OK too.

We got some good news while we were in Illinois, Ryan finally was able to get a job. He's working at an auto repair business and really seems to like it. They're teaching him things he didn't know and he said the pay goes up as you are able to do more.
But, we got some sad news yesterday, but it was news I already suspected. Our daughter-in-law finally admitted she was not pregnant. We knew she wasn't because her due date was next week and, unfortunately, I look more pregnant than she does! I think she lost the baby in March because that's the last she talked about the baby, but I don't know why they didn't just tell us then. There's no shame in losing a pregnancy, I lost one myself.

We can tell it is summer. It's been miserably hot and supposed to be hotter this week. It's also been very humid with showers popping up. We were put under a flash flood warning the other night. Radar showed that we had received between 2 and 4 inches of rain with another 1 to 3 inches expected. Trouble was, we hadn't received a drop of rain! But, a few miles up the road in Missouri, there was a deluge!

That's about all I can think of with my head pounding like it is. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day. The celebration has already started in our neighborhood!

This will be a very short post, and mostly for my mother's benefit. We made it home from Georgia a couple of hours ago. We're both pretty tired but we've managed to unload the car. The only problem we had was a detour in Birmingham. I love it when you are directed off the interstate but not told where to go or how to get back on! The navigator in my car wanted us to, of course, turn around which was not an option. So, I finally got off and parked and looked at the atlas. Finally figured a way to go...along with about 1 million other people...in a construction zone...with lane limitations! All of the uncertainty upset Bill. If the plan changes mid-stream, he gets very nervous. Luckily I'm more laid back and patient, but it still was nerve wracking for me too.

So, now we have a few days to rest up, re-pack a suitcase, and get a haircut before heading to Illinois on Wednesday. I have a feeling it will be an early night for us tonight!

This is an early post for this week, but there are several people watching for this one, so early it is.

A couple of weeks ago I said that I would not subject Bill to any more funerals unless they couldn't be avoided. And this one couldn't be avoided. Our daughter-in-law passed away suddenly Monday morning. So, here we are in Georgia. So far it's gone well, and I found the magic bullet for him. I started giving him Xanax morning and night on Monday and it has helped. The memorial service was this afternoon and while there were tears, they were short lived and he was pretty much dry eyed during the service. It was hard for him to see his son hurting though. He's just going through the motions right now. Her sister is doing what she can for him and he has some great neighbors.

The service was a little unsettling for me because we have the same name. So to see Beth Haven on a screen with birth and death dates was a little odd. The preacher used her name a lot so it seemed like I was listening to my own funeral being preached!

We did get to see another son and his family and meet our great-granddaughter. She's, of course, a cutie. We weren't able to visit long with them as they had to head back to north Georgia today. But the last time we had seen them was when Bill was in the nursing home. He doesn't remember them being there, but they all remembered that he wasn't able to get out of bed when they were there, or use his left hand, so they were pleased to see his progress.

We are staying here until Saturday and then heading home. We are to be in Illinois next week-end and we debated on going straight there from here, but we've decided to go home for a few days first to rest up. We'll probably head to Illinois on Tuesday or Wednesday.

All for now. Next week will probably be early also as there's a reunion on Saturday. If I do this early it won't matter how tired I am by Saturday night. So, Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there who may be reading this. For everyone else, have a great week-end.

Good Morning!

This has been a crazy week, ending with a surprise late night trip to Memphis.

The week seemed to go very fast for some reason. It seemed like I woke up Monday and turned around and it was Friday.

Our area schools finished for the year this week. They had to go longer because of all the bad weather this winter. Brianna only had to go for 2 class exams, 1 on Wednesday afternoon and one on Thursday morning. She came and hung out with us Wednesday and we dropped her off on our way to McKenna's awards ceremony. She got a couple of awards so we're proud of her. We checked her out early, picked Brianna back up and took them home.

Thursday Bri took her test and I took her home. We had bad weather forecast and after looking at radar and listening to the weathermen, Emily said to check McKenna out of school and bring both of the girls into town. It was Kenna's "fun day" and just as it was her time slot to play in the bounce house and do all the other fun things, it started raining. It was raining pretty hard when we got to Brianna and on the way home the storm hit. I had to pull to the side of the road because of the wind and sideways rain. Emily called and said they were moving everyone in to the x-ray room and told us to go back to her house but it was too late for that. A sign blew down right in front of us but my car didn't even shake! As we moved into town we started seeing power poles and tree limbs everywhere and the closer we got to the house I could tell the power was out. When we got in Bill was no where to be found, but he was outside trying to get the generator running. I had him come in until the rain slacked up and then we went out and got it going. He had forgotten that he had to switch the power from the main to the generator. This was only the 2nd time we've had to use since we had it installed, but it was nice. It didn't run the air conditioner, but it powered everything else in the house so I could cook. The power came back on about 7 so we switched over again and things were back to normal.

We had storms again yesterday afternoon, but they were not anything like the ones Thursday. Ryan and Amanda were here to pick up the kids and he cleaned a couple of gutters for us before the rain. I noticed that we had water on the floor again in the same place as last year. They had to wait for the storm to pass before they could head home. I think their area got the brunt of it yesterday while they didn't have as much as we did the day before.

Ryan did get a call that his ex-wife was at the hospital and wanted to see him before he picked up the kids so they headed up there. When he called later he said that Mistie had been a victim of domestic violence and that everything happened in front of the kids. The kids were safe at their Great-grandpa's and her husband was in jail. She is pretty banged up. She was transported to the trauma center in Memphis as a pre-caution because she has a broken eye socket, among other cuts. Her mother wanted me to ride with her and her sister-in-law so that Melissa (the sister-in-law) wouldn't have to drive home by herself late at night. So, off we go. It was decided about midnight that Mistie would be discharged and her step-brother was going home with her, but that presented a small problem. There wasn't enough car space! So, I called Emily and she and Bryan and Brianna came to pick me up. We got home about 2:15 this morning...and I'm still exhausted! I tried to go back to sleep after Bill got up, but couldn't. Ron and Buddy came over and then they left, probably to go to Ron's so I could sleep! I saw that Bill did take his meds, a little early, but he took them!

So, that's our crazy week. When you say your prayers this time, pray for Mistie and Joe and Kayden and Kiyann. We've been praying for them for a long time and it had started to pay off. Mistie told her mom that she and Joe were planning on going to church this week. She thinks that church is just a club and it's not for her. She also has to go back to the trauma center Tuesday to see the surgeon. They will have to do some surgery on her socket and prop her eye but they can't do it until the swelling is completely gone.

I think since I've written this, and I know that Bill did take his medicine, I could sleep again, so I'm off to bed.