I finally received Bill’s gift card for the “Vietnam Memorial Brick”, but I had to come up with something to write on the inside. His birthday is Sunday and he’ll be 61 so we’ll have a small celebration I’m glad he wants something simple like the pineapple upside down cake since I am the world’s worse cake baker.
I don’t think I would like having my birthday so close to Christmas and especially on the 25th it seems like it kind of takes away from your special day or at least it does to me. I prefer having mine when it’s separate from all of the holidays and no one is as stressed and you don’t get those combined birthday/Christmas presents.
Of course he already knows what his birthday present is because he had to supply all of the information for me. He’s so difficult to buy for so this is the perfect present for him because now he will at least know he is being honored for the 2 years of his life he gave up to serve his country with no thanks from either side.
I’m not the greatest at expressing sentiment, but at least he will know it’s heartfelt and that I mean it. The short verse below is what I finally came up with I’m sure I could have done better, but too much is going on. He knows how I feel though so that’s all that matters.
You served your country valiantly when you heard the call
No parade or welcome home, protesters made you feel like dirt
I’m so glad I have the opportunity to honor you
with this “Vietnam Memorial Brick”
instead of seeing your name on “The Wall”
God Bless those that served in all of these stupid wars, but we know that they will never end because there can be no peace in this world because then we would stop aspiring for a better place or a Heaven. I’m sorry that makes no sense to anyone, but me. I honestly believe there will be no peace in this reality.
I met Eric’s Father when we were both in an orphanage many years ago, he was smart and athletic and he was my first serious love or that’s how I always felt. Of course I know it never would have lasted now, but way back then I didn’t. At any rate I have never regretted having my Son although I do regret that I wasn’t older and better able to provide for him.
The orphanage had a small newsletter that they sent out to all the sponsors and of course they would feature the children in it. I was even in it and I look pretty dorky at one of the functions serving barbecue or something I really don’t remember now, but I’ll post it below (I’m the one with the flip, remember those)? Andy was featured also in front of the trophy case which I’ll also post.
As I said he was into all sports and had football, Golden Gloves boxing, baseball, and basketball trophies. He was a quarterback and loved all the pain or so he said which I personally thought was weird. Eric never liked sports, but would tell everyone I wouldn’t let him play because he didn’t want people to think he was a wimp, but since I usually took the fall no big deal.
Eric only recently met him in the hospital and said he got an okay vibe from him so if they are planning on doing that DNA test I really think it ought to be soon. I see no need for it because it’s a little late now after 38 and a half years, but I guess most people want proof of who they are. Personally I’m more concerned about where I’m going than where I came from.
I have always liked to be called Nana over Granny and that’s what Nate calls me and Natalie will no doubt follow suit, these are Bill’s Daughters 2 children. When Bill’s Son had his 2 little girls I just assumed it would be the same, but found out that his wife’s Mother had chosen to be called Nana herself which is no big deal so I had to figure something else for them to call me.
I certainly didn’t like the idea of little kids calling me by my name and I wanted something easy so I decided on Juju since my niece had called me Aunt Juju many years ago. I am of course closer to Jodi’s kids than Billy’s anyhow so no big deal. I thought when Eric had Ethan I would get to be Nana to him, but Eric still referred to me as Granny to Ethan because he couldn’t remember what everyone wanted to be called.
Eric had a Granny and a Papaw. Bill gets to be Pappy of course to every one unless Eric forgets and calls him Papaw to Ethan. Chris’s Mother wants to be called Mom Mom, well I know it gets all confused for Eric with everything he is going through so I told him Granny is fine and he really appreciated my change of heart. Even though I feel my age I simply never thought of myself as a Granny, but I’ll live with it.
I really enjoyed being called Mom and Mama, I don’t ever remember my Son calling me Mother. Mother to me is so formal, but we all choose how we want our children and their offspring to address us. Even when Eric referred to me to others he never said my Mother, it was always my Mom and when he was small of course it was my Mama and he called me Mama until he was a teenager then he thought it sounded to babyish.
Eric called this morning to let me know they are doing surgery this afternoon to embed the permanent pain pump which will go directly to his spine and will take a couple hours to do. He has been in the hospital to build up his platelets so they could do the surgery. He said the levels had been around 16,000 and now they have them built up to over 100,000 they feel it’s safe for the surgery.
Just since August he has had 3 consecutive days of Chemo and 3 weeks off each month and since he has maintained keeping weight on even though his gallbladder was bad they decided to add radiation so he has now had 2 doses, but instead of small consecutive doses they have hit him with 3 times the regular amount in 2 treatments if he hadn’t had the extra weight they wouldn’t have done that. No wonder all of his levels are so low.
Last month he told me that the Cancer was already in his bones and we had been under the impression from the other hospital that they hadn’t reached that far yet. That’s when I kind of lost it and got really depressed, but I’m working through all that now and learning to deal better with the situation. I’m sure all of the positive energy sent our way has really helped and I’m really grateful for all the thoughts and prayers.
Yesterday I had to get up earlier than usual because we had to have Bill at the Eye Center to be dilated and have pictures taken of his eyes and of course he needed a driver and of course it started sleeting which I hate to drive in, but we made it okay thank goodness the hospital isn’t that far away. He said the light really hurts his eyes when they are taking those photos and probably scared the other old people that were waiting their turn.
I told you about Bill’s Glaucoma and how high the pressure is in the one eye, now we have to wait till January to find out what we have to do next and if he has lost more vision. He’s very concerned that he wont be able to ride his Harley above anything else. Motorcycles and riding has always been his passion and has also started to become one of mine.
He then decided a couple hours later that we should go to the mall on the other end of town and that he was okay to drive so off we went. He has a Harley leather bomber jacket and swears that it has shrunk and we’ve been looking for another one a little bit larger, but he doesn’t want to pay 500 dollars for a new one. We were going to check Wilson’s leather at the mall, but they had closed down so we walked around for awhile.
He then decided that I should probably drive home and for him to let me drive told me that his eyes must really be bothering him. We decided to stop at Hoss’s for lunch when we were inside the mall and wouldn’t you know when we went outside the weather had turned even nastier. I hate driving in this type of weather, but I managed to get us back to our neck of the woods without mishap and lunch was great. He decided that he would drive us the rest of the way home.
We made a couple more stops and then headed home because they had a Winter advisory out and were closing schools early plus some other places were shutting down. The people around here drive like nuts so we didn’t want to get caught up in any fender benders. We were suppose to go watch Nate in his Christmas pageant at 7 o’clock, but they cancelled because of the advisory so we spent the evening watching movies together and talking.
We had a quality day together all things considered and I didn’t get anything done on the computer except to check out a few things and print out a very simple pineapple upside down cake recipe that he wants for his birthday on Sunday. I’ll be glad when the holidays are over so everything will get back to normal. All of the good energy that came my way must have helped because I’m not as depressed as before so thanks a lot.
