Road in Retirement

Does This Road Have Any Scenic Turnouts? First off, if you have read any of my blog posts and have enjoyed them, thank you. I’m thrilled to have you journeying with me on this road. If you’ve been reading along with us, you know that my last three blogs have traveled on the road of post-surgery dysphagia and rehab hospitals, a tough road for sure. It gets a little worse before it gets better 😊 . But no worries, there are a few scenic turnouts, and this is not going to be a doom and gloom, oh woe is me blog—it will change to hunky dory soon enough. In the meantime, my road hit a bad stretch of pavement soon after I left all rehab hospitals in September of 2023 and went home.  A Bad Stretch of Pavement A few weeks into my new freedom in my own home with in-home occupational, physical and speech therapy things looked good. But I still wasn’t eating nutritious meals and hydrating consistently. My swallowing and chewing were impaired; only drinking a cup or two per day of fluids and

Scripture Memory When I was in college, I memorized the entire book of Philippians in the Bible. A scripture came back to me from that well of memorization that helped me change my attitude. I had been battling the May 16, 2023 surgery dysphagia and seemed to be losing. In the third chapter of that book, the author Paul, who is in prison for preaching Jesus, finds repose in the thought of his future resurrection. Jesus promises all who believe in Him a resurrection. My Parkinson’s-ridden body will become brand new in heaven. Just before July 4 in 2023, and in my second rehab facility I was starting to think of this Bible chapter. Paul says, “I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it [his resurrection body] yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” As an English teacher most of my life, that verse has an abundance of action words. It was time fo