Road in Retirement

Trip #2 Chicago In the last blog, Travel Part 1, I described lessons I learned from an experimental trip to Wisconsin (WI). We learned so much as a matter of fact that we decided to plan a second trip, through WI to Chicago, with a jaunt to northern Illinois to visit college friends thrown in for the heck of it. I guess in the back of our minds we thought, why not die doing what we are supposed to do in retirement: travel. Our trip was advertised by the Travel Agency (Chris) as an 11-day adventure. It was that alright. But seriously, here is where God's mercy and help appeared again in my life. That Bible verse in Proverbs 16:9 became real to me and I paraphrase with Eileen's vernacular; "We humans can plan our travel, but if we are truly trusting in God, He will direct our steps." We prayed about this trip and in our hearts the answer was let's trust God as innocent fools and go. Good friends of ours live by an unattributed quote, "God takes care of fools.&q

Get on the Road Many people's road in retirement, at least in America, is exactly that: getting on the road! But travel can be extremely challenging when you have a disability, and such has been my plight. Before my Parkinson's and dysphagia disruption in May 2023, we traveled often to see family and friends; especially in Wisconsin (WI) where my husband and I both hail. However, the rehab process and infections throughout all of 2023 brought too many risks for me to travel. Plus, the in-home therapy care I received for most of the fall of 2023 required that I be homebound.   Trip #1 Wisconsin Finally, in February 2024, no longer saddled with homebound status, we mustered some courage and booked a mad dash trip to Appleton, WI by car. We defied all odds and packed our Ford Edge to the ceiling with meds, easy-to-eat soups and pudding, a foldable lightweight wheelchair, and other items needed for a person with dysphasia. I didn’t have my G-tube inserted yet, so eating was alwa

The Feeling Samaritan We’ve been traveling so quickly down my recently bumpy road in retirement, I thought I would pull over for a bit and take a quick glance back at some of my caregivers. Jesus told a story about an unnamed Samaritan caregiver who provided medical help to a Jewish traveler lying beaten, naked, and robbed on the side of Judean road. We often call this the good Samaritan parable. The word Good is never used in Luke 10 to describe the caregiver; however, it does say that this stranger, this Samaritan man felt compassion. Not only did he feel compassion for someone he didn’t know, but he also acted on his compassion providing healing ointments and a safe haven inn for him to stay at through his rehab. Samaritans and Jews hated each other for religious and political reasons back then, making the story even more amazing. The parable should be called the Feeling Compassion Samaritan. That’s how I describe a few caregivers who were just doing their job, strangers to me, but

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