Road in Retirement

A Special Season for Many a Reason During this time of year, we all hear the clarion call of the season—a resounding reminder to focus on the true meaning of Christmas relative to whatever you believe. Maybe for some, it’s a time for giving philanthropically. For others perhaps it's all about connecting with family and friends near and far. Maybe it's connecting with folks you haven’t seen for days weeks months or years; or on the flip side, it's stopping and connecting with someone right underneath your nose; like kids, spouses, significant others, or an ornery neighbor. We are besieged with cantankerous reminders all through this season to keep it sacred and special: Hallmark movies, TV sitcoms, tear-jerking commercials from far away children’s hospitals, special local news reports of some community social cause in action, messages from preachers and pastors from the pulpit, email and text messages from charitable organizations known and unknown to us, and of course Holid...

Updates After my traumatic setback with deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in May 2023, I was giving all my friends, relatives, and prayer partners updates. All of that stopped gradually as my husband and I just got tired, but I’ll provide a summary here because I have had so many inquiries.  Home and Care First, we have been receiving consistent in-home care for about a year, which has allowed me to enjoy home comforts and activities and allowed Chris to work and find respite. I have basically one dedicated care provider and then a collection of them from another agency. They are all professionals but might as well be sisters because we get along so well. One of my greatest de-stressors throughout my youth, college, and married life has been to bake. My husband brags that I can look at a dessert picture in a magazine and make the item from scratch to taste and look exactly the same. That’s not true but let him go ahead and believe that. So baking continues and my care people hav...