homecoming

This weekend is home coming at the small Christian high school we graduated from.

It has been 56 years for me, and several of my old classmates were there. It was good to see them.

One friend asked how I was doing and I replied: "Better than I deserve." In his teasing (he is good at that), he replied: "That would not take much."

And that reminded me of an old joke:

I used to have a inferiority complex, but it turned out it was not a complex.

Meeting old classmates is not always a great joy to me. Most have done better with their lives than i had expected, while I did a less. I am a lot healthier than most of them. Kidney transplant, knees, bypass surgery. I skipped all of those -- so far.

But that is a tentative gift. The gift can be withdrawn at any time.

shakes

Last night we were eating supper.

Miriam looked up and explained to me: "Look at my thumb."

It was shaking in that way that I know too well. Parkinsons and AD are cousins and they often go together. Her father died of Parkinsons and her oldest brother has the disease now.

So it was not with pleasure that I watched that thumb quaver.

"Not another one Lord."

We stopped at a Discovery Center the other day.
This Red Tail Hawk had been wounded and had been rescued by the Center.
IT was a chance to see a live bird up very close.
The camera was my faithful iPhone. That device continues to amaze me.

cancer

One of my closest friends informs me that he has cancer.

The diagnosis is partial. That there is a cancer is not a question, but whether it is aggressive or benign is yet to be determined.

Most cancer is treatable if not totally curable and i am sure he will survive all of this, but that word scares me, as it does the rest of us.

Friend has surgery scheduled in a couple of weeks. Then the extent of the disease and the treatment.

All of this reminds me that I and we are mortal and that our time here is finite at best, and that even good living does not insure us against problems.

My friend is one of the most health conscious people I know. He eats and lives by the health book (and does it quietly). Sometimes all of that is modified by some less than wonderful genetics.

And that one is beyond our control.

home again

We are back in our home in Idaho.

Those of us who grew up and love the deserts are a bit put off by too much rain (more than a few hours at a time). This is spring, and all of that green got that way because of a lot of rain.

It is good, but I am glad to be back in the deserts.

Because I forgot how a debit card can work, we arrived home with 16 miles of fuel left in the tank. Had it been a real emergency, I could have gotten cash for more fuel, but after doing the arithmetic it worked out alright.

Miriam is very content as long as she is with me. That is good -- mostly. Lately she has gotten real chatty, lots of times. We stopped at a "Discovery Center" yesterday, and she peppered the man with the raptor birds with all sorts of questions, on the subject and repeats. He was either a bit hard of hearing, or acted that way and ignored many of her questions. Sometimes at night when we go to bed I say to her: "Time for sleep now Miriam, don't talk."

We saw 3 of 4 daughters, 8 grandkids and an assortment of pet dogs and cats.

It was a good trip, but it is good to be home.