It's been nearly a week since I wrote in here. We had a very nice time in Utah, although we only had maybe 2 days of pretty decent weather. It's still fairly cool up there, but it is so much fun to be with our kids. The blessing for baby SJ went really well. Our son-in-law, Michael, did a great job on giving the blessing. Michael is an amazing person, and one of my all-time favorites. :) Katie and her fiance, Cody, came down and spent Sunday with us too. It was great to have so many of us together. It was hard for Brady, our youngest, to come home--he enjoys being with his older siblings so much...and he loves playing basketball with Michael.
We came home to our torn-up house. Even though everything is out of place, we are excited about how it's going to look. We have raised the ceiling in our kitchen, and that makes everything seem roomier. The tile has also been torn out, and will be replaced mostly by wood floors. We are getting new appliances, and got a great deal on a new oven, microwave, and refrigerator. We feel so lucky to be getting all these things.
Meanwhile, we are trying to get things ready for Katie's wedding. It is hard to do a wedding long-distance, but we've got an amazing friend, Terri Flaherty, who is helping us with the wedding and our house--she is fabulous! I hope we can pull all of this together before the beginning of August.
Some of you have commented on the amount of traveling I am doing--it is pretty amazing. (and sometimes is hard with some of my ongoing health issues). On the whole, I am doing well...but I still have to be careful. I still have problems with the dumping syndrome--I've got to watch the consumption of sweets, and also be careful about not eating too much period. We went out to dinner at a great place in Utah, but I ate too much, and then I had to lay down. Otherwise, I get hot, delirious, faint and kind of crazy--like I am so disoriented. One night at Emily's, I had an "episode" where I wasn't even sure where I was. Spence stayed right by my side, and got me up into her hallway, where a fan could blow on me. With the help of some Gatorade and crackers, I was able to get feeling better in about a half hour.It's almost like I have a diabetic reaction. I just need to rest after eating, and try to listen to my body before it gets to that point. I have decided that I have those episodes more when Spence is around--he is so attentive, and I know I'll get total care if he's around. He is very reassuring to me when I'm going through that. It doesn't happen often, but it is kind of unnerving when it DOES happen. We are going back to Utah in a week for the wedding of our nephew. Then I'm home until we go to the beach at the end of July. Anyway, that is the latest update. I hope you all are doing well. With all my love, Louise
Good to get your update! I am glad you had a nice trip. I am sure you will get all of your dietary issues sorted out soon. Good thing Spence is so wonderful to help you through the effects.
ReplyDeleteI have lots of news-a new baby and a wedding in our family too. I will write you soon!
Love,
Annie
Thank goodness you are getting a new microwave!! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Louise,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to keep updated on your life - so glad are able to make these trips for special family events! Sometime when you are up here (Utah), I would love to take you out for lunch and catch up. Sure miss you!
Jan Sterzer
Gee Louise I feel like a broken record! I have been there and done that,
ReplyDeletebeing alone that is. I was a widow twice and really spent a lot of years being married as well as a whole lot of years being alone, but trust me, I was never lonely, nor did I feel alone. What I feared most of all was being sick and alone and I did have a lot of those nights after mom died in 2005,
until I married Chaz in 2010. He is 5 years younger than myself, which I
figured he will outlive me and then I never have to worry about dying alone and worry about if the dog will get fed.
Louise, your so lucky and blessed to have a large family, so you should never have this problem. My entire family is dead, unbelieveable it seems, especially when I look at the family photos and see me with 50 family members. I have a few alive but don't really know them as I never even met them.
But, I have to say this, most guys and gals are single or remain single because of choice, I did. For the most part single life has a lot of great
points. Like you can go and do anything you want, whenever you want. Cruise, fly to Paris, Rome or South America, see the world. Go on a
mission or whatever. I actually enjoyed the singles LDS annual conferences and weekend dances, even the Monday night family home
evenings at Judy Roes home with other single guys and gals, we were
not alone, we had each other and our pets and if we wanted kids, we
could always play with the neighbors or church members or other
family members kids. Most people have a niece or nephew. Always had
a job, and this is a very fun world, the business world, I loved it.
But I will tell you what I have learned, single folks do not fit into married
couples world very well, to a point, but limited. And, well married gals, like me again, do not really fit into the single gals or guys (old guy friends...still single) well either. To a point, very limited. Guess this
is why the church has been so concerned for the singles, to meet each
other and have fireside with other singles, family home evenings, conference, Friday and Sat. night dances, even a singles ward. As a matter of fact I was never invited as a single woman to any married couples (church members that is) homes for dinner or to visit. The singles have a different world and I do not think for the most part get
lonely, just afraid as they grow older. Life is never a bed of roses, married or single, widowed or divorced. As long as we have faith, hope and charity, I think we will get through this trial.
I am sorry you felt lonely, call me next time, gee, I would have enjoyed
talking with you, as I don't call you because I see how very busy you are all the time and figured your always getting calls and could never get
lonely. Something single people learn fast is to make the calls themselves and not wait for the phone to ring, reaching out to other
singles always worked. I had friends (male and female friends) I called
regularly, you learn what to do to live alone. An old friend of mine (was
a member of Chaparrel Ward 15 years ago), Collette Bergeron (83 now) called me tonight from St George, Utah, said I need someone to talk with
tonight. I haven't seen her in 15 years, but she still gets afraid at times, of being alone. She had gone to the temple and worked as usual, but
said, I don't feel well and asked me to just check on her now and then to
make sure she is alive. I remember asking a member of the church a few years ago to do this for me, guess what she said, "Oh Peggy, please
don't put this on me".......so I didn't, I later realized how wrong I was for
asking her, as she was married and her life was too busy to deal with issues she did not understand anyway, so I called a single member, in fact several and we checked on each other, we learned to network and
help each other. Single members with grown children normally do not
have an issue because their kids call them each night and check on them.
Peggy