Life in Cayuga

 I’m back from Chicago!  It was an absolutely wonderful and amazing trip!  We had so much fun!   Before I tell you all the highlights, I have to make a couple of observations. First, the entire state of Illinois is one gigantic construction zone!  The entire length of the state, from Cairo to the Wisconsin border was all construction.  We go 5 miles with both lanes open, then 20 miles of one lane.  Traffic never stopped, but it was slow-going.  Second, I made a terrible mistake when I was younger.  I should have gone into the orange barrel business!  I’m not exaggerating, I bet we saw a million orange barrels on this trip!  If I’d gone in the barrel business, I’d be richer than Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates combined!   Now.  Our hotel was 2 blocks from the Red Line train station so we walked over and took the train straight to Wrigley.  We went a little early and wandered around Wrigleyville before the game. ...

 I love the Chicago Cubs.  Back in the day when TBS carried Braves games, most people in the south followed them because they’re the southern team. I always preferred watching the Cubs on WGN.  I loved Harry Carey!  And I guess I just wanted to be different!   In 1999, I had to make a business trip to Chicago.  I took the family and we went to a Cubs game.  We sat in the right field bleachers at Wrigley with all the “Bleacher Bums”!  Between innings, the outfielders would warm up and throw the warmup ball into the bleachers. Sammy Sosa was the right fielder, and he was still competing for the homerun title. Between innings once, Stephen and Lee went to the restroom and Dan stayed with us.  When Sammy finished warming up, he tossed the ball into the bleachers again and this time Dan got it!  His brothers were so jealous!  We buried that ball with him a year later.   As I’ve told you, I’m turning 70 next month. And I want recogni...

 Update on my upcoming surgeries: Knee replacement will be September 17. They have to consult with my pulmonologist and cardiologist, but we don’t anticipate any problems.  Skin cancer surgery is October 29. Honestly I’m a little more stressed about this than I am the knee.  I’ve had 2 basal cell carcinomas removed.  Basal cell grows slow and rarely spreads.  This is a squamous cell carcinoma.  They are more likely to spread to other organs than the basal cell.  Not always, but the chances are more than the basal cell.   I was thinking today about all the surgeries I’ve had.  The knee and the skin cancer surgeries will be my 8th and 9th surgeries, both outpatient and inpatient. That doesn’t count things like colonoscopies or stitches or other procedures. I had hernia surgery in 1956, tonsils out in 1962, testicle surgery, 1966, first knee surgery in 1975, second knee surgery in 1982, parotid gland surgery in 2022, skin cancer surgery in 2019 ...

A while back, I told you about the blessing I received from the young man at the pizza restaurant. I want to tell you about another blessing I received.  At a funeral   About 7 or 8 years ago, I was in a bad place in my life, mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially.  I had neglected my business to take care of my father during his struggle with terminal cancer. After he died, I was faced with having to close the business. I had been through a nasty divorce that left me completely broke. My children didn’t want anything to do with me and I couldn’t see my granddaughter. It started taking a toll on my health, mental as well as physical. It was the absolute lowest point of my life   When I thought things couldn’t get any worse, Bill died. Bill worked for my father for over 30 years and had been a part of my life since I was a child. He was a good man and I thought the world of him. So the day of his funeral, I put on my best suit and went to pay my respects. ...

 On my 17th birthday, in 1972, I tore up my left knee. I was playing in a high school football game, and as I was running downfield to cover a kickoff, someone blocked me from the side and it felt like they had torn the lower part of my leg off. I was in terrible pain, couldn’t put weight on that leg, and it was swelling terribly. The next day it was worse. My father took me to the ER to have it checked, and I had torn my MCL, the medial collateral ligament.  Thus began a 53 year journey of pain.  Now, after 2 surgeries, that did absolutely no good, and 53 years of constant pain and watching my step, I am having it replaced, or as my friend says, I’m getting a “store bought” knee! I’ve known for a long time that I needed this, and it was the only way I would ever get any relief. But the horror stories of pain and rehab made me put it off.  Now, the time has arrived.  I have no connecting tissue left in the knee.  It’s terribly unstable and I’m afraid of fal...

 Sometimes I get writer’s block.  I can’t come up with anything to write about on here.  I’ve been struggling with that for a few weeks now.  But, recently people I know have had new babies or grandchildren and it’s been interesting the names they’ve chosen. As I’ve said, I never liked my name so names interest me. When I was born, there were a lot of Michaels/Mikes, Davids, Roberts/Bobs/Bobbys, Steves, and Johns.  I guess John has to be the most popular boys name in history.  The girls were Deborah/Debra/Debbie, Vicky, Kathy/Cathy, Lynn, and Brenda. I think at one time I had 4 Kathys and 3 Roberts in my class! In the 1980s when my boys were born, it seemed like every boy (except ours!) had names that started with “J”.  Justin, Jason, Jonathan, Jackson.  The girls names all started with “A”.  Allison, Ashley, Alyssa, Anna, Amy. I always said I was glad we had boys, because we couldn’t agree on girl names!   Now the trend is older names. ...