Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Ahead of Schedule

Yes, I know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but if no one minds I’m going to jump the gun and say that today, one full day ahead of schedule I am immensely thankful for my new meds.

Before Janet passed away she had lost so much weight that she was having a difficult time keeping her wedding ring on. She did lose it one night when it came off and rolled under the bed. I thought for sure it was gone but a few weeks later I moved the bed for some reason and found her ring. I thought about wrapping some tape around it like the girls did back in high school but never got around to it. Anyway, when she passed away it had been sometime since she had worn it. I thought maybe that I had decided to put it away for safe keeping. I knew that I had considered it, but really couldn’t remember for sure—hey, people, I’m old and memory may not have been the first thing that went but it went anyway. So for the past year I have looked for her ring without success and had pretty much concluded that she had lost it as I had feared that she would. I just hoped that whoever found it enjoyed it or maybe enjoyed the money they got for it—that maybe it served some good purpose.

Well, the new meds kicked in a couple or three days ago—don’t remember exactly when. The last time new meds kicked in I cleaned house for two weeks—no, that was not the last time I cleaned house but from looking around you might not know that. The last time the first attack was books—I gave away over one hundred and fifty books on sailing and photography. This time the first attack was books. There is not a flat surface in this house except about a foot and a half square of the breakfast table where I eat that is not covered with books. I slept with twenty volumes of the Encyclopedia of Photography for over a week because I couldn’t find anyplace that I could stack them! Yes, I could have put them back in the book case but then if I needed one I would just have to get them out again! Anyway organizing books as been going on for a few days and is about under control—at least it is down to organizing bookcases.

This morning I started doing random attacks, hit a few in the kitchen and then turned my attention to the Goddard chest in the dining room where Janet kept the tablecloths, napkins and stuff like that. I frequently used the top drawer for stashing her backup medical items like extra glucose meters and lancets. I decided that it was time for the top drawer to be cleaned out. In the process I found a gold dollar piece, two bags of coins and a set of house keys that I didn’t know I had. I generally dropped my loose change in a wine glass that used to sit on the chest and every once in a while I collected more that I wanted to carry so I would drop them in a baggie and drop them in the top drawer. I had already put two bags of coins in the console in the car to use for toll roads. Between the four bags I’m sure there is more than enough to buy dinner tomorrow—that will make me a big hit in the checkout line.

But most importantly, in a baggie under a stack of napkins I found Janet’s wedding ring.

Addendum: Will it never cease? Last Saturday I went with the NWHPC for a photoshoot at a poinsettia nursery in Brenham. I shot quite a few photographs with the Nikon but most of the photographs were taken with the Samsung. On arriving home I discovered that I no longer had a Samsung—it was nowhere to be found. Since I did not stop anywhere on the way home I concluded that in leaving I had set it on top of the car and drove off—I did that once in North Carolina with a Leica. The camera can be replaced—the club jokes that they all follow me around to see what they might need that I am going to lose today. I replace a lot of lost equipment. Well, today, I finally got up the nerve to send an email to the nursery to see if anyone might have turned it in—which I felt was a very long shot.

Later this afternoon, I decided to go out to Dennys for a cup of coffee, my first this week—the Doctor hollered a lot so I am trying to do better. When I sat down in the car I noticed a piece of paper under the wiper blade that had worked its way down under the edge of the hood. I remembered having seen it as I left the nursery but being accustomed to flyers in the mall parking lots I ignored it thinking that it would blow off on the trip home. I decided to transfer it to the trash can. Thankfully I read it first---“Lost your camera? Ask inside we gave it to lost and found. Tell them your tag number.” Apparently I dropped it near the car well before we left.” So, not only did I find Janet’s ring today I found out that the Samsung is safe and sound. I will drive back to Brenham Saturday to retrieve it.

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on finding Janet's wedding ring!! I think I could use some of those meds if they produce a cleaning kind of side effect! And you sound like you need to ask Santa for a Kindle for Christmas. I know, I know, you would miss the feel and the smell of a good book in your hands. That is what my die hard reading friends and family said - before they got their Kindle. Now they have changed their tunes. They love the thing!! But then you would have to figure out what to do with the time you spend shuffling your hard copies around! I'm pretty sure you could think of something...

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  2. Jan, thank you. I am not so sure I would be a Kindel fan. It may be a different experience from reading a computer monitor so I could be wrong but I cannot adapt to reading on the monitor. I am so pleased to find her ring. I really thought that it was gone forever and that made me very sad. I have tried to substitue with the sterling silver W that I gave her the day we married but it was just not the same. BTW I am adding an addendum to this post in the next hour or so. I hope that you and Ronnie will have a very happy Thanksgiving.

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  3. Thanks, Gary. We had a nice Thanksgiving, considering we are not where we want to be (with our families!) We drove over to Jakarta - only a few hours by car but a whole different (better) experience. Even got to watch the Aggies on ESPN yesterday which at first made us :) and then :(. But being in a more "civilized" and less filthy environment for a few days has been a morale boost. I hope you had a good day. Congrats again on the discovery of Janet's ring!

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  4. Glad you have found her ring Gary, plus a few other interesting things. So glad they found your camera.

    Life has been to busy for me lately. Just to let you know, I did get your book and it is in the best reading place in the whole house.... the bathroom!!! I have some interesting thoughts about it!

    My mom and dad are both currently battling cancer. Mom has lost her hair and dad is moody and sad. Even though they have lived a great life and are now in their 80's it is still difficult.

    Funny how things come to your mind; I was thinking of how they've been together for 64 years and have always done everything together, now they are battling cancer together. Go figure!

    I'm trying to catch up on everything so I can make the trip to Canada the last week of December. Sorry I haven't been around much, just seems like life happens!

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