Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Twists and Turns and Silver Linings

This past week was a busy one for us, with a few twists and turns.  We visited the surgeon for a follow-up for Jerry’s neck, brought the Jeep home after about five months of rehab and had lunch, dinners and just plain fun with family.  That’s in between a meeting downtown for me and also Jerry’s pain management.  (Don’t tell him I mentioned that, though.)

Things have been up and down for us lately, but I guess this points out that there is usually a silver lining.  We didn’t expect or plan to stop our RV travels this winter.  But because of being exactly right here, we’ve had both planned and impromptu great times with our family and friends.   Last week included a very nice Easter at Tim’s,  special mother/daughter time with Krissy and super grandkids moments.Ben, Caroline and Mikey smile for the April 2012 Birthday Celebration. 

It’s hard to believe but we celebrated Ben’s 17th birthday.  What would be more appropriate than we take him and his sister, Caroline, and one of his good friends, Mike, to the MCL Cafeteria.  Wait, MCL for your birthday?!  Yes, it’s a long story but there’s a history of MCL for us dating back quite a few years to “babysitting” days.  So, we had a happy dinner at the Ben's 17th Birthday - Isn't he cute!good ole cafeteria.

After they had their traditional fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn and blue jello, we came back to our place for cake and some more treasured conversation. Teenagers can be so enlightening!  They teach us every time we get together about the world, families and fun.  Thanks kids.

 

 

Jerry tries out Ole Yeller.

Then on Friday, Caroline, helped us claim our Jeep from the transmission shop where Tim had hauled it on a trailer a few days ago.  I enjoyed driving it home again. The months without having that bumpy, wind-buffeted and elevated ride were long. It took a few minutes to readjust to the old feel.  But I was soon back in the groove.  Doesn’t Jerry look just right in Ole Yeller?  (Disregard the lovely collar.  He will still be wearing it for a while until the neck can heal considerably more.) Tim did a wonderful job on replacing the hood and fenders, replacing the windshield, repairing and repainting the top, adding an additional protective bar in back of the seats and other special engine thingys that I’m not good at recalling (very important ones,too!).   Just one more little step to have everything top shape, an alignment.  You can imagine after the topsy turvy route that Jerry took how much that is needed.  Thanks to Tim for his hard work  of searching for parts, trips to pick them up or drop the Jeep off at a shop, but mostly his fantastic, hands-on, personal repairs. Ole Yeller is running and ready once again.  (For whatever !?*#$!)

And as for a report on the progress on the new neck:  Jerry’s surgeon says he is doing just as expected – the pain is normal, being very tired is to be expected and he says “there are no medals for not taking the pain medication.”  It will take at least two months for his body to recover from the plate with seven screws that is now holding his spinal column in place.  After the bone can regenerate between his discs, he will feel much better.  Then, there will be physical therapy to get some of the muscles back into shape after all this sedentary life style.  Meanwhile, he’s wearing the neck brace a lot, trying to rest in his Good wishes for a "safe operation" from Mandy, Kaveh and the girls.recliner and becoming a Netflix expert. 

The doctor’s update was actually a relief since we were both a little premature in our expectations, even though we were told the healing would be lengthy. Anyway, since the talk with the doc, Jerry’s still going very easy on his activity and is more apt to take the drugs to help with pain -- sometimes.  The silver lining on his forced inactivity is that he’s learning so much from all the reality shows…..coal mining, logging ……….

Oh how life brings these twists and turns! 

Isn’t this a hilarious card!  Glad Jerry didn’t receive this before the operation. Winking smile  Thanks Mandy and Kaveh and Addi and Dori.

Stay safe.  Glad you stopped by at Hurley Travels. 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Extraordinary People on an Extraordinary Trip

We think we know what we would do in an emergency or when it came time to be brave….or not.  Do we really know?  Do you think the crew on the Titanic had any idea?  Titanic-Infographic 1

We watched the PBS movie tonight portraying the story once again of the sinking of the Titanic.  I guess I didn’t really absorb some points or details in the past.  I didn’t realize just how heroic the crew were who stayed in the bowels of the ship to keep the power running so that there were lights.  They stated that this action is thought to have saved perhaps 100 lives.  The lights were still glowing until the ship went down, allowing more people to find their way out of the massive passageways to a life boat, or maybe to just jump into the icy water.  This portrayal depicted the captain giving the choice to the crew whether they stayed below to keep the coal fires burning, and some of them did. 

I’ve heard that the architect of the ship survived by getting on a life boat at the last minute, even though some people were still on the ship.  Would you have done that in his position?   They interviewed a descendant of his who explained that the man said afterwards that no one else would have taken that last seat on that life boat as it was already loaded and ready to leave.  So, he got on.  He was hated for the rest of his life for surviving.  Wow! What a thing to live with.  What would you have done?

Makes you think!

I found this graphic on Geni.com that has some very interesting stats and stories of some of the people who did and didn’t live through what was to be the most exciting voyage of their lifetimes. (Hope it posts so that you can read it.  Otherwise, it’s clearly readable at geni.com if you want to go there.  http://bit.ly/HnYSM9 )  The tragedy and unbelievable nature of the sinking of the Titanic keeps the story from fading after 100 years.   

Have you had any close calls on a cruise of any kind? I remember a leak in our sailboat in Tampa Bay once many years ago.  It wasn’t too much fun.  But just imagine the water rushing into this 46,000 ton ocean liner.   And then you decide you will stay at the coal furnaces to keep the lights on!  There were some extraordinary people on board.

Thanks for visiting with us on Hurley Travels.  Stay safe.