Happy New Year

The holidays have been nice, but now it is time to get back to reality. It was great having Alan and Jennifer home, but with all the extra "stuff" that accompanies Alan (no offense Son) it was starting to get on my nerves. I had to take all the Christmas stuff down shortly after Christmas Day because I was starting to have panic attacks. Have to get back to that routine you know!!!

One thing I enjoy most about the holidays is hearing from friends you don't hear from often. I love getting Christmas cards and I like to send them as well. What worries me is when I don't hear from some one that has been sending cards and letters for years and then I don't hear from them. I'm going to make an effort to contact them and hope that they are well. When I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's I realized how much my family and friends meant to me. I've said it here before that it is a shame that something has to strike you before you realize what is important in life -- but you hear many people say that. So, it has been important to me to remain friends and reconnect with friends I have let slip by the wayside. This past fall, a friend of mine popped back in my life that I was so grateful for. We had been friends for years professionally and when we both switched jobs we kind of lost track of each other. Then I ran into her in a local deli and I was so excited to see her and catch up on her life. Unfortunately, I learned that her husband too was suffering from dementia. She was glad to run into me as well and we shared notes and reconnected our friendship. That has meant so much to me.

If you are looking for a new year's resolution -- don't look far. Look to re-establish or to at least strengthen your friendships. You'll be glad you did.

Christmas

Well -- it is finally cold here in Athens. The high today is suppose to be in the upper 30's. But by Christmas Day they are looking at temps in the mid 60's. At least it will feel like Christmas for a couple of days! I know I haven't been good at blogging over the last week or so. Have been busy and trying to prepare for this week. We have been getting together with friends over the last several weeks and will again until after Christmas. Fourteen people are coming to our house for dinner on Christmas. Everyone is bringing something so it won't be too much work for me. I'm sure that by this time next week I'll be ready to have the tree down and have things back to "normal". I function so much better when things are near "normal".

Wishing all of you a happy, merry holiday!

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Well I have so much to do and don't want to do any of it. I just can't get motivated. We have two Christmas parties this weekend -- and I have been complaining that we haven't done anything "Christmassy" but I'm not excited about going to the parties. That's contradictory isn't it? I suppose when the time rolls around I'll feel like it. It doesn't feel much like Christmas to me yet. I've done the shopping, wrapping and sent all my presents off to friends and family across the globe, but I still can't get into it. I think it is just all overwhelming to me at times and I don't think I can handle it all. Perhaps if the weather turns cold and feels like "Christmas" that will help.

The Holidays

Alan, Josh, Chris, me, Melissa (Josh' wife) and Katie (Chris' wife)

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I did -- but now I need to rest up. We spent a quiet day with friends for dinner. Our son came in early morning on Thursday and we went to Atlanta to pick him up. It was nice having a few days for just the three of us.





On Saturday, we huddled around the television set to watch UGA play Georgia Tech. For the first time in seven years, Georgia Tech beat Georgia. Since GT is Alan's Alma mater -- he was extremely happy. It was finally his year to gloat -- he certainly had to wait a long time.





On Saturday night Alan and I went to a "come see Josh" party. The photo above was taken there. If you have been following my blog, there are two young gentlemen that used to work for me that I continue to follow through their life's journeys. They are both a year older than Alan and when Alan went away to college, these two young men, Chris and Josh worked in the box office of the theatre that I was managing. They had many friends in common and they kind of became my "surrogate sons" for lack of a better word. I'm not sure they would agree that that is the proper word, but it works for me! Since that time Alan, Josh and Chris have all gotten married in the last year or so. Chris now lives in Ft. Lauderdale with his new wife Katie and he is going to medical school. Josh was home for some R&R as he has been deployed in Afghanistan. His wife Melissa just bought a new house and we went to see him and to see the new house on Saturday night. It is not often we can get together with everyone spread all over the world. Josh returns to Afghanistan in a week or so and will be finished with his deployment in July. These young men have been extremely kind to me over the years and are great about keeping in touch. I only wish the best for them. Since Chris and Josh are both huge Georgia fans, the defeat to Georgia Tech was a little more than they could handle.





Now Alan has returned to Washington DC and I need some rest.

I know, I know -- I have not been blogging in awhile. There's no excuse. I've been lazy.

I spoke last week at an assisted living center in a small town about 30 miles away. It was a very nice setting and those I spoke to seemed to be genuinely interested in what I had to say. They had some good questions and that is always a good thing for me.

My niece back in Illinois had a little baby boy last night. It's her third child and I'm glad she had it now so she can enjoy the holidays. She was three weeks early, but the baby and mom and doing fine. She won't have to go back to work until after Christmas.

I hope everyone enjoys the Thanksgiving holiday. Enjoy your families and the time you have with them!

Memory Walk Update

Well our Memory Walk is over for this year. My team raised over $15,000! The goal for the entire walk was $75,000 and we are short of that but we are expecting some more donations and we'll be close. Thanks Lauren M for your donation through this page!

I woke up on walk morning and it was pouring down rain. That was at 5 a.m. I rushed to the computer to look at the radar and it showed that it was moving out. By about 8:15 the skies were blue and it was windy but no rain. It turned out to be a great day weatherwise. Later in the day the winds kicked up and a cold front moved through but not before the walk was over.

Thanks again to everyone who supported my team!

Memory Walk

Is Saturday. There is still time to donate on line at https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=263086&lis=1&kntae263086=45CDC69FE5EB408ABAB1BC12959A015B&supId=9079347

Thanks for all your support.

Overwhelmed

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. I think what bothers me most is that I shouldn't be overwhelmed. I have a few things that I need to do, but I can't seem to wrap my arms around them and do them. The tasks seem daunting but they are not. In my "old life" I would tackle all of these projects in one day and be done with them. Now it takes me forever to get my thoughts together enough just to post to this blog!

Thanksgiving is in a few weeks. We usually get together with friends at someone's house. I was thinking of being the host this year, but I realized I couldn't do it without help. Alan is flying in from Washington DC on Thanksgiving morning and Ralph will be going to Atlanta to pick him up. That means that no one would be around to help me get everything together for a meal. So, I knew that I couldn't host friends coming over. The realization of that bothers me a lot. I realize that I could have asked some of my friends to come and help me but I didn't want to do that. I wanted to do it myself and I can't. That makes me sad. Of course, one of our friends volunteered to do the hosting and we will all be together on Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for that and for the fact that Alan is going to be here. But it makes me feel inadequate and I don't like that.

Happy Halloween to everyone! Alan received word today that he passed the bar exam. We are so happy!

Odds and Ends

I've spent the last two days in the hospital. I was having some chest pains over the weekend. I had had them earlier in the summer, but this time they seemed a bit worse. I just had this sensation that someone was standing on my chest. So, I went to the hospital on Monday morning. Going to the hospital is never fun. There are two hospitals in Athens and we usually go ot the same one every time -- although I'm not going to say which one. We have never really had a bad experience at this hospital -- until this trip. The good news about the whole experience is that I didn't have a heart attack and there is no damage to my heart. I have extremely low blood pressure and always have. That could be my culprit. But I'm fine now and enjoyed being in my own bed for a full night's sleep last night. The bad news is that the as I mentioned the experience on this trip was awful. I'm not going to go into it hear, but I did take lots of notes and plan to write to the hospital. There is another option in town, and perhaps next time I'll take that option. I felt my "Alzheimer's" kicking in when I became very frustrated and stressed while there. It wasn't pretty!!!

Many of you have asked about Alan and Jennifer. I know I didn't post much when we returned from Washington but it was a quick trip. Their apartment is nice -- really small -- but nice and in a nice new apartment complex. The roof has an area where you can go sit and there are even hammocks! I liked that part. I'm not sure how much of the year you can enjoy being on the top of the roof and not freeze to death -- but the weekend we were there it was delightful. They live a close walk to the National Zoo and we walked down there to see the pandas. Alan commutes every day on the metro. There is a metro station connected to their apartment building and his office sits on top of a metro station so he really doesn't have to deal with the elements too much on his daily commute. Jennifer has not found a job yet. I hope with the economic downturn we are in that she will get one -- it may take her awhile but we are hoping the best for her. Alan finds out this week if he passed the bar exam. He enjoys his job with Hogan and Hartson. He's working a lot but I don't think much more than when he was in law school since he spent so much time studying.

Memory Walk is in a couple of weeks. Donations are down and that is probably a reflection of the economy. Don't forget to vote if you haven't already. I went the second or third day of early voting and didn't have to wait at all. Now I know the lines are long -- but it is important for everyone to vote.