To our Facebook friends and family:

Since we have communicated with you all year, we will not be sending cards and notes to you.  We still have friends who, for one reason or another, do not share our joy in instant communication.  They will receive snail mail including the first two attempts to creatively share our year and greetings.  

Attempt #1

Twas the week before Christmas, Klep spoke the dread word,

“Christmas cards need mailing, haven’t you heard?

To get far and wide they must be mailed tomorrow!”

Looking up from my book I stared in utter horror,

From me he expected clever memories to share!

I rose from the recliner, and gave him a glare.

As I stomped down the hall, to my left were the cards

From folks who have not felt this chore too hard!

The year, 2018, oh my--what should I say?

January, February, April and May,

June, July, August, September, October, then

Thanksgiving November Christmas December when

We will rewind, turn pages and start all over again!

We’ve logged many miles, been hither and there

We’ve been blessed by the Lord more than twas fair.

We celebrate this year, our Golden one for sure

And anticipate the New Year, all sparking and pure.

Merry Christmas, we say, and a Happy New Year!

May you be blessed and your life full of cheer.

 Attempt #2

As the shortest day of the year rapidly approaches, we pause to reflect on the passing of another year,

2018, the year of our Golden Wedding anniversary! (note:  true meaning: how did we get so old!)How good it is to reflect (interpret:  remember in our ancient and toddery condition) not only on the wonderfully blessed year we are completing, but also on the more than half a century that we have now spent together traveling through this journey we call life.

Our days have been filled with little things and large, joys and laughter, tears and sorrow as we have celebrated happy days and mourned together the loss of those who have passed away.

Our family brings us joy as we watch our granddaughters mature and our children lead good lives and negotiate the challenges of life. We have shared many good moments with friends, family, and our church family.  We have enjoyed being a part of our community and our county.  It has been a good year.

We have done some short traveling and enjoyed a few trips to our place in Tennessee, but longer trips were pretty much put on hold as Barbara continued to get back to full speed after her knee replacement.  As we look forward to the next year, we are planning an adventure or two!

We look forward to the small things which frame our Christmas traditions:  candlelight service at New Hope, Christmas Eve supper of klep’s stuffed mushrooms, Klep reading aloud the Christmas story in Luke, and a quiet day of celebrating Christmas with what family can make it to our home.  The others we will include with the wonders of modern communication by way of the ubiquitous smart phones.

We pray your Christmas will be merry and your New Year bright.

Attempt#3

Ya'll just have the best old Christmas ever!

Barbara and Klep

From Mosquito Gardens here just south of the Florida/Georgia line

Is it only Eight Weeks?

Yesterday was a good day!  A really good day.  It included a trip to Valdosta for physical therapy.  In my world which has shrunk somewhat since I left normal on the ninth of November, there are certain things which bring joy.  For example, I passed my distance pedaled on the stationary bike.  In my ten minutes on the bike, I traveled 1.15 miles.  Now, to those of you with "normal" lives, that probably seems small potatoes.  Those of us who have been the recipient of two new knees with all the things necessary to get those marvels in there where the old ones were, that is pretty spectacular stuff.

I remember in the olden times (six days after surgery when I first sat on the bike) my feet had to be placed on the pedals and it was all I could do to just move them slightly forward and back.  As time passed (12 days post surgery) I was able to push the pedal into a slow circle.

So, I celebrate my little achievement.  The culmination of a PT session before the lovely time of just lying on the mat iced down with stimulating devices attached, is the measuring session where the therapist sees just how far the knee can bend.  Now, if you just sit quite relaxed, feet on the floor, your knee will make a nice ninety degree angle.  Keep pushing your heel back and the angle gets higher.  My doctor was looking for a 120 degree angle to call the surgery a success.  Now, in my little mind, I assumed that when I hit that goal, the measuring would stop.  Nope.  In the perfect knee, the bend angle can be higher.  Yesterday we were at 127 on the left knee and 125 on the right.  I am assuming that the right is lower because the surgery was more complicated on the "baddest" knee.  We might have been able to get that angle higher yesterday, but it was a good day and I, frankly, wasn't in the mood for pain!

The next point of celebration was when we got home and I actually walked up the steps taking a step up with one foot and then proceeding to the next step with the other foot.  Don't get me wrong!  I was still using the handrail, but it has been a long, long time since I could walk up a set of steps somewhat normally without a whole lot of what I like to call "discomfort."  This reminded me of why I decided that it was time to go through the surgery.

Not only was yesterday a good day with the knees, it was a beautiful day although somewhat chilly.  We did not have an ice storm (that was the day before) and we did have a lovely sun drenched, blue sky day.

So, I continue.  Today our adventure is for me to go to the grocery store with Klep.  This will be the first store I have set foot in since the 8th of November!  I am excited! He is excited because he is more than ready to return the chore of grocery shopping to me!