8:19 am ... March 28, 2024 💛 Thursday
I have woken up throughout the night to thunder, lightening, and rain. I was afraid it would get bad ... just before it would get bad ... the thunder faded off into the distance.
You know what Skip and Camie are doing at this moment, and ... where I am at. 🙂🙃🙂💛💛 I will be by their side until they wake up.
I have been thinking of how to make our little fenced-in yard space nice for this spring, summer ... inexpensively . I have all along gotten things to make it happy for Skip. I just need to put things together. I will keep working at it. The main thing is to have happy colors. I want Skip to be able to go outside some instead of inside the house all the time. I read online all the time looking for ideas that I can do ... improvise.
I want to get a very small, inflatable pool with hopes Skip can step into it, sit on his shower chair ... I will do a lot of thinking on this first. He could kick his feet, enjoy being outside in the fresh air while feeling the water on his skin. I still have a lot of thinking to do on this. We don't need any accidents.
We still have the YMCA membership we got last year. We both got so sick afterwards, didn't go. Then, Skip wasn't strong enough to go ... the weather got too cold.
We lost interest ... now, we have to get interested again. Excuses, but... legit. The reasons why are more than I write here. I have to motivate us now. I worry now, how safe it will be for him. We will do some trial runs to check it out soon. This will probably be our safest option.
I just looked out the bedroom window to see pink blossoms on the tree in the near distance. No rain ... I can't wait to go look at my tomato, bell pepper plants, flowers to see how much they've grown. Sometimes they can grow a lot overnight.
When we lived in Alabama I planted a million marigolds, one of my most favorite flowers ... Skip and I watched them grow. We really did! It seemed they grew, flourished constantly. All the moisture from humidity? I don't know but, I can say I've never had prettier marigolds since.
To ME .... marigolds are like the sun shining on a cloudy day. Bright, happy, yellow ... warming one's soul up with happiness when otherwise ... it would be dull, grey without them.
I don't see the sun wanting to shine this morning. I miss the automatic happiness I instantly feel when I see the sun begin to shine early mornings.
Tomorrow Skip will get laser treatment on his left eye. He truly dreads it. We have to go to Chapel Hill to the Kittner Eye Center. I am glad I'm not intimidated by all the traffic we will be in. It is getting to be like the traffic in California ... Los Angeles. Truthfully ... everywhere now.
Like in all the big cities all over the United States traffic is so congested. I knew it was on just a car ... I found out how congested for-real driving a tractor-trailer.
The good thing was I loved manipulating the big truck in heavy traffic ... I just loved driving a big truck. I loved driving on mountains that when you looked down ... houses seemed no bigger than a matchbox. Skip taught me to drive the highest mountains out west.
I only drove the big truck a little on ice, snow. Skip took over then ... going miles down on those mountain roads isn't a joke ... driving over solid ice for many, many miles, hours ... snow on each side of the truck almost as high. It was exciting ... scary during those for-real blizzards that you don't see back east. I loved it ... I saw, done, experienced things I had only read about. Imagination became reality ... yes, maybe sometimes ... too scary!
I was safe with Skip. Skip 'became' ... part of the truck when he drove. I know that probably doesn't make sense to you unless you've experienced such... it's true. When you totally blend into what you are doing ... all happens magically, smoothly because ... you truly became a part of it.
Skip could shift gears smoothly without engaging the clutch ... he was focused on the truck, sound of the engine. I've never seen anyone else drive as well as Skip. I'm not knocking anyone either ... I know everyone drives well ... Skip's driving stood out to me. I sat back observing, listening to what he heard on the truck ... I learned so much from him ... for many, many miles all over this country.
Skip was the coolest in 🌪 tornado weather ... blizzards, fog. He is one of those rare individuals who stayed calm when everyone freaks out. I can't tell you how many times Skip has been my calming, positive force in my life.
A small example ... like going down the mountains near Williams, Arizona during a big snow storm. The roads were almost impassable ... we were trying to get down the mountain safely, park at the truckstop there.
We heard a young man's voice on the CB radio ... his voice was panicky. He was very afraid he was going to wreck his big truck ... he'd never driven in such harsh, dangerous conditions. Skip, while focusing on what he was doing, began to talk calmly to the young man ... telling him exactly what to do.
I could hear in the young man's voice as time went by ... Skip was making him feel that wonderful calmness I experienced many times when he'd talk to me when something was upsetting to me. In bad situations ... Skip kept a cool head ... he didn't only focus on himself, he always helped others.
We drove many slow, agonizing miles down that mountain... we reached the bottom ... found the truckstop we were looking for ... parked. The young man got out of his truck, came to Skip, hugged him. He told Skip he really thought he was going die in a truck crash on that mountain. He talked non-stopped. Adrenaline. ..
He was so happy ... his voice wasn't any longer scared. He kept thanking Skip all during the time we all sat down to eat supper. He was so glad to be alive. I was, too! 🙂🙃🙂💛💛
I am thankful, grateful I have experienced so much in my life ... even for the bad. It all made ME strong enough for the rest of my life journey. I couldn't have anywhere made it ... to this very minute ... moment in time if my life hadn't been the way it was. I couldn't have survived all , no way.
I don't regret anything yet, of course ... there are things I do regret. It makes sense ... it doesn't make sense. That's ME. I don't make sense all the time. That's okay ... because most of the time I do! 🙂🙃🙂❤❤
Photos ... just photos.
Skip Bates Precious Camo Kissy Fairchild Tommy M Sidden
