I was shocked to see the date this morning - how can it be the end of August? Where did the summer go? I had so many plans for this summer and not many of them have happened. So as not to dwell on what I didn't do, I thought about all the things that I did do. One group of events stick in my mind the most. Hannah (my 11 year old niece) has spent a lot of time with me this summer. I have sort of been a "captive" audience. Since having yet another surgery, I have not been out and about much this summer. So, Hannah has come to visit and sleepover a lot at my parent's house while I have been there recovering. Hannah is a joyful child and full of energy. There is never an idle moment with Hannah around. Immediately after surgery, when I couldn't do much, we would read together or play games or watch tv. I can only take so much of the Disney Channel shows - all that screaming, but Hannah also loves some other stuff. She loves to sing the phone numbers from the commercials - the Stanley Steamer and Next Day Floors phone numbers are two of her favorites. She also likes to make fun of some of the actors and/or shows that come on - mimicing them or calling them names. If we see a commercial for "The Closer", she screams "the turtle is on". Hannah thinks that Kyra Sedgewick looks like a turtle! She watches the classis western station with my father and now can sing ot hum the theme songs from "The Virginian", "Wagon Train" and "Gunsmoke". She knows all about Oprah's last season and a lot about Dr. Oz as well. Mom always had control of the television between 2 and 3 and then again from 4 to 5. Now that Oprah is over, Hannah loves "Walker, Texas Ranger". Two episodes come on most days! We don't only watch television. Sometimes we watch movies - some recent movie nights were "Sweet Home Alabama" and the "Big Momma" shows. Hannah loves the really stupid comedies and laughs and laughs. When I was able to go out between surgeries and recoveries, Hannah and I went to the theatre to see a couple of movies. We saw "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and just recently, we saw the final Harry Potter movie. We saw "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" in IMAX and 3-D. It was rather expensive, but we both loved it.
We have also done some more normal activities - she has helped me go to the grocery store or Target - I still can't bend, so she can reach for stuff on the low shelves. Sometimes we cook or bake together. We recently made a cheese cake - most of which Hannah ate! She likes to cook and bake to a certain degree - she only likes to help with the "fun" parts and then wants to move on to other things and leave me alone with the drudgery parts - like cleaning up afterwards! We made a Quiche Lorraine the other day and she was really disappointed because she thought that all pies were dessert and she couldn't believe that I would make a pie that wasn't sweet. I think that she liked the quiche, but she just couldn't admit it. She really likes when we make things that she loves - like pudding.
We have also read together and I tell her bed time stories (which I am required to make up and she usually falls asleep midway through them). We spent a couple of days working on an art project - we made an pond with lily pads and water lilies and a frog out of origami. Hannah made the origami frog all by herself (well, with the help of a you-tube video). It was really very well done. Hannah loves a challenge and has become obsessed with playing the card game solitaire - she gets so frustrated when she loses. Sometimes her and my dad play on opposite side of the table to see who does the best.
When Hannah spends the night, she sleeps in my room at my parent's house. It is a small room with only a twin bed and a chair. I sleep in the bed and Hannah makes a bed of soft blankets and comforters on the floor beside my bed. When I was using the walker, crutches, and cane, Hannah would always say before going to bed, "Aunt Debbie, don't step on me during the night, I don't want to waked up squashed!" I did always worry about that - I was rather unstable on my feet and I would always have to get up two or three times during the night - sometimes to go to the bathroom and sometimes to move into the chair when the bed or my sleeping position became too painful. Each morning, I tease her that I didn't squash her during the night - it has become a running joke.
I have to admit - I have really enjoyed this time that I have had to spend with Hannah. I don't have children of my own, and although I have always taken time to spend with all of the nieces and nephews, I have never spent as much summer time and un-scheduled time with any of the other ones. I have vacationed with my sister's family before and gone away for weekends, etc., but this has been different. I hope that someday when Hannah is old, she will look back with fondness on the summer of 2011 - when she and Aunt Debbie had summer camp for two!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
ELVIS - 8/16/1977 gone but not forgotten
I was listening to the radio on the way over to my house earlier today and I heard an Elvis song, "Burning Love". After the song ended, the DJ mentioned that another Elvis song would be played shortly. The station was doing a tribute weekend in honor of the anniversary of Elvis' death. Even now, if asked, I could tell you that Elvis died on August 16, 1977. Yes, I am one of those people that still remembers exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. I remember being in total disbelief.
In August of 1977, I was on summer break from high school. I am sure that I spent part of the summer contemplating what it was going to be like to be a high school senior when school started in early September. Elvis was probably not a huge focus of mine at that time of my life, but if asked, I still would have said that I loved him. That day, I was in the downstairs television room at my parent's house watching an afternoon movie. I loved old movies and whenever I got the chance, I would watch the one that came on in the afternoon. Our house didn't have central air conditioning and the tv room was partially underground, so it was the coolest place in the house. I don't remember what the movie was, but I do remember the phone ringing and at the same time, our next door neighbor, Mrs. Palma, was yelling over the fence. The phone was ringing and Mrs. Palma was yelling, "get Debbie, tell her to come quick - has she heard?" Mom grabbed the phone - it hung on the kitchen wall, the room next to the tv room. I got up from the sofa that was in front of the tv and went to the back yard to find out what Mrs. Palma was yelling about. I was sort of annoyed - I hate it when someone interrupts a movie! At almost the same time as I stepped through the door and into the yard, I could hear my mom on the phone saying "Oh, Lou, I can't believe that!". She sounded upset as she hung up the phone and then followed me out the door. Mrs. Palma taling fast, but the jist of what she was saying was "Did you hear - Elvis is dead!" I started to deny it. It couldn't be true. If Elvis were dead, I somehow would have known it the instant that it happened - I would have felt my heart break. But, my mom was repeating the same thing. Her brother had just called to tell her. After it all sort of sunk in, I walked back into the house to turn off the television so that I could walk across the alley to tell my friend Brenda. When I looked at the tv, here was a special report and a news person was talking about Elvis being found dead. I remember being in shock and disbelief and totally sad the rest of the week.
Elvis was a huge part of my early life. I loved Elvis for as long as I can remember. I loved the young Elvis, the singer Elvis, the actor Elvis, even the fat Elvis. I still have a few of my Elvis albums - even now, I can't bare to part with them - I don't listen to them anymore, but I can't discard something so important with that part of my young life. Eventhough in my heart, I knew that he was a terrible actor, I have probably seen every movie that he has ever starred in. And, if I happen to flip past a station playing one of them, I will most likely pause for a while and watch a part of it - just to see his smile and hear a song or two. My friend Brenda and I used to fight over which one of us would marry Elvis when we grew up! We would sing Elvis songs and play "meeting and marrying Elvis" in our back yards. Till this day, I do not like Priscilla Beaulieu Presley! I hated her when Elvis married her, I hated her more when she divorced Elvis and I hated her even more when she became a tv personality. Childhood hatreds die hard!
It is strange how that song and the DJ's reminder of the anniversary of Elvis' death brought all of those memories back to me. I had wanted desperately to see Elvis in concert and never did. I remember pleading with my father to let me watch the Elvis Concert via satelite from Hawaii when it was on. He was watching something else and finally he gave in and changed the channel so that I could watch Elvis in the white jumpsuit with the rhinestones.
I'll have to play a few of my favorite Elvis songs (I have the collection on CD now) later this week as a tribute and a memory of my first infatuation with a star. There were others back then (Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy) and a few in more recent history, but none of my infatuations, past or present, have ever rivaled my love of Elvis.
In August of 1977, I was on summer break from high school. I am sure that I spent part of the summer contemplating what it was going to be like to be a high school senior when school started in early September. Elvis was probably not a huge focus of mine at that time of my life, but if asked, I still would have said that I loved him. That day, I was in the downstairs television room at my parent's house watching an afternoon movie. I loved old movies and whenever I got the chance, I would watch the one that came on in the afternoon. Our house didn't have central air conditioning and the tv room was partially underground, so it was the coolest place in the house. I don't remember what the movie was, but I do remember the phone ringing and at the same time, our next door neighbor, Mrs. Palma, was yelling over the fence. The phone was ringing and Mrs. Palma was yelling, "get Debbie, tell her to come quick - has she heard?" Mom grabbed the phone - it hung on the kitchen wall, the room next to the tv room. I got up from the sofa that was in front of the tv and went to the back yard to find out what Mrs. Palma was yelling about. I was sort of annoyed - I hate it when someone interrupts a movie! At almost the same time as I stepped through the door and into the yard, I could hear my mom on the phone saying "Oh, Lou, I can't believe that!". She sounded upset as she hung up the phone and then followed me out the door. Mrs. Palma taling fast, but the jist of what she was saying was "Did you hear - Elvis is dead!" I started to deny it. It couldn't be true. If Elvis were dead, I somehow would have known it the instant that it happened - I would have felt my heart break. But, my mom was repeating the same thing. Her brother had just called to tell her. After it all sort of sunk in, I walked back into the house to turn off the television so that I could walk across the alley to tell my friend Brenda. When I looked at the tv, here was a special report and a news person was talking about Elvis being found dead. I remember being in shock and disbelief and totally sad the rest of the week.
Elvis was a huge part of my early life. I loved Elvis for as long as I can remember. I loved the young Elvis, the singer Elvis, the actor Elvis, even the fat Elvis. I still have a few of my Elvis albums - even now, I can't bare to part with them - I don't listen to them anymore, but I can't discard something so important with that part of my young life. Eventhough in my heart, I knew that he was a terrible actor, I have probably seen every movie that he has ever starred in. And, if I happen to flip past a station playing one of them, I will most likely pause for a while and watch a part of it - just to see his smile and hear a song or two. My friend Brenda and I used to fight over which one of us would marry Elvis when we grew up! We would sing Elvis songs and play "meeting and marrying Elvis" in our back yards. Till this day, I do not like Priscilla Beaulieu Presley! I hated her when Elvis married her, I hated her more when she divorced Elvis and I hated her even more when she became a tv personality. Childhood hatreds die hard!
It is strange how that song and the DJ's reminder of the anniversary of Elvis' death brought all of those memories back to me. I had wanted desperately to see Elvis in concert and never did. I remember pleading with my father to let me watch the Elvis Concert via satelite from Hawaii when it was on. He was watching something else and finally he gave in and changed the channel so that I could watch Elvis in the white jumpsuit with the rhinestones.
I'll have to play a few of my favorite Elvis songs (I have the collection on CD now) later this week as a tribute and a memory of my first infatuation with a star. There were others back then (Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy) and a few in more recent history, but none of my infatuations, past or present, have ever rivaled my love of Elvis.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Update - 5 weeks since left hip replacement
Although I am totally sick and tired of physical therapy and being in "recovery", I am doing well. I graduated to walking with a cane this week. I can actually walk un-assisted, but I sort of wobble, so I don't want to get in that habit, so the cane it is. Aside from that, I am progressing. Still going to out-patient physical therapy twice a week - it is still grueling and painful. This time around, the pain has been more continuous. I am still having trouble sleeping. The minute I lie flat (which I have to for a few more weeks), the pain gets very intense and keeps me awake. It is very annoying! I have good strength in the operated leg when standing, but I have trouble with balance and stamina. I also can't raise that leg very high on it's own - I sort of have to pick it up to get in and out of a car. The physical therapist thinks that I am doing great - but he is not the one struggling and in pain! The other problem is that my arms/shoulders are really beginning to hurt again - if it is not one thing, it is another! The good news is that I am PROGRESSING - so that is all that matters for now.
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