THIS IS THE KIND OF "WILD" GANG MEMBERS THAT I ASSOCIATE WITH!
Jodi, Jeanie, me, Ronnie, and Sue. (Blossom and husband Bill were taking the pictures)

Yup, last night some of the gang got together for supper at Mahoney's, the local bar and grill in our old hometown. It was nice to see these guys again. The funeral for Jodi's sister, Dixie, is today and then Jodi will have to fly back to California tomorrow. 

But, wait. Here is something that was almost unbelievable. Later, as we were visiting, Jodi got a text from her niece. Tragically, Dixie's husband passed away suddenly! He had been in very poor health for some time, but the sadness of his wife's death was just too much. Wow! Their deaths were only five days apart. I've heard of couples who pass within a short time of each other because of such a strong love bond.  Whew!

Sorry, everybody, I know that I get on "death" subjects quite a bit, but wanted to make note of the second anniversary of Dad's passing which was yesterday, the 29th. Two years have gone by since we all went through that crazy, wild time with Dad. That stuff seems like it happened a lot longer ago than it did. Actually, the last three years kinda seem like it was all a dream.  Weird.

                                                                        GOD BLESS YOU ALL

First picture is, obviously, Jenna and me in a selfie - - -  with some ladies behind us taking a selfie.
Second picture is me hanging with my new BFF, Theresa. Oh, I'm the frumpy looking one on the left side, FYI. (I'll have to add this pic to my collection of photos with cardboard cutouts and plaster statues). Considering that there were about 4,000 people at the show,  I wonder how many I infected with my crud, since that was when the coughing really began.  Oh, well.

I must repeat that I am really feeling a lot better than I did. However, Monday morning - - -  not so much.  I had been in bed since Saturday, dealing with chills and sweating spells, headaches,  coughing, and sneezing.  But Monday morning, I woke with a jolt, got up and dressed, and grabbed the garbage bag from the kitchen (which only had a tiny bit of stuff in it) and hurried to take out the trash. I hadn't heard the garbage truck come by yet, so I was moving fast.  When I put my pitiful little trash bag in the can, I noticed that was the only thing we had accumulated for the week. I knew that we had been gone a lot and hadn't thrown very much away, but REALLY?  My neighbor lady across the lane saw me and hollered "Hi".  I was really confused now, so I asked her if today was Wednesday or Thursday (Wednesday is our usual pick-up day).  She replied,  "Oh, Honey, this is only Monday!"  How embarrassing.  I had to take the walk-of-shame back to my house, head hanging and dragging my almost-empty can. Evidently, I was hallucinating or something, and really got my days mixed up.  Whatever.

One good thing about spending so much time in bed was that I finally got to watch Breakfast At Tiffany's all the way through.  Never got to do that before.

When I picked the quote to use for this post, I had originally a different take on the message.  You know, inspirational.  But as I reread it, I now know what it really means. 

I AM JAZZED UP WOMAN. SO DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING TO STOP ME- - -AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS.  Did I already mention that I think I'm a little jazzed up on Prednisone?

                                                            GOD BLESS YOU ALL

DON'T QUIT!  DON'T GIVE IN!  YOU'RE AN OVERCOMER!

                                                    lyrics form "Overcomer" song by Mandisa

I just got home from taking Alec to a late-start at his school.  All the way home, I was bawling my eyes out.
I can't even imagine what he is feeling.

Al's school is doing Basic Skills this week.  He does not participate in the regular testing, so for the first two hours a few days this week, he starts his day later than usual.

Not so good for an autistic kid.

Any change in routine is disturbing, disrupting, and very hard for him to handle.  A van normally picks his up in the morning, and Jenna thinks this is his transition time that helps him adjust from "home" life to "school" routine. With me taking him in the car, it allowed him time to panic and worry that something was out of whack. He goes to a wonderful school, has wonderful teachers and aides, and the rest of the kids just accept him as he is.  But the fear of change was so overwhelming, he could not control his screaming and crying this morning.  I watched him try and pull back into himself.  He knew he was acting inappropriately, but he just couldn't stop.

So I am sad for him.  But the reason I am mad, is because there shouldn't be such a thing as autism. Where did it come from?  Years ago, there were so few cases.  Now, it is 1 out of every 68 children born today that are on the austism spectrum. Almost everyone I talk to knows someone or has a relative that's been diagnosed with this horrible condition. 

If you only realized the fears that a family has concerning what will happen to this loved one as we all get older.  It's scares the hell out of us. There are so few good homes that are available to these people.  Our "great" governor has closed several facilities just because he wanted to.(No discussion with our state lawmakers and no listening to what the people had to say). He said he had planned to have a few new facilities in place, but that never happened.  One closed home was destroyed and is being turned into a multi-plex baseball field - - -  all owned by a private party who bought the land for peanuts.   Hmmmmm

Well, I think I am about done ranting and venting.  I have stopped crying- - -  for now.  At the beginning of this post I put a few of the lyrics from "my" song that I have listened to since the beginning of my breast cancer journey.

It began to play on the car radio as I drove home today.  It couldn't have come at a better time.  I'm sure it was meant to be, reminding me that we will all be Overcomers.  No matter what.

                                                                        GOD BLESS YOU ALL