Introducing Linda and Tom Rose.

This was chemo #10 day in Lawton. My numbers were just about like last week, so there were no snags! Nobody seems to be the least bit worried about my disconnected stitch on the PICC line, so I won’t be worried, either. We just changed the bandage when we got home and made sure the other two are right. We’ll keep the bandage in good shape, so the PICC line really can’t go anywhere. When we get back to Houston we’ll let them fix it if they want to do that. I thank God that I’m doing so well with all this!

I don’t have current pictures to share, so I will introduce Linda and Tom Rose. Linda is a frequent poster on the blog, so I want you to know who they are.

Linda and Tom were both in my graduating class at Franklin County High School. I moved to school in the middle of our sophomore year. Linda was always a sweetheart, but she was kind of shy, and she lived in a nearby town, so we weren’t thrown together much. (You know kids didn’t have their own cars then; we did good to borrow the family car from time to time!) She was voted Most Neat in our class and she was physically and personally, too. Tom had done his freshman year at a private school up on Sewanee Mountain, so he was kind of a newcomer to FCHS, too. Most of the kids knew him, but he wasn’t attached to a girl. He was kind enough to ask me for a date, and we became best friends. I had never known a nicer guy. Neither of us dated anyone else and we graduated thinking we would get married. We went to college together, but then went our separate ways and never stayed in touch. (Snail mail has always been a pit and long distance was impossible back then. We found each other on the Internet about 10 years ago and kept in touch. When I told them we were going to Hawaii to house sit last winter, Linda told me they’d love to house sit if ever we couldn’t do it and reminded me that she is neat. Ha! I wrote and said they should come join us, so they DID. It was the best reunion! Having Tom in the house was like having someone from the family there because he knew my brother and sister from the time we dated. He’d fixed my Dad’s boat trailer on a boating trip once. He’d been there when my Mom had breast cancer. We’d been through a lot together. Anyway it was wonderful to have them join us for a great time in Hawaii. More treasured memories! Linda has been such an inspiration; we love them both like family.

Pictures on the blog:
1. Linda and Tom and Don on the lanai eating biscuits, gravy and that wonderful juice that Linda helped me to juice.
2. Linda and Tom after we’d nearly killed ourselves hiking to the green sand beach. Don’s Tours (Don; Linda gave him that nickname.) took us on to the black sand beach and we were barely standing. The best way to stand was leaning on the best person in life.
3. Linda and Tom on the ‘storybook hike.’ It was an easy and beautiful hike right beside the ocean.

Thank you, God for great friends, family, and the memories that go with them. Thank you for keeping us all safe, healthy and happy. God bless you all for sharing our lives with us.