And so………Becky’s ordeal began on June 20th and after her two surgeries and recuperation she was finally able to go back to work August 7th. She couldn’t go sooner because the heavy belt of the uniform was tight over her incision and she couldn‘t stand the pressure. I’m sure she needed the time off to fully recover, anyway. Of course the first couple of weeks were pretty hard on her, back to the grind and getting accustomed to the routine again was grueling. In some ways, she still isn’t physically fit in the way she was before that whole affair. I continued to have her come for supper every evening so she could go home and relax afterwards.

Bear was excited because a friend from church had tickets to a Royal’s game in KC and asked Bear to go with him. It was a wonderful treat for Bear who played the game a lot in the Service and around other places. They had a great “guys” day and enjoyed the outing. It was ironic that a few days later, Mickey Mantle died of cancer. One of baseball’s biggest hero’s to most of us. It never mattered that he was “flawed,” reported to be a heavy drinker…..he gave the game all he had and we were sorry there wasn’t more happiness in his private life. So often, people who live in the public eye suffer real tragedy in their private world. It’s sad.

Becky and I worked together a lot this month because so many were off for vacations or medical appointments. Normally we worked on separate crews but this particular time we were together almost the whole month. It was nice. I had her eat with us until she felt good enough to want to cook again. The time comes when you just want to do your own thing again…..I well understand that. It was time.

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther