Barbara had her surgery on June 1st and John called that evening to tell us she was fine. He was at the hospital so I was able to talk to Barbara…..we were both glad it was over. The prognosis was good and so we looked forward to her return to good health. I spent time in the yard, mowing and weeding but Corky came in the evening and finished for me. It was very hot and dry. It seems we need rain sooner every summer.

John was beginning a new job on Tuesday, June 4th. Barbara was doing well and he had a new world waiting for him. After some bad breaks it was coming up roses for them….it was a welcome change. I suppose mothers never get over hating it when their kids go through a hard time.

George came on the 5th and brought Murphy with him. Murphy was enough of a pup yet that Tuffy hissed when he came in and thereafter, Murphy was afraid of him. Much of my time was spent refereeing and scolding Tuffy…..he is never one who likes four footed company. George stayed nights with Becky because of him.

Saturday, Jonathan and Corky came and cut down a couple of pine trees in George’s lot that were behind our garage. It cleared it out nicely and although I always hate to see a tree come down, I also don’t like them leaning on my roofs. We had lunch together and enjoyed the day. George left after dinner on Sunday and called later to let me know he arrived safely. We had a nice weekend together.

We finally got a good old fashioned rainstorm the next day so I did some baking. Gail (my brother’s wife) called and had been quite concerned about her mother. She was in Milwaukee to see about her. They first thought she would have to have gall-bladder surgery but later found it wasn’t the trouble. They took more tests and Gail was getting nervous about getting home to Seattle. She had been gone longer than she intended and was also afraid of what the tests might show. I asked her to let me know when they found out.

I called John and Barb….she was mending well, John liked his new job and L.J. was out to a ballgame. Sounded like things were getting back to normal for them. “Normal” is a good thing. I had been keeping up with the basketball playoffs….the Bulls beat the Jazz so now it was Bulls by 3 to 1. I am a Michael Jordan fan.

We were shocked to learn Becky Waggoner (Jonathan’s fiancée) had a spot on her lung when she went in for her routine checkup. She was going to have chemo and radiation for it and we were all just sick about it. She had done so well from the amputation of her right leg we hoped her cancer wouldn’t return. She was a high school athlete and very determined not to let the cancer keep her from doing what she wanted. This was a blow after coming through all that. I heard from Gail and she was leaving for home but said her mother wasn’t doing well at all.

The Bulls and Jazz were playing in Utah for another thriller. Michael Jordan won it in the last second with a steal and a basket. The fans just about went through the roof. That Michael just seems to be invincible.

The 19th of June was our wedding anniversary and Becky and I were due in Springfield for our yearly physicals. We went through the paces for all of that and then shopped and had a very nice meal before coming home. It tasted better than anything I’d had in a long time. We lingered over our meal and came home….I went to bed feeling contented and thinking I was in perfect health….but I woke up in the night and couldn’t turn over. By morning I couldn’t get out of bed. I lay there formulating a plan to pry myself up. My thinking at the time was that I must have a pinched nerve in my back. My shoulder’s, back and legs were screaming with pain I’d never had before.

I just had a clean bill of health yesterday….what could come upon me so suddenly if it wasn’t a pinched nerve? It would take quite a while for me to find out………

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther