Tuesday, December 13, 2005
NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER....2000
While the networks were in a hubbub about who was going to be president, I was up to my eyeballs in work. I was working every day at the Antique Barn and trying to get the leaves up for the year. Time was flying by but not fast enough to get rid of all the anger and insinuations thrown back and forth by the media about the presidential race. If Americans are tired of anything, it is the way campaigns are fought and won…….and now, we have to listen to all this for weeks after the supposed election results. Frankly, I didn’t care WHO won……just get it over with.
Jonathan was our only diner at our Thanksgiving table this year. His Becky was not doing well and didn’t feel up to coming. Becky, Jonathan and I ate together and then drove out to Becky’s grandmother’s farm to see her and her family. They have a lovely view from their living room which extends down a long slope where cattle grazed, boxed in by timber. As long as I have lived in the Ozark hills it’s raw beauty still affects me as it did the first time I saw it. One of my long love affairs.
We could tell Becky W. didn’t feel well, she was looking even more frail than her small frame normally was. She made every effort to appear her usual self…..and never one complaint from her. We all avoided any reference to her condition. It was easy to look at her parents and grandmother and see their shared concern. Becky was content as long as Jonathan was with her…….he stayed but my Becky and I came on home. We were not only sad about Becky but we could see the toll it was taking on Jonathan and her family…..Becky had been fighting this for a long time.
The month ended on what would have been Bear’s 76th birthday. I thought of him all day….I was working and Becky and I had spent several days putting in our third booth at the Antique Barn. We had a double booth downstairs, a large booth upstairs and two showcases in the entryway. Business was flourishing.
December was fairly normal with average weather until mid-month when we got a 12” snow. It was beautiful and we only get about one deep snow a year so we always enjoy the scenery…..we were hoping it would be a white Christmas. The snow works a hardship on the birds so I scooped an area off and put excess feed out….the heaters in the two bird baths keep them supplied with the necessity of water. When I wasn’t working at the Barn I was busy caring for the birds.
George came on the 23rd to spend Christmas with us. His birthday is the 22nd so after we ate his favorite supper…..pizza and cherry cobbler, he opened his birthday gifts. We had a nice evening, just the three of us. On Christmas day we had our neighbor’s, the Hockings, and Jonathan join us for a traditional ham dinner, so with Becky, George and myself, we had a full table. Later, we opened our gifts and Santa was very good to us all.
My Becky had been feeling bad for several days and was on sulfa to get over her illness. The day after Christmas she had sores in her mouth and a swollen face…she slept quite a bit so we hoped it would improve her condition. By the next day it was worse and she was miserable. I took her down to the doctor at the Clinic and he said she was having a reaction to the sulfa……so I could relate to her misery, having had bad reactions to the drug earlier. George left for home around lunchtime and Becky slept most of the afternoon.
I closed the year 2000 out with these comments taken from my journal on New Year’s Eve……..
This year has been good to me. I’m feeling productive again and my Fibromyalgia has been manageable. Financially I am not a wealthy woman but the Lord continues to give me enough to share with others. I am rich in a loving family and good friends. The song, “Nearer My God to Thee” is one that probably sums up my spiritual life. I feel closer to God than I ever have, the inevitability of death is ever closer but youthful fears have given way to great expectations of seeing my invisible God face to face along with dear friends and loved ones, gone before me. Until then I hope to live each day fully and leave a few flowers along the paths I have traveled……
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Jonathan was our only diner at our Thanksgiving table this year. His Becky was not doing well and didn’t feel up to coming. Becky, Jonathan and I ate together and then drove out to Becky’s grandmother’s farm to see her and her family. They have a lovely view from their living room which extends down a long slope where cattle grazed, boxed in by timber. As long as I have lived in the Ozark hills it’s raw beauty still affects me as it did the first time I saw it. One of my long love affairs.
We could tell Becky W. didn’t feel well, she was looking even more frail than her small frame normally was. She made every effort to appear her usual self…..and never one complaint from her. We all avoided any reference to her condition. It was easy to look at her parents and grandmother and see their shared concern. Becky was content as long as Jonathan was with her…….he stayed but my Becky and I came on home. We were not only sad about Becky but we could see the toll it was taking on Jonathan and her family…..Becky had been fighting this for a long time.
The month ended on what would have been Bear’s 76th birthday. I thought of him all day….I was working and Becky and I had spent several days putting in our third booth at the Antique Barn. We had a double booth downstairs, a large booth upstairs and two showcases in the entryway. Business was flourishing.
December was fairly normal with average weather until mid-month when we got a 12” snow. It was beautiful and we only get about one deep snow a year so we always enjoy the scenery…..we were hoping it would be a white Christmas. The snow works a hardship on the birds so I scooped an area off and put excess feed out….the heaters in the two bird baths keep them supplied with the necessity of water. When I wasn’t working at the Barn I was busy caring for the birds.
George came on the 23rd to spend Christmas with us. His birthday is the 22nd so after we ate his favorite supper…..pizza and cherry cobbler, he opened his birthday gifts. We had a nice evening, just the three of us. On Christmas day we had our neighbor’s, the Hockings, and Jonathan join us for a traditional ham dinner, so with Becky, George and myself, we had a full table. Later, we opened our gifts and Santa was very good to us all.
My Becky had been feeling bad for several days and was on sulfa to get over her illness. The day after Christmas she had sores in her mouth and a swollen face…she slept quite a bit so we hoped it would improve her condition. By the next day it was worse and she was miserable. I took her down to the doctor at the Clinic and he said she was having a reaction to the sulfa……so I could relate to her misery, having had bad reactions to the drug earlier. George left for home around lunchtime and Becky slept most of the afternoon.
I closed the year 2000 out with these comments taken from my journal on New Year’s Eve……..
This year has been good to me. I’m feeling productive again and my Fibromyalgia has been manageable. Financially I am not a wealthy woman but the Lord continues to give me enough to share with others. I am rich in a loving family and good friends. The song, “Nearer My God to Thee” is one that probably sums up my spiritual life. I feel closer to God than I ever have, the inevitability of death is ever closer but youthful fears have given way to great expectations of seeing my invisible God face to face along with dear friends and loved ones, gone before me. Until then I hope to live each day fully and leave a few flowers along the paths I have traveled……
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
