Sunday, Sept. 7th and still here

Yes, I am still around and still seem to be moving forward. My shoulder hurts less since the doctor took care of it. I still do some exercises with it and the pain is a lot less than it was before the doctor took care of it. I hope this lasts for a long time! Climbing and sitting still bother me, but I like to think I am still improving.
We are planning on going to see my cousin sometime next month. She lives in Ft. Worth area while her husband is going to school there. Betty called and talked to her last weekend and they decided that October was better for all of us. I have not seen Shannon in quite a while but I knew Rob was going to school to be an anthologist. He has quite a bit of time to get there, but steps in the right direction always helps out. I know both of their kids are off at college now, so moving forward is a good thing to do.
Matt has his first soccer game yesterday. He is back at playing goalie since he has a new coach this year. He was the assistant coach before so he knew how good Matt was at this position. We won this game 9 to 0. He stopped quite a few shots but we controlled the game most of the time. We had a great time there and went to visit my brother after it since it was near his home. We sat and visited with Scott and Karen for quite a while and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a great visit. I did have some issues at the soccer game because the ground is not level in all spots for drainage during rainy times. We had to bring drinks and snacks and carrying the drinks in an ice chest was tough on me. I had to carry the drinks and the chairs, too. I made it but not like before. It was always so easy for me before that you just don't think about the issues this fall caused me. I hope that one day I will be close to where I used to be, but I know "running" is out of the question any more. A broken tailbone will not allow this! It is like working on something low to the ground still hurts my pelvic area. I can sit on the ground to do a lot of these things, but it hurts to get there and to get up from. If I am there, don't expect me to get up too fast. I have to roll over to my knees and push up that way. I know this and have learned how to deal with this. It beats the heck out of the bed I was fixed to at this time last year and that was an improvement from the two months before that. I don't remember the first two months but I hear these stories.
Life is a great thing to deal with and when you are close to the train, the light is VERY bright. I think I was real close to it at that point in my life and I would like to thank everyone that was pulling for me. God listens to each of us and I don't really know how many prayer groups helped me out. Life is great because God takes good care of us.
I love you all so much. If you are one of those two or three people that still check on me here, thank you. If you respond, that's great, but if you don't, I still love you for your concerns for me.
Enjoy life and the pleasures God brings us all.
Mark 9/7/08

Tuesday, Sept 2 and still here

Today is another GREAT day. I woke up this morning, breathing on my own. This makes it a GREAT day! Things are going well for us right now. I finished the repairs on the porch and Shane came over and sprayed paint on it all. It really looks good. We had a little issue that morning, though. He was taking a load of wood to the dump and had a blow out and needed a ride. I had to go get him and take him to get a new tire. Before we could make it to the dump, it blew out again. This hour long trip took him about 3 to 4 hours. His trailer made it on three of four tires, but this was OK since he got his load off.
I ran onto an old friend and his wife on Sunday. They were not sure how I was and asked a lot of questions. I had to go through my list of pains and issues to deal with all over again. It does not bother me, but they were surprised I was so pleasant about it. Having pain and trouble is not something that gets me down as I am pretty used to it. People that see me pretty regularly know this and help me move on with life.
Megan seems to be coming along with my new grandchild. She is showing more and more all the time. This is an exciting thing for me and willing to get used to it. I am so looking forward in being called Grandpa. This is always an exciting issue to deal with.
Matt has soccer practice tonight, so this note will be short. I am still here and will bother you if I need to. Love to all of you.
Mark 9/2/08