THANKSGIVING WALKER NEWSLETTER

Hello~

It's a November rainy day, with the temp dropping as I sit by the warm, crackling fire burning in the woodstove. Our first freeze, here in the TN Mountains, is coming this weekend. We just had a brief window of the showing of colored leaves due to the dry weather. Outside my window, swirling leaves are falling in the wind, which makes me sad as soon all the tree branches will be bare. The oak leaves in the front yard tuned brown this year, instead of the deep burgundy they usually show. The cycle of seasons reminds us that life is full of changes as well. Each month as I change the calendar, I am reminded that time keeps moving on.

My brave mini marigolds are still blooming, in muted colors, on the back porch, along with some mums that still are waiting to be planting. A few green tomatoes and peppers need picking. I'm storing the autumn squash; a neighbor gave us, in the back room to be used later. This year, I'm going to try bringing some sage that I grew from seed this spring inside. I've so enjoyed the pungent smell every time I rubbed their leaves. Meanwhile, my cats love curling and snoozing in front of the woodstove close by the fire.

I went to the local doctor's office for my six-month visit. He was amazed at how well I was doing, compared to before. My doctor and staff think Dwight is a miracle worker.  I told them that they needed to check Dwight's blood pressure instead of mine. The last two weeks before my appointment, Dwight was like a broody hen, fussing around and hovering over me, sure I'd do something to set myself back. If he heard any noise while in his bedroom, he'd come tearing out to see what I was doing, which nearly drove me crazy.

I had a five week stretch where I was walking around the house, circling down to Dwight's shop, washing dishes, folding clothes, and feeling like myself. Just as I lengthened my walk to keep building up my strength, and felt it in my leg muscles, that night my left leg began to jerk involuntarily as I was falling asleep. A hard jerk caused pain to shoot deep into my hip setting off my sciatic nerve pain. At the rate I'm going, I will be able to write a book on what to expect or what can go wrong for someone with sciatic nerve problems. I've ordered something for restless legs and involuntary leg movement to see if I can prevent this from happening again, because I'm not going to quit trying to build up my strength. So, like a broken record, I had to start over from scratch. I'm in my third week, now able to go down a couple of steps, and walking outside part way. There's nothing like being independent and walking all through the day only to suddenly, wake up the next day and barely be able to walk to the bathroom, due to the pain when you put weight on your left foot. The first couple of days when you are popping pain pills and, in a daze, just trying to keep the pain under control through the day and night, you can care less. But as the pain lessens and your mind isn’t in a fog, it really does a number on your mental status realizing you have to begin all over again. The first couple of weeks are hard trying to keep your mind focused on only walking to avoid more setbacks while being waiting on hand and foot.

Dwight’s truck started leaking fluid as he was hauling wood.  He had to end up taking out the transmission and fix a seal in the engine- something I know nothing about. Thankfully, he finished that huge project and can use the truck once again. He also has been splitting wood, getting things ready for winter. Dwight has to pace himself and take breaks throughout the day when he does hard manual labor. I dearly wish I could be helping him get the wood in, like I’ve done many years before.

Through the ups and downs of life, we are still blessed. We have a roof over our heads, a warm house, clothes to wear, and food to eat. Here in America, we have a lot of extras the rest of the world can only dream about. God certainly has been good to us! I’m so glad that God is still on the throne. He hears and answers prayer. So, I choose to be thankful despite the circumstances of life. We can always find someone worse off than us. Like an old preacher once said, “If I was starving, I’d tell the devil I was fasting.”  This month, join me in focusing on counting our blessings.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Dorcas