Dance With Me!

No knee surgery for Thomas!! The ortho doctor thinks wearing a knee brace and some physical therapy will help with the problem he's having and that he's too young to look at knee replacement right now.  So that means no bored hubby at home for two months and no scrambling to come up with projects to keep him busy and occupied. Phew!

A Post Inspired by Donna

I wouldn't share this on Facebook -- unless I hid it from certain family members -- but Donna's post has inspired me to write about a lapse in memory I had yesterday that really freaked me out.

I am FB "friends" with a first cousin once removed on my father's side, Allison.  Her father and I are first cousins, and she had posted some vacation photos of her father and mother. They were very nice pictures, and I was marvaling at how good my cousin, her dad, was looking at his age. I wanted to leave a comment that included a message to her dad, but I couldn't get his name to come to me. So I made the comment without using his name, but it really bugged me that I couldn't get his name to come to me. Sure, he's quite a bit older than I am -- not like we "grew up" together -- but I was the kind of kid who knew ALL of my first cousins' names on both sides of my family (and that was more than 60 first cousins) by the time I was six years old, even ones I didn't associate with much.

So I was sitting at the computer, counting on my fingers, and naming off all the siblings of this first cousin, trying to get his name to come to me. I was muttering and fussing and actually clutching my hair in frustration. Thomas was no help at all. I started reciting this cousin's sibling's names out loud, hoping it would help me remember.

"Okay, so Jerry's the oldest. The other boys are Roger, Dean, Bobby, and Stuart. And there are the girls, Bonnie and Joan. But who is this one!?! What name am I leaving out!?!" 

Then I'd say the names again in a different order. "Jerry, Bonnie, Joan, Roger, Bobby, Stuart, Dean! Who is the other one?!?" 

Then I tried a different tactic. I threw in my aunt's and uncle's names to see if that might work. "Okay," I said to myself, patiently. "Uncle Burton and Aunt Vera's kids were...Jerry, Bonnie, Roger, Joan, Bobby, Dean, Stuart, and...." But that last name just wouldn't come to me.

I was seriously, seriously beginning to get worried about the state of my mind. This family lived just down the road from us. Yes, I grew up with their children, not them, because of the age difference, but these were cousins I saw on Sundays at my Grandmother Dowell's house. Their father was one of my dad's brothers closest to him in age; their mother was a first cousin of my mother. There was interaction and socialization between the two families! I saw them at family funerals and reunions! This particular one I'd had a very long conversation with at the last family reunion I'd gone to a few years ago, and he'd introduced me to his newest newborn grandson and told me how much he liked that his daughter had given the baby "Dowell" as a middle name. I could remember how this cousin and his brother Stuart looked when they were teens, about the same age as my brother Alton, and how I really admired their side burns! I was determined that I would not call my mother to ask her the name of Aunt Vera's son, Allison and Neal's father, and I said as much out loud to Thomas!

And that did the trick. When I said, "Allison and Neal's father" it came to me. Blindingly. Embarrassingly. 

Bobby.

It was Bobby!

There was no missing sibling. Just a missing brain. Mine! I'd put him in the list and searched frantically for the one I was missing when there wasn't one missing. And I felt very, very foolish.

I have a feeling I'd better get used to that feeling.

Autumn? Already?!?

I have absolutely nothing to write about. Actually, I do, I'm just not in the mood to write. I think of things to write about almost every day and certainly once a week when my snail-mail letter comes from Barbara, but I never want to sit down and actually compose anything. Maybe next week.

But since I'm here...

Everyone is doing well here. I don't know where the summer went. I didn't do everything I wanted to do, and yet I still feel like I did too many things. It was a busy summer without accomplishing what I personally wanted to accomplish. I think I did too many things for other people and not enough for myself. Well, no, not really. I enjoyed what I did that others wanted to do and won't call that doing too much for others; I just wish I'd done more of what I wanted to do as well. Selfish, aren't I?

Thomas is going to need knee surgery, so we're trying to plan it for January. That will be after deer season and during the coldest part of the year. I need to look into his disability benefits at work to make sure we do everything correctly.

Eler Beth is LOVING her job and staying busy. We gave her a big graduation party in August that was a hit.  Andrew and Alexandria are still a couple and doing well. I'm fine. Mom will be 91 in December and is doing well. 

And that's about it for now. Happy Autumn!