An update….

It’s been a year since I sent out one of my regular newsletters, so I thought I might give you a brief update as several have inquired about how I’m doing.

My ability to concentrate on “creative” sorts of things is slowly returning back to more of a “normal” state. I do understand that the loss of such ability is common among people who have suffered a great loss in their lives.

Otherwise, I’m doing well. I still try to visit the fitness center five or six times a week, and on many evenings when the weather permits, I also walk out by the river. This activity has helped both physical and mental well being. And I’m continuing with the Spanish lessons and try to work on them some every day.

One of the most important things I do is to drive to Benton two mornings a week to stay with Jackson, who is surely the world’s most intelligent, funny, helpful, winsome, etc., etc., 27-month-old grandson. We sit in the floor and build with his blocks, play with his cars–and read the books that his Gramma Mary read to his daddy when he was a little boy. I enjoy this time immensely. Jackson’s mom, Brandi, has a morning job at First Assembly of God, and his dad, Barrett, now works at Landers Chrysler Jeep Dodge. He loves the work (which would terrify me), but car sales are at a 27-year low. I pray a lot that business would increase. They moved into their own house last year and have worked so hard to make it into a pleasant home.

For those who may be interested, I have moved all the content from my old web site to this new format because it gives me more flexibility in categorizing and classifying the material so that it can be located and searched. I do hope to occasionally post articles in the coming months. I’ll let regular subscribers to the old newsletter know when there’s new content–and you can also subscribe by email at the top of the page.  The categories I’ve assigned to the articles here need a lot of work. There are too many of them, too many  unclassified–and they need a lot of refinement. But at least the content is here, including poems and songs that weren’t on the old site. And the audio messages are better organized and descriptive.

My health is good. In addition to healthy eating (usually), I am taking a new nutritional supplement that has given me more energy than at any time in my recollection. Unfortunately, however, I have started making chocolate pies for special occasions, and those conspire against all of my noble efforts to eat right.

I do, of course, continue to miss Mary. The empty house is exceedingly lonely at times but without the darkness that I once felt. I do need to move to a smaller place but don’t yet have any clarification about “what’s next.” So I’ll stay put until I can see more clearly when and where to move. Until then, I have at least half of this house closed off and hardly ever enter those areas. I have spent what seems like countless hours in trying to deal with the aftermath of death and get rid of things I won’t need in the future. The process of adjustment has seemed exceedingly slow and painful, but today, the second anniversary of her death, I can see how far I have really come.

May God bless you all for your prayers and concerns.