Welcome back!

Well, something new has happened. Our van might need a new wheel bearing on the front tire, and our station wagon needs a new serpentine belt.

Oh joy of joys. That was sarcasm folks.

We have ways to get around, but I really like the idea that we do not have to ask for a ride. At lest we didn’t need to for a while. The van has a flat tire on top of it all. If we fix the flat, we might be able to drive it a little, and slowly, until the car is fixed. Meanwhile, we wait for the monthly money to come in so we can get the car going again. It seems like if it wasn’t one thing, it would be something else. I know that life shouldn’t be one breakdown after another, but that is something that does not show up often.

I will not let it get me down, we have been in worse situations. We at least have a good place to live, friends that can help us, family that loves us, and 2 cats that show their love every day. We are not alone.

We live in a country that medical care available, food available, and transportation available. That is more than some have around. So, while life might get frustrating, it is life. It can change. We have hope. Meanwhile, I will grab one of our cats, hug and love in her, listen to her purr out of my good ear (that hasn’t gone quiet from this flue stuff), and thank God for what we do have.

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Today my husband and I lost another friend. She had fought and won against colon cancer. She loved animals of all sorts. When she would find homeless animals, she would find them homes where they would be loved and cared for. She managed to find homes for many helpless animals with many lonely, loving people. She gave us our white cat that has adopted us and our older cat as family. This kitty’s name is Samantha.

Our friend’s name was Linda Frick. She will be greatly missed. She died today approximately around 3:30 pm. I do not know what it is that killed her, but her family does need prayer. We only knew her for a few months, but in that time she proved to be a very special person.

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I know that I started with an unusual word, but it is the word that describes what happens.

Our oldest kitty has decided that when someone is petting her in a certain area of the house, she will FLUMP unexpectedly. First, we have to be getting ready to go to sleep. Second, we will tell both babies that it is beddy-bye nighty-night time, yes we use a secret code to talk to our cats.

Next, everybody goes into the bedroom. We humans adjust the bedding, with the weight of the cats on the bed of course. They wouldn’t have it any other way. We then pet each baby so they know they are still the rulers in the house. I should have put the world rulers in quotation marks. They each pick the person to say good night to, and this is where the FLUMP comes into play.

When petting each furry person (aka fur-purrson) the petting stroke starts at the nose and goes all the way to the tip of the tail. The oldest cat will then perform her FLUMP. A FLUMP is a fully limp undertaking of a melodramatic plop. AKA F.L.U.M.P. If you stop petting, she will stand up, nose your hand, and when you pet her again - FLUMP. If you ignore her, she will nip or pinch you to get your attention. Did I mention that they think they are the rulers in the house? If we do not perform these services, our toes get chewed on at night. So let the petting services and the FLUMP commence. I guess routine in important to every one in their own way. I will admit that I miss the petting services if I go straight to sleep and don’t take the time out to rub fur. I have my routine, too.

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I’ve been thinking about some of the unusual animals that we’ve had. The one that comes to mind we called Junior. He was a neutered male cat that was solid black.

At the time that we had him, my husband was having seizures. He was having grand-mal and petit-mal types of seizures each day. One day he told me that when he would come out of a seizure, he would find Junior right next to him. The cat would be purring loudly right next to my husband’s head. I saw this happen one day when I had gone out into the yard to hang up laundry on the clothes line next door. Our neighbor allowed us to use it since she didn’t use it. While I was out there, I had locked the door to the trailer, because he was asleep. The next thing that I knew, Junior had found a way to get outside and was raising a ruckus. When I turned around and followed him, he led me to the front door, then through the trailer to the bedroom, where my husband had gotten out of bed and fallen onto the electric heater and was having a seizure. I rushed over and removed him from the heater just as it clicked on and the coils started to glow.

I expected to find that my husband’s stomach would be severely burned from the heater, but it wasn’t burned. Junior, our cat, had saved his life, if not his health. Another time my husband was standing in the kitchen when he toppled over onto the floor and went into a grand-mal seizure. Before I could get to him, Junior had inserted himself under my husband’s head and used his body to act as a cushion while my husband jerked in the seizure. He wouldn’t let me remove him until the seizure was stopped. The cat then got by my husband’s head and started to purr very loudly. My husband admitted that having Junior there purring helped him to recover from each seizure, and not be scared. We lost Junior in 1997 when he was 12 years old. We do not know why he died, we know that we miss him greatly.

People aren’t the only ones who can be heroes.

My husband no longer has seizures. We have other babies now. One of them, Dipper, is sensitive to when His blood sugar gets too low. God continues to bless.

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I know at least two ladies going through something I can’t imagine. Actually, I know three, four and more. One lady has a daughter with Leigh’s Disease. The daughter is only five years old. She may never live to see twelve. Her mother gives her love and tries to find things to make her daughter smile. This little girl is surrounded by love. Her sisters try to pamper her. They’re not 10 yet themselves. Her grandmother and grandfather take time off from work to drive her to specialists to get her as much help as possible. Life goes on.

Lady number two has Fibromyalgia. That means she is in constant pain. Her nerves don’t stop sending messages of pain. Her hands and feet sometimes swell and cause additional pain. The medications she takes don’t stop the messages of pain. Her present doctor appears to be too much in a hurry to listen to what she has to say, or to answer her questions. He husband seems more concerned with helping a homeless 28 year old man than helping his wife. She still takes care of her own apartment while her husband lives on his farm. She runs her friend into the doctor to check if her friend’s cancer has come back. She still finds time to laugh, to sing.

Lady number three is in her 30s. She has already had numerous operations to remove cancer in her insides. Recently, she went through another operation to remove more cancer from her colon. A week ago, she buried her grandfather. No one else in her family could handle the details. Her mother fell apart at the death of the man who raised her. Lady number three took care of all the arrangements for the funeral and burial. Right now she is in the hospital after having her 9th operation. This operation removed many parts from her insides. When I’ve talked to her, she has still been able to laugh. Her widowed grandmother visits with her each day. They keep each other company.

Lady number four recently had to fight to keep supposed family members from stealing her house, her money; and they locked her up in her own home for a while. Many of her pets were killed. She was only able to save a few. She’s had a colostomy bag for a while and was supposed to be checked by her doctor to see if she can return to a normal life. Her last visit with her doctor showed some new changes in her body. The operation to remove the colostomy bag has now been delayed—-no explanation. She still goes on with her daily life.

How do YOU define COURAGE?

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