Hit a Stump

April 13, 2021 – July 8, 2021

When we last signed off, we were on our way to Atlanta.  We got our first COVID vaccine through the Emory Friends and Family Program.  We were so incredibly grateful to get our shots.  While we waited for our second round, we had a wonderful visit with David and his family.  The boys are growing up so fast.  We celebrated Austin’s third birthday.

We played and played.

And we cooked and ate.

And we worked.

Ollie taking care of Pop Pop.

We took hikes at the stream nearby and also at the lake at Stone Mountain.

We had sleepovers in the roof top tent, camped right in David’s driveway, with sleeping bags and pillows and lovies and snacks and books and finally some sleep!

We had our second vaccines on May 12th…no side effects and we were ready to head for home.

We left Atlanta on May 13^th.  We stopped overnight at Tucker lake in Benson NC.

The following day, we drove through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and stayed at Kiptopeke State Park.

We spent the weekend at Delaware Seashore Park and had a great visit with our good friends Walt and Lisa.

We arrived home on the 17^th of May with plans to stay for 2 ½ weeks. 

We were in a big rush to get a long list of chores done, maintenance on the bikes and the Jeep, and the dentist and the dermatologist, and a hair appointment and a mammogram.  We had lunches and dinners with friends and family.  We had Allison’s graduation from University of Maryland, School of Social Work.

And a beautiful graduation/engagement party for Allison and Kyle.

We had planned to leave June 3^rd for a family wedding in Kentucky and from there we wanted to go to Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.  Sometimes though plans go awry… Toward the end of the second week, we each had a physical.

We each got some news that we didn’t expect.  Tim is dealing with newly diagnosed high blood pressure.  My EKG showed a change that indicated possible heart damage.  A subsequent nuclear stress test showed that I had a silent heart attack.  I never knew…

We spent weeks waiting for one test and then another.

In the meantime, I still went to Kentucky for Ian and Krista’s wedding. 

I was also able to be there when Allison found her perfect wedding dress.

Brood X cicadas were in full force while we were home. The noise was incredible. We read that in places there were 1 million cicadas per acre…that means we had 4 million cicadas! They were thick under the trees and they had a peculiar odor.

We have been traveling so much that we haven’t been home much to enjoy the beauty of our own place.

We went to Crisfield for several days while we waited.

And to Rock Hall while we waited again.

We celebrated 4th of July with the D’Amato family…with a bushel of crabs….fun and gracious people…and soon to be family!

An early birthday dinner for Tim.

We helped to put in a garden and the first vegetables, carrots, beans, cucumbers, and zucchini are just now ready.

Test results have revealed that I have a strong healthy heart muscle.  The infarct at the bottom of my heart does not interfere with my heart function…I am extremely fortunate.  We had been eating mostly healthy and we had increased our physical exercise and activity over the past year…but now we are more determined than ever to take better care.  I cleaned out the pantry.  We are mostly following a Mediterranean diet but we are really focused on clean, whole, healthy foods, limiting cheese and processed stuff.  We have increased our exercise and Tim bought me an Apple Watch.  I am on day 30 of closing all three rings.  If you haven’t had a recent physical, please go.  If you haven’t been taking good care of you, I urge you to make your health a priority…all we have is time… We left Maryland today.  We still don’t have final results from my arterial CTA scan but preliminary results looked “fine”.  So, we are traveling north into Pennsylvania, not the trip we had planned, but one we are happy to be able to take.  It is cooler here and we haven’t seen much of this area.  We are thankful to be able to Enjoy the Ride!