November 25, 2014

Happy Birthday to My Brother

November 25, 2014

Left to right in photo:  My  brother Gordon, is the oldest, then me (Linda), next is mom,

 then my sister, Debra, and finally the baby of the family, Janet.

God determines birth order in families, but if He had let me do it in my family when I was growing up, I would have selected to have an older brother and two younger sisters.  God decided, and I still got just what I would have wanted.  I really thought it was a neat idea to have an older brother.  He would bring his friends home and I would get to spend time with all those neat guys that were so much fun to be around.  Only problem was, they saw me either as the sister they never had or the sister they did have and didn't want hanging around.

My brother is a super guy.  He was always much more popular than I was and friends rarely believed he was my brother if they didn't already know us.  He was red-headed and freckled.  He was tall and good looking and artistic.  I had brown hair and very  few freckles.  I was a wall-flower and I still draw stick figures, but I did excel in math and he didn't.  This is one of those times when I wish I could hear well enough to easily just pick up a phone and have a normal conversation - to rub it in that he is 70 years old!  He is a great-grandfather!  He is a super guy and I wish him all the best for his birthday and the year to come. 

I must say one of my very favorite things about my brother is his laugh.   Growing up, Saturday morning cartoons were made even more enjoyable as he would laugh and laugh at Roadrunner cartoons.  He loved those cartoons and I loved to hear him laugh at them.  If I could hear well on a phone call, I would call my brother today.  I would try to think of something funny to say, just to hear him laugh.

Today was another long day.  I had an early appointment with the heart specialist.  It was just for a checkup and he said all was well and to come back in 6 months.  I mentioned to him that our  General Practitioner had moved away and asked if he had any suggestions.  He gave me a referral to one.  They are to call me for an appointment.

When I finished there I talked to his scheduling receptionist and asked her for some input on home health care for my mom.  Then I went by the orthopedic surgeon's office to ask if he took patients with back problems, but they don't.  They did give me the name of one here in town.  I will pass all this information on to Mom.

Once I got to the office, I started in on the mess on my desk.  It was time to pay some bills and deal with some paperwork Ron and I had been passing back and forth for a while.  When we signed up with the new company to deal with the credit cards we accept from our customers, the salesman was less than informed.  He must have been new on the job.  By the time we finished with him we both just wanted him out of the office.  It was also at a time when I was going to see how Mom was while she was in the hospital and I was out of the office for about a week right after we signed up with them.  The details of the information got lost in the shuffle of the last two months of us being on the go so much.

Ron made a lengthy phone call today and got help from a very kind, knowledgeable lady at the company.  She very patiently walked him through each step we needed.  The change in companies has cut our expenses, but it has not been without bumps in the road.  Hopefully they got smoothed out today.  Ron's time on the phone was because I can't do it.  He has had to take over all of the phone calls at the office and that is not his favorite thing to do.  Then Ron boxed up the old credit card equipment and returned it.  Those were two big check marks on our to do list.  I think we both felt relieved to mark those off.  We like the new system, it is just that the change came at a very hectic time in our lives.  Slowly, we are getting our bearings again.

As I had previously mentioned, Ron and I had both not been feeling well.  We are getting better.  I think I have bounced back more quickly than he has, but we are both doing much better.  All of the things I mentioned took up the morning and a little of the afternoon.  I told Ron I was going to come to the house for a little bite of lunch and to pick up some things I needed to take to his mother.

My afternoon was spent on bookkeeping chores and filing.  After work Ron went to mail a package and pick up supper for all of us, to take to his Mom's house.  He normally eats with her on Tuesday evenings but I joined them tonight.  While he ran his errands, I went by my Mom's and then to the post office before going to his mom's.  She had been busy with some projects and as always, did a wonderful job on them.  She is so talented.

On my way to my mom's house, I passed a group of White Ibises.  They hang out not far from Mom's house and I stopped to get some photos.  Those photos are scattered throughout this blog.  I probably have mentioned before that the first time I spotted some White Ibises here in town I stopped to take some pictures thinking how beautiful and unique they are.  I could tell one was digging in the grass for something to eat and took photos.  When I returned to the office and put the photos into the computer I saw that what the White Ibis was eating was a tarantula!  All I could think of after that was that the beautiful little bird had Tarantula Breath!  Yuck!

We had supper with Ron's mom and I got to practice what I am always wanting others to do for me: speak more slowly and more clearly.  Ron's mom is a little hard of hearing and I understand the problem!  We just get to talking about something and if we aren't careful, we talk faster and faster, making it harder and harder for the person who is struggling to understand what is being said.  We had a good visit and by the time I got home, it had been a very long day.