Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The Year Coming to a Close

The year 2016 is winding down and quickly coming to an end. There are so many so happy to see this year go into the books, for so many reasons that I won't go into. It seems as if many of music's royalty have departed this year. Last night on the news they said it equalled the year 1971 when so many young rock stars like Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison died. 1971, I was a junior in high school. FB did those year in pictures thing but I didn't publish mine because it seemed all the pictures had to do with my hip and knee surgeries. 2016 would be the year of repairs for me. Because of my accidental fall in January it paved the way for the bilateral knee replacements to almost be free of costs because I had met my deductibles and out of pocket expenses. If I hadn't fallen, I don't know that I would have had knee replacements this year and my SIL brought up the fact that I was getting dangerously close to have waited too long for them to do the surgery. Yesterday was six weeks out from surgery and I took a little bit of time to think of how far my recovery has come in six weeks. A friend from NC and I were talking last week and she mentioned those dark nights of the soul in recovering from surgery and pushing forward in health. Those dark nights of the knees were hard and like most dark night things, you experience them by yourself but of course I knew I was never alone and depended on the Lord. In those times I knew better times were coming and I just needed to proceed and endure till the different trials faded away.

I started doing the One Word thing instead of New Year resolutions several years ago. One word is easy to keep focus on. My word this year was ful and I was able to put a word in front of ful, like playful, grateful, etc... Proceed and persevere are too words from years in the past that fit their years perfectly. I think I have my word for 2017 narrowed down.

Fitbit, it's an ok gadget. I don't know how accurate the step counting is but I love it for the sleep breakdown. What I have learned is, I am a restless sleeper, well I kind of knew that but didn't realize how restless I truly am.

Yesterday, Dena came over from the foreign land she has moved to, Well, that is what I call it. We had such a great afternoon. We exchanged Christmas gifts which was a whole lot of fun. Love the Texas mugs and the NC cheese plate. The mugs look like oil barrels and are red, white and blue with the Texas star. They'll be going back with us to NC for sure. What a happy way to remember Texas and the time I have spent here since November. We went to Taste of Texas for a late lunch. It was delicious as always. Good conversation and good food go hand in hand. We took some pics and headed back to Rancho de Five. So glad Dena didn't have to rush back to the foreign land because Roy got a chance to sit here with us and visit.

The other night Roy and I had such an interesting discussion. We were talking about the Christmas sermons we heard this year...he has heard more than me this time around and somehow we got into the conversation of the 400 years of silence thing. Roy said, that is so misunderstood. God still spoke to his people, He didn't use major or minor prophets to do so. Then he began naming people in the Bible who were part of the 400 year generation that heard from God, Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon, and Anna. Something really to think about.

Roy and I think differently on many things but as the years have come and gone, we are now more alike than we are opposite. I mentioned that there seemed to be a lot of platitudes coming on Twitter in these remaining days of 2016. All these ministry types are flooding the Twittersphere with "wise words" and teachable moments in 140 characters. Roy said, I unfollow so many that start doing that because it is so easy to buy into the theme or platitude and get farther away from scripture. Roy is a wise man.

I had planned to have lunch with a friend today but had to ask if we could reschedule. I was feeling the tireds last night and knew I would need today to recover. I have early PT tomorrow and then next week I am on my own since the rehab people are moving to their new digs in the second professional building at the hospital. So this morning I slept in a bit and now easing into the day. Chris comes this afternoon and I might go out for a bit while she is here.

No comments: