Good News, Not So Good News and a Little Philosophizing

At home near Fort Worth, Texas...

When we last visited, Sandy and I had interrupted our planned caravanning departure for Colorado due to Bubba's unfortunate battle between one of his coach's slideouts and a steel building; the slideout lost, regrettably. Woody (as his coach is named) is now in the hands of Coach Specialists in nearby Mansfield, Texas, one of the few shops in the country devoted entirely to body repair on RVs. Luckily for Bubba, the company also enjoys an excellent reputation, so he feels that Woody is in good hands. Unfortunately, his beloved coach will be out of commission for two or three months, as Earl, the owner of Coach Specialists, gently informed Bubba that these types of repairs move slowly, being highly dependent upon the acquisition of obscure parts and the exacting nature of this kind of work. Fiberglass repair, I am told, is very tricky and requires a good bit of skill, which these folks seem to have, judging by the finished products we observed. So, that's a bit of good news for Bubba, who desperately wants Woody to be restored to its former glory. 

Now, let's get to some good news for Sandy, who took the opportunity caused by the delay in our trip to move up her appointment with a surgeon who specializes in spinal stenosis. The good news is that she will not need to have surgery at this time; the not-so-good news is that her arthritic condition is going to continue to be a source of pain. The surgeon's recommendation was to take a referral to a widely respected doctor specializing in pain management. Sandy has made that appointment, and we will see if that helps her find some relief.

We are attempting to take in stride the hiccups in our travel plans caused by events beyond our control. We will never know if the change allowed us to avoid some traveling calamity ourselves from which the good Lord was protecting us. In any case, we know He has the big picture for sure. We are hoping that Sandy will respond well to her pain therapy and that we may be able to go to the mountains after all before the end of summer. We will have to see how the treatment goes in the next few weeks.

Working our way through these health issues was not exactly on our radar because, well, we've never gotten old before, and we didn't know exactly what to expect. We're determined, however, to get this behind us with minimal complaining and carrying on, for that sort of thing is so unproductive for us and so annoying to others.

I'm also working on becoming less anxious about making full use of the time "window" remaining for realizing our retirement travel goals while we still have some mobility. The best idea, I think, is to seek satisfaction with every single day and be grateful for having lived it, irrespective of our circumstances. An author named Lesage said it best in 1735: "I am happy and content because I think I am." A lofty and worthy goal, for sure, but Lesage didn't offer any advice on how to do it. I'm going to give it a shot, though, perhaps using the parts of my brain that were grossly underutilized in my youth--especially back when I studied algebra.