Long time, no blog

Greetings! It's been well over a week since my last posting and it's been a busy time.

With the winter storm, I left early for Ashland so I could be sure I was there for my Mom's surgery that was scheduled on Wednesday. Ashland had 14 inches of snow and it was complicated by blowing and drifting both in town and in the country. All non-emergency surgeries scheduled for Wednesday were cancelled and my Mom was moved to Thursday. By Thursday, the roads were fairly clear. Mom's surgery went really well and after a long period of fasting, she was happy to get saltines and a cup of coffee. Mom was told to rest when she got home which was hard for her to do. Thursday happened to be my birthday so she felt guilty when I was doing stuff around the house. I was there to help birthday or not. My birthday hasn't had quite the same meaning since my Grandpa Woodruff died 7 years ago on my birthday. I figure, okay, I'm 34 years old which is older than our two favorite NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. who make more money each in one year than I'll probably ever make in a lifetime!

I made some breaded baked chicken, packaged mashed potatoes, canned gravy, and salads for dinner on Thursday night. My Mom is like me and tends to enjoy pretty much any meal she doesn't cook. My Dad said it was good and he's pretty hard to please. Perhaps picking all of the carrot shreds out of his salad helped.

I took Mom to her first of several follow-up appointments on Friday morning. We had to stop at the tire place in town because I had a low tire and I didn't want to drive home with it that low. If you're ever in Ashland and need tire service, got to Smetz's on 250. They were kind enough to check and fill my tires for free. We got to Mom's appointment and she's reading letters two lines better than before her surgery. She goes back again on Monday for another follow-up. She has several drops she has to use until her next surgery on the 28th to fix the right eye.

I got home Friday afternoon after a windy drive home and a car that shimmies like Charro. I'm hoping the wind was causing some of the shimmy. I'm taking it on March 3rd for an oil change, tire rotation, and multi-point inspection plus I'm going to have them pull off the tire that's been going up and down for the past couple of months.

Something amazing happened as I was getting ready to leave my parents house. My Dad came over to me and he hugged me. Never in my adult years has he initiated a hug until Friday. He started to cry and went back into the dining room. Mom was worried about them not giving me anything for my birthday but little does she know that Dad's hug meant more to me than the list of things I gave her out of the JCPenney sale catalog!

It's time for me to go and get Jonnie up so we can head out for mass here shortly. Thanks to everyone for all of their prayers.