Pre-Surgery

J. has a host of pre-surgery appointments (total hip replacement) this week and next.  Today, he is in Reno getting pre-registered at the hospital.  He will also find out if I'm allowed to wait for him to be out of surgery.  We are thinking with the new Omicron variant of COVID that will be a 'no'.  (And I'm thinking even if it isn't a 'no', I'm not sure I want to hang out in a hospital for any length of time unless absolutely necessary).  

We bought a supply of N95 masks since we read that's one of the recommended things to do if you are out in crowded public places.  Example:  casinos.  

B. arrives tomorrow evening and we are hopeful weather will cooperate.  He doesn't arrive until 8:30 so we'll be traveling across the big bridge between Carson City & Reno in the dark - quite possibly one of my very least favorite things to do.  If there is snow, we have our neighbor T. on standby as backup - he and his wife are having dinner in Reno so they will be there and can get B. as they head back to Carson.  We'll see.  If it's only rain, we can make it.  

I looked into making our next car a 4WD vs. AWD but am not convinced that will really solve our issues. And I'm looking forward to making my last 12 car payments on the RAV4 and not having a car payment for a good long while.  

B.'s friend R. is hoping to travel to Reno from Stockton to spend time with B. - but that is entirely weather dependent so we'll see.  While travel here doesn't look like it will be too bad, the travel from California to Nevada is looking pretty awful so we'll just have to wait and see.  

I'm trying to adjust to not knowing all the plans - have to just let the weather play out and we'll see what can be arranged.  

There's still tons of snow on the ground and it's fun to take a look out the kitchen window as we're making our morning coffee to see what variety of new tracks are out there.  Our neighbor heard and saw a trio of coyotes a couple nights ago and we know we've had a ton of rabbits in the backyard.  And there sure are a lot of rabbit (and other) tracks on the golf course - I know the coyotes are hungry so I'm hoping the rabbits are being careful.  I saw one darting along the fence as I cooked dinner a couple nights ago - a flash of something 'dark' ran by the window and I hurried to see - a big jack rabbit making its way back to the safety of the bushes just across the golf course.  

We know the letter we sent to H. arrived to the person we mailed it to - but we don't know if H. has it.  We asked S. to please let us know when he'd been able to give it to H. - we haven't heard from him so far.  And I think it's possible H. would ask him not to say anything or H. would refuse to take it - and S. probably doesn't want to convey that info - especially as we head into a major holiday week.  I feel OK about it - it is what it is, I guess.  And I know we have made an effort to reach out - and if H. doesn't reciprocate, then OK.  That's on him.  

I make that sound easier than it is and/or ever will be but we can't control his actions.  It hurts our hearts on a regular basis.  But as one of the songs on repeat on my phone says (referring to memories) 'they're getting softer everyday'.  With each passing month, things get a bit easier.  Just a smidge.  It's an adjustment to be out of touch with someone we love - our son - but we remind each other that we have zero control over any of it - the only thing we can control is how we are about all of it.  And we're determined to live a happy, contently retired life.  No matter what.  

A few Christmas cards are trickling in to our mailbox - and sometimes, they are just a huge let down.  A friend who (also) moved from Tracy to a new home on the California coast sent a card with zero chattiness.  A nice Christmas greeting - but no info on how they are doing.  This matches the last Facebook message they sent me where I responded immediately and it was crickets after.  Hmmm.  I know we are all just so busy this time of year and my cards won't be terribly chatty with people - but that's mostly because the people I'm sending cards to our people I'm in touch with fairly regularly.  So they already know our news (if any).  Mostly, anyway.  

The point of the above paragraph is that we sent cards last year and may send cards this year but I'm not sure we're going to keep sending cards.  It's hard to have the one chance a year people have to stay in touch be disappointing more often than not.  

OK.  That's enough musing about things that are sad.  Life is good.  We are very blessed.  It's not hard to remind ourselves of that 'cuz we feel it every single day.  Life is a gift and we're plowing through it - one day at a time.