Good Report and Treasured Memories......

 Sometimes it's the simple everyday things we do that help us get through the day.

Like making tea on Sunday and listening to Jessy Dixon sing some of his gospel songs.

Planning meals and making a boxed pasta salad and adding all sorts of goodies to it - which kicks it right OUT of the box!

I knew Louis Dean was feeling better when I woke up Sunday morning and he had the 'Sunday Morning Music' playing and the coffee made and he was already dressed!

While we didn't go to church in person, we did sit in the living room and watched the service online.

Part of the day I was busy with household things and part of it I just sat in a stupor.

Both are part of the process of grieving for my sister.

We've been going to bed early the last several nights and it's not hard to get up at a decent hour in the mornings. Last night I set the alarm on my phone for 7:00 AM as Louis Dean had a cardiologist appointment at 9:45. I guess I just THOUGHT I'd set it - because Louis Dean got up and saw that it was 8:15 and woke me up!

It wasn't pretty but we managed to throw back a cup of coffee and get ourselves ready and were at the doctor's office on time!

Look at tall and trim he is!

Down to 198 pounds from the 211 when I took him to the ER.

I am not a worrier by nature as I have faith that God is guiding the affairs of Life.....

but a heavy burden of concern fell off my shoulders when Dr. Uppalapatti said Louis Dean was doing fine. He will need a pacemaker eventually, she said, but not yet!

When she pulled up his records from the ER and hospital stay, she said, "You were a very sick man!"

But his heart was not affected by the heat exhaustion or the pneumonia.

He has an appointment with his primary care in the morning to redo some labs and talk to him.

So step by step, Louis Dean is recovering from his ordeal.

And that means I am, too.

Without having to hold him in all my thoughts and watch his every move,

I've had more opportunity to feel my grief over losing my sister.

The sweet cards, emails, texts, messages, Facebook posts and phone calls have all been such a blessing to my heart, and all the prayers prayed for us as a family have been and are so appreciated.

Nita is the first loved one I have loss that has hit me like a freight train that I never saw coming.

Deanie and I speak to each other every day or two - we feel the need to stay connected.

This afternoon she sent me a couple of old photos......

This one is very old!

Mother had taken me out for my 17th birthday dinner and that's Nita and Lonnie on either side of me.

Deanie was at our Granny's house - Granny always did like her best! 

It was September 1965.

Here we four siblings are just a few years ago.

It's funny because Nita's keeping Deanie from saying whatever off-the-wall thing she was about to blurt out.

I saw the following pictures when I was thumbing through the blog book that just arrived in the mail today....the third quarter of 2019.

Leah and her momma.

Showing the birthday present from Nita and Mike.

This one is my favorite, though.

What a perfect couple they were.

Nita was the happiest person I have ever known.

Always a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face and always looking on the bright side.

It's hard work, this grieving thing, and I wish we didn't have to do it.

But I know what Nita would say and do and what she would want us to do....

This is the way Nita lived her life.....

and the way she would want us to live ours.