Two weeks ago, I wrote about the traffic accident involving my my son and father-in-law.
I am happy to report progress.
Jackson has been home for almost two weeks.
He has kicked all pain meds altogether— even Tylenol and Aleve.
He is not back at school yet, but he’s getting caught up on his classwork at home.
We followed up with both surgeons on Wednesday.
We got Bob moved to Carrus Specialty Hospital in Sherman earlier this week for Long Term Care and then rehab. So far, we are very impressed. The staff and facility have been great.
It will be much easier having him in Grayson County.
Thanks to all for the continued prayers and offers of help. It means the world.
***
Much of the past three weeks has been preoccupied by dealings with doctors and insurance companies.
Hospitals have doctors, and insurance companies have doctors, too.
Hospital doctors took an oath to the betterment of the patient.
It seems insurance company doctors took their oath to the betterment of the insurance company’s bottom line.
***
Max was never my dog. He wasn’t Jackson’s either. He was Jennifer’s mostly and the girls’ dog some of the time. He merely tolerated me because I was the one who came between him and his girls. He never liked sharing Jennifer with me.
Shih tzus have their people and she was his.
But he was a good dog who passed away Saturday. He and Grace were the same age.
She was born in August, and he came home from the Longview Wal-Mart parking lot as a Christmas gift that December.
So, 105 is a lot of dog years, and he lived all of them well. He cheated death more than once and helped us raise four great kids along the way. I’m glad he was with his girls at the end.
***
I am amused by the legislature’s ridiculous claim that they have “replaced the STAAR test.”
Replacing one big stupid test with three little stupid tests so the stupid people who create stupid tests can make more money to pay more stupid lobbyists and make more stupid campaign donations.
***
In his modern classic, Texas songwriter Lukas Nelson tells us to “turn off the news and build a garden.”
I agree, but building a garden takes a lot of effort. If you can’t do all that, life is better when you listen to the news less and Tom Petty more.
Go the extra mile. Turn off Facebook and turn on some John Prine. You’ll feel better.
***
A few weeks ago in my broadcast journalism class, I likened FDR’s Fireside Chats to Obama’s Weekly Address on YouTube.
I explained how FDR’s was revolutionary and Obama’s was, in many ways, a continuation of the same method— a president employing the latest technology to communicate directly to the people.
From a group of students all born shortly before Obama took office, the blank stares seemed to say, “Man that was all so long ago.”
It was as if both could have happened in the same decade— and both were ancient history. They were unimpressed. I guess the world has moved faster in the past 20 years than it did in the century leading up to it.
And, yes, maybe I’m just getting old.
***
NFL games should never end in a tie. Sunday’s late-night finish of the Cowboys and Packers was as anti-climatic as anything I have ever seen.
My friend Steve Snyder, at the Muenster Enterprise, addresses this in his weekly column this week.
He reminded us to the sentiments of the late Blackie Sherrod— the legendary Dallas Times Herald sportswriter.
Sherrod once said a game ending in a tie was “like kissing your sister.”
In his column this week, Steve took it a step further and said Sunday’s tie was like Micah Parsons kissing Jerry Jones.
You can call Muenster and thank him directly for that visual.
