Now and then a reader (I’m so tickled to have one) will ask me about such and such or so and so from a past column that I thought it might be a novel idea to try and give them a little closure with a column dedicated to just that. I have also been known to ramble on so this is a perfect opportunity for me to hop from subject to subject without fear. I will try to do it in some order, say some of the older columns from this year to the more recent, but I make no promises as to where this may lead. So here goes.
Not long ago I forwarded a couple of your well wishes from The Signal’s TITTS to my sister-in-law Diane who has been battling breast cancer. We are all thanking God and everyone else that she has been cancer free since the end of last year.
She and my brother, the one with the doctorate in linguistics that I’m so proud of that I could spit, continue to live one day at a time. They still have trouble sleeping due to the worry that promises to last a minimum of five years. They are coming out here for a visit, with my nephew Joe, the first week of July.
Instead of staying with my mom in the cooler side of Los Angeles they opted to stay with the Bushman’s in SCV. Look for us at the 4th of July parade, Trader Joe’s buying red wine, Starbucks for Diane’s favorite blended drink and any bookstores in between.
Cindy Stephens completed her AIDS ride a couple of weekends ago. She says this will be her last as it was exhausting. Hopefully this little mention will serve as a reminder to anyone that didn’t get a donation to Cindy in time; the fight against AIDS still takes donations anytime.
Eddie, although he completed his four years at the National Fire Academy in Maryland, has signed up for an elective course next year.
You know every time he goes away to this thing for two weeks something happens at home. The fire chiefs that he sees there actually read my columns on the Internet just so they have something to rib him about. We get e-mails and handwritten notes from as far away as New Hampshire when they read about our anniversary coming up or Ed’s shoulder surgery. Too bad The Signal doesn’t have a route further north.
No new German Shepherd to replace Hobbes in the house yet. (In fact Ed has really embraced pre-retirement gardening.) My neighbor has got him almost convinced to take her cat, as her young son is allergic. I’m not so positive though because Eddie has always been a strict dog person. You know the type. The ones that like to say that a cat has a brain the size or a shelled nut, they don’t add anything to the family and they kick up dirt. (Sounds a lot like an injured firefighter/husband to me.)
Jayne Hodges is still teaching great spin classes at Santa Clarita Health Club. Try her Sunday 9:15 as most people can’t seem to get in on that day of the week. She still entertains, sans undergarments, for an hour’s worth of whatever kind of music you ask for. And remember her favorite words are, “Whatever your level, heart rate; it’s just information. Because it’s just all about you and your ride.” Always followed by her little evil giggle.
Eddie loved the professional photographs that Photographic Memories took of Samantha and I as a gift for him for our fifteenth wedding anniversary. I had never taken any kind of photographs like this before and was worried that the proofs would show too many freckles/age spots. Ed was pretty excited by the gift and has decided that the portrait is just the motivation he needs to fix up the fireplace so he can hang it above.
Ed is also still slowly recovering from his shoulder surgery. He’s supposed to go to therapy three times a week and can barely manage once every two. If he can’t lift his arm over his head he can’t work any overtime. And we all know that the only way I can continue to give my journalistic services away for nothing is if Eddie pulls my, I mean his, financial weight. (Hopefully this column will generate a few long distance e-mails from a few chiefs to get him back up on the shoulder treadmill.)
My patient, friend and Signal reader, Adele Burk, had her mammogram. And there was also a lovely e-mailed thank you from a reader named Heidi that I hope had a pleasant time with her bust-busting experience. Any other takers that we have or soon will have motivated into the waiting grasp of their x-ray technician?
Haven’t seen a single jar of strawberry jam from Ellen’s parents but they’re in the midst of moving so forgiven. I was kind of hoping that I had at least one reader that could come up with a batch in the meantime. (Just DON’T, I repeat DO NOT, send anything perishable in care of The Signal. I don’t trust a single soul there not to scarf it all down in one giant sticky gulp. Just mark it ‘mammography materials’. ) But so far, it’s just readers that are salivating from the column.
Feeling better now? More updated on all of the Bushman news? Well I’m thrilled for you! And especially thrilled to have such nice readers that reward with such positive feedback. Or course anybody that doesn’t would not have read this anyway, so there!