Momentous news!

Bobby retired yesterday! He had planned to take his return to work authorization to his work and see what needed to be done before returning next Monday (he has been off since late July with back difficulties and surgery, you remember). After he was there for a little while, he just went back to the HR office and told them he was done--do the paperwork, please. He's still a little shaky...

Halloween thoughts

Well, I was wondering why we (my children and I) never made much of Halloween in our family. I tried to remember what I did as a child and I think I had the Big Aha. No one, as long as I can remember, did much for Halloween. When we were really little, Bobby and I had to figure out something to wear--not our regular clothes--usually a gypsy and pirate--we could use mostly regular clothes and do a few extra things to make those costumes OK. I know people did Trick-or-Treating and we did too, but that's about it. No one in any of the three houses we grew up in did any decorating, and there were no scary stories or really anything except foraging for costumes and eating resulting candy. I went to a Halloween costume party once (I must have been around 10 or 11) and there were decorations, games, including bobbing for apples, mothers dressed up as witches and a lot of hilarity, but it was the only time I ever saw that as a child. So, with apologies to my children for our Halloween lack and my particular Halloween lapse I hope you find your First-Holiday-of-the-Season lots of fun and very scary!!

Sick/hurt kids

I guess it doesn't matter how old your children are, when they're hurt or sick, you're worried and do what you can for them. I went to Dallas to take Wendy for a short procedure, but one that she needed to be driven home from. Anyone in the area could have done it, but since I have just retired, it seemed like a fun thing that we could do together...and we did. We went to dinner together on Tuesday night and then walked around the shopping district near where she lives. We stopped and got pedicures. In the AM, we went to the hospital for her procedure. About an hour after they took her in, they came in to get me, but instead of taking me to the Outpatient recovery area, they took me to a consultation room. My heart stopped for a minute until the doctor, who came in with me, said something like Wendy is OK. Then I wondered why I was in there. He explained a complication that had happened and that Wendy would need emergency surgery. Her surgeon (the one that has operated on her about 3 times in the last 11 years) was in the building and came into the room in just a few minutes. We talked for a minute and I went upstairs to the Surgery waiting room and was there until about 4:30, when I met Wendy in her room upstairs. Basically, we have been in her hospital room for a week (she got out yesterday evening--Wednesday the 28th--went in on Wednesday the 21st the week before). She's going to be spending a few days with Jennie. I drove home after I got her settled. I'm happy to report that the surgery repaired not only the accident that occurred during the outpatient procedure, but repaired a larger problem that had been bedevilling Wendy for quite some time now, and in fact, that had caused the accident in the first place--so she'll be better now than she's been for a long time. I'm tired and she's getting well. Perfect ending!

Correction, please!

So, now you will need to delete all those mental notes you have placed all over your brain about coming to Dallas next Labor Day for the Family Reunion. The final (??) plans are set and the new venue is Provo, UT for Labor Day. We will have our family gathering as well as a very large celebration for Grampy's 85th birthday. I hope all the family can come. I hope I can come...

Family DVD

So, I finished the Family Reunion 2008 DVD. It's about an hour long and contains most of the pictures from the reunion that were on the http://www.photoshop.com/ website that I made for everybody to upload their pictures to. Also included are some really old (well some are older than others) pictures from when we (the Martin siblings--Linda/Bob/Jeff/Cheli) were little, some when our parents were little, and one even from when our grandmother (Nana) was a baby! I just put some nondescript music to it so you could put it on, mute the sound and have it in the background. Actually I rather like the music so at least give it a listen. I will need to know how many of these to make (so far I only have one--mine). As I noted in a comment to one of Bob's blogs, I think they were going to charge $5 for them and use the money to help defray some of the next reunion costs...Dallas, 2010 Labor Day weekend (Grampy's 85th birthday), right? I sure hope to see everyone we saw at the last Reunion and hopefully even more Utah/Nevada Martins--somebody please put a bug in Bobby's ear--I'd sure love to see that guy! --also, Jenna, ahem--we need you and yours, too--and Joni--I know the vicissitudes of BBQ are wide and deep, but we haven't even met your Jared! Everyone put it on your calendars, place it in your hearts, and make many mental notes and scatter them all over your brains--that way no matter what you are thinking about, the idea of going to Texas for Labor Day will pop into your stream of consciousness. Later--gotta go (working on red mush)...