Well, Hello Dolly!

You know, it's not every day a gal gets a hurricane for her birthday.

Thankfully, this is a Cat 1 storm that isn't expected to do much damage, especially in my neck of the woods. The outer bands have been hitting here all night and it's the kind of rain that makes you want to stay under the covers all day if it wasn't for that darned lightening illuminating everything in the cozy solitude of your bedroom.

So...Hello Dolly and thanks for an early start to my 38th year on this lovely planet.

I wouldn't trade a moment of it, even if I do complain a bit.

After all...I can sleep when I'm dead.

And I am most definitely *NOT* that tired.

Milestones...

We all have them in our lives...births, deaths, anniversaries, and just those special memories that we keep in our hearts as moments of deep, rich emotion in which to draw in times of need or just sit back and smile as we realize how truly blessed we have been in our lives..
I have one of those, a birthday, coming up next week. I take no shame in my age, I will be turning 38. But more importantly, almost exactly one month ago there was a chance I wouldn't see that birthday. But after meeting with my Neuro team Friday and being cleared for a *little* more activity, I decided to celebrate the two milestones of my healing and my birthday together.
Now, don't fret, I was careful, but I spent 2hours horseback riding this morning. I kept her (Piper- a friends mare,) at a trot, but mostly I let her have her head and we just roamed the hills together. I have to tell you, it felt like Heaven.
Unless something remarkably new comes out of my operation, this is the last of my posts about it. One of the conclusions I came to with Piper this morning is that it's time to move to to more important things in the wold and Lord knows there are plenty of them.
Thank You All for Your Well Wishes and Support...it means the world to me and it too has helped me decide to move on.
God Bless,

Angel Out

Wish I'd Writen These...

I'm awake in the wee hours lately since a simple turn of my head in my sleep that never woke me before now ensures I won't be returning to bed anytime soon. So, I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs when I stumbled across these little gems. Since I *am* a woman who's been known to have a less than docile temperament at times *and* I am half Scots-Irish, (Hence the temperament,) I loved these letters I found at BLACKFIVE.

The first one entitled "THE IRISH WONDER WHY WE ARE EVEN VOTING" is not only funny as Hell...like all good humour, there's more than a kernel of truth to it.

An email from Ireland to our brethren in the States...a point to ponder despite your political affiliation:

'We, in Ireland, can't figure out why people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.

On one side, you have a pants wearing lawyer, married to a lawyer who can't keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer who goes to the wrong church who is married to yet another lawyer who doesn't even like the country her husband wants to run.

Then...you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate "Mc terminology," married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship.

What in Lord's name are ye lads thinking over there in the colonies??

Sincerely,

Tony from Ireland
Now this next one is written by a housewife in New Jersey. She is one ticked off lady!

I thoroughly agree with her every word, but I have a special appreciation for her blatant refusal to sugarcoat or pull punches in her writings for the mere sake of being ladylike and polite. I really like her style. Check her out at BLACKFIVE through the link below and I bet you will too.

A Letter from one 'Angry Woman'

Just a helpful hint: Her letter is directly below the Irish Letter so you'll need to scroll down a bit to read it.

Enjoy!

Angel Out

Still Here, Still Healing & Still Learning

Sorry it's been so long folks. I've been doing a LOT of physical therapy (2-4 hrs per day,) plus working out on my own so that I won't lose any more muscle tone and strength in my abs and legs.

The good news is, it's working. Granted, it's working VERY slowly, and I won't be 100% till Christmas, but I can do more now with my hand and have 95% range of motion in my neck. Hopefully, now that I can sit up for more than a few minutes at a stretch and am not so drugged that I can't understand half of what I'm reading, I'll be able to catch up on all of your blogs soon. I have missed them a lot.

I did something the other day that *really* gave me some perspective on this whole incident. I'm human, and tend to fall into those "poor pitiful me" moods sometimes, so hoping to get that to end for good, I visited Fisher House and the VA hospital here. We get a lot of overload from Walter Reed and since I used to volunteer there, I thought a visit might do me some good. Well, I don't need to tell you that meeting a 19yr old double amputee will make you more than grateful, but what was amazing was to watch this kid try (and succeed) to cheer me up! I've said it before but this country is more blessed than it knows to have such fine men and women defending her. Once the doctors clear both of us to run. (We can both only walk a minimum of 5 miles a day now,) we made a "date" to start working out together. I'm telling you folks, there is no creature on earth like the American Soldier and I for one am honored to have met this one. (Who will probably run circles around me!) I know that no matter how frustrated I get, I will NEVER feel sorry for myself again. That's a lesson worth a few broken vertebrae in my book.

May you all be safe, happy and well.

Angel Out