Responsibilities

I didn't take the time to post something yesterday because I felt the need to finish a letter - what I consider a real letter - on paper - to a friend I had neglected since my trip to Oregon. Billie has been undergoing chemo and radiation and surgery for multiple myeloma in Florida which i can only imagine is hell on earth!  Not knowing when  she would feel up to talking I emailed her sister with whom she is staying while undergoing the treatments at the cancer center in Tampa. She filled me in with the progress Billie has made and said today would be a good time to call!

I also had to finish a thank you letter to my children and grandchildren for making this Christmas the most wonderful one ever.  They did something Finch had wanted done instead of gifts for him for years only they did it in spades.  When you get older and you really don't need anything  - doing something for someone else in need becomes much more important. My family went together and adopted a whole family with a special needs child and made their Christmas. It still brings tears to my eyes and I get choked up thinking about it.  I still had some presents to unwrap but the note as to what they had done in my name and Finch's memory meant the world to me so I felt that a real letter to each of them was important as well.

I had been thinking back to all the letters my sisters and I would write to keep up with each other after we married and ended up scattered so far away.   So often our letters would be written in stages chronicling our busy lives with our offspring, sometimes weeks going by before it got mailed.   Not all of those letters were saved but seldom do email letters ended up being saved.  I have copies of letters my grandmother and grandfather wrote before they were married!  This electronic age is fast and expedient but lacks the personal touch of a hand written letter, wouldn't you agree?

I am writing this instead of being out in the cold doing my morning walk!  Several months have gone by and it looks like my walking buddy and I have come to the end of our daily 7:30 AM walks which started in the spring of  1974.  Bad weather has kept her from continuing because the cold is not good for her body these days.  She will be 90 this Spring.  She has been the catalyst for my jumping out of a warm bed and dashing out into the cold when my body would rather be still snuggled under the covers.  I really need to develop some willpower and get back to walking.  The biggest problem is walking back up my hill.  I tried it the other day and I huffed and puffed twice as bad as in the past.  The early morning walk was good to get me jump started in the mornings and we both felt that our good health was attributed to those early morning walks!   Perhaps I can pick a little later time and get back in the routine!  Perhaps I can make it to 90 if I do so!