Blog 3309 – 11.23.2024

The Last Day of My Birthday Week

Yesterday was my seventy-fourth birthday and it was great, it was perfect. One of the best blessing of the day was getting to have a nice meal in a favorite Mexican Cafe with my lovely wife and her sweet mom. For sometime it has been difficult to get my wife to go out for a meal and that has been especially hard because it was one of the true joys in Linda’s life. Her increasing depression and paranoia has robbed her of many of the pleasures she once found in life. A couple of weeks ago she said bitingly, “You are so happy and you are so lucky.” My come back was, “Well, since Texas is a community property state, half of my happiness and half of my luck is yours. I would gladly share it all with you.”

One of my birthday wishes that Linda made come true was that she agreed to go out to lunch because it was my birthday. On the way there she said, “But, what if they won’t serve me at the restaurant or are mean to me?” to which I replied, “Of course they will serve you and they will be nice to you because they want a nice tip and the management wants people coming back to buy more food from their restaurant.”

Today on the last day of my official birthday week I have another birthday wish coming true. In about an hours my son Jay is coming by to pick me up and drive a hundred and fifty miles from Houston to our property near Bon Wier, Texas. I love the time I get to spend with him talking about everything under the sun as he drives. I love getting to work beside him clearing pathways through the property and planning next steps for making it a better and better place to retreat from big city life. And now that we have a piece of property with some higher ground and a pond, my dream of having an onsite camper RV trailer with electric, water, and sewer connections is one step closer to becoming a reality. Then there is fishing which has always been a bond between me and my son. I got the love of fishing from my dad as my son has from me. The fondest memories of time spent with my dad are of hunting and fishing with him.

Jay bought his sixty acres with hunting in mind and I bought 15.55 acres to help him secure more land next to his and to have a place to live one day after my wife passes, I am in no hurry for that day to come for I will miss her dearly when it inevitably does. I am sorry she has so many battles with voices that I cannot hear and I often feel so powerless to help her. She refuses to see any more doctors and says she will never forgive me for forcing her to get checked out a couple of years ago. The doctors could not help her and she refused to take the medications they prescribed.

I intend to help Linda stay in the home she has known for over forty years surrounded by the familiar. We caregivers have a code and it is to make life as comfortable and safe as possible for those we love.

Birthday wishes still come true.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White