Hey Gang, how are you all doing; hope you have all recovered from your holiday season. December was a pretty hectic month out here at the ‘Miller Compound’, a little more than it usual.
You probably noticed that the last column ended rather abruptly; my crazy computer (I named ‘him’ Hal), suddenly decided to take off and visit some of ‘his’ loony friends, not a hug, a wave, or a goodbye, just left. Technology is great – when it works. Mike to the rescue, again.
December, in a nutshell: Wilma was in an accident, ‘Hal’ just gave up the ‘ghost’ and left, the toilet ‘died’ (can you imagine, 35 folks coming for Christmas dinner and no toilet), the furnace quit (fortunately I have a fireplace), Kym was in a seven-car pile-up, Mary came up with a ‘staph infection’, great-granddaughter Cyndi Jo was in the ER with severe allergies (she is also cutting ‘eye teeth and all parents know what that means), and my brother-in-law Mike Miller (Patty’s husband) passed away on Christmas Eve. Like I said, December was a challenge.
To clarify: Wilma was ‘rear-ended’ in Vevay but praise the Lord, neither lady was hurt, badly shaken up but not hurt; they must have both been wearing their seat belts. (Wilma said it sounded and felt like a bomb had gone off and scared her out of 10 year’s growth – and at our age, that is not a good thing.) Mrs. McKay’s car was pretty much totaled and Wilma’s car had a lot of damage in the back; the repair shop in East Enterprise fixed it up so you can’t even tell it was in an accident. Wilma was really pleased with their work. It was a real blessing that neither she nor Helen were injured.
Have no idea what happened to ‘Hal’, probably just expired from old age; in any case, Mike took it to a very good friend, Dave Martin (no relation) who is a computer genius. Dave waved his magic wand and repaired (rebuilt, who knows what) and fixed it. (Mike brought it back Christmas Day and told me that Dave said Merry Christmas, bless his little pumpkin pie heart.)
You know about Mike and Sam fixing the sewer line (under less than optimum conditions) from last week’s column; Sam fixed the furnace, and Mike took ‘Hal’ to Dave.
Granddaughter Kym Martin and Aaron Byrum (her life-companion) were on their way to work, turned down Nelson Road, hit a couple hundred feet of ‘black ice’ and ran head-on into a car trying to come up the road. Kym said they were headed for the ravine from the first collision when a truck struck them on the rear side and knocked them back to the safe side of the road. It was Mike Lyons trying to get to work also coming down the hill (Kym said she was never so glad to get hit in her life, as then – the ravine is really deep right there.)
Four more cars were involved before the police arrived and road trucks arrived (the officer was smarter and left his vehicle at the top and walked down; unfortunately, that didn’t work either – Kym said he fell and slid down to the pile-up.) Again, Praise the Lord, no one was seriously hurt, not counting the cars of course.
After a trip to the Dearborn County ER, where Mary was treated for her infection and is now feeling 99 percent better she said (‘staph infections’ take a while to clear up and she is still on antibiotics.)
Cyndi Jo, 11 months old (she is going to be one of those children that will have to fight allergies until she [hopefully] grows out of them) is doing well with her allergies, after medication, but is still having a lot of problems cutting teeth. Nancy told us Sunday at church that Jessi and Rodney were up all Saturday night with her.
George Michael Miller went home to the Lord the day before Christmas; Mike had been ill for several years but the last few months were really bad. Even though Patty and the kids (Jeanne Bragg family, Mindy Otter family, Jennie Simpkins family, ‘Little Mike’ [we have a lot of ‘Mikes’ in the family so some end up with nicknames] and Jamie Miller families) were expecting it, the final moment is still a hard shock. Patty and the kids wanted to thank everyone for their prayers in their behalf.
There have been several other grieving families in our community from losses of loved ones; please remember these families in your conversations with the Lord.
I am (along with many others) looking forward to returning to a more normal January, a comfortable routine (the very young and the very old ‘kids’, like a routine, it makes us feel secure – yeah, I know it is a ‘pipe-dream’ but it still makes us feel good.)
God did bless me with a wonderful Christmas; all of my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, were here for dinner and a family get-together. I truly thank God for that blessing. I am sure that every mother understands the great joy that brought my heart. We had six toddlers, from 10 months to five years old, and all of them played together peacefully – the whole day – will wonders never cease, ha. We had a great time.
Got a card from Jack and Juanita Brown and she said the past year was a ‘milestone’ year for them: She turned 80 years old on April 8th, they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on October 25th , and Jack got a cancer-free medical report from his doctors in November. Congratulations to you both and hope 2013 is even better. Hard to figure out how you could top last year . . . but go ahead anyway.
Received a neat note from my ‘friend’ in which she said that, “Jesus loves you (but I’m His favorite”.) Laughter continues to be the best medicine and my ‘friend’ seems to agree; if you can’t laugh about life, maybe you are just taking yourself too seriously (my personal opinion of course.) She also sent the quip, “Remember, as far as anyone knows, we are a normal family.” (boy, does that one ever fit) and, “I can’t clean…because I get distracted by all the cool stuff I find.” (I can relate to this one too.)
Spanish class at the ‘Y’ and Bridge games (rotating homes) have resumed (it is positively amazing how much you can forget it two or three weeks) and all participants seem to be enjoying the familiar routine. I know I surely do.
Everyone made it back to Spanish class except Peggy Williams, she was really sick; Bruce Williams (no relation to Peggy) kind of sounded like a foghorn (he said he was feeling better – it is a good thing he told us because he didn’t sound like it.) We had a lot of fun trying to ‘wrap our tongues around’ all the syllables in Spanish (with limited success I might add – makes for a lot of laughter anyway.)
Bridge was at Rita Green’s home last Wednesday with Ana Slover, Carolyn Green, and me attending. Rita had a lovely luncheon and we had a lot of fun. Ana just dropped by the house and let me know that Bridge this week is canceled this week, Carolyn Green’s (scheduled for her house this week) husband Ivan, has the flu – he just got back from a trip to Las Vegas. The flu is rampant all over the country – course he didn’t have to ‘import’ any.
Savannah Stroud, my lovely young neighbor had to take little Maria to the ER Saturday morning; she was having trouble breathing. I haven’t got to talk to Savannah but Miley and Maison were out playing Saturday afternoon, so it must have worked out okay.
Boy what a change in the weather Sunday brought, wore short sleeves to church and by that afternoon was hunting my ‘long johns’ up. It isn’t any wonder folks are having so many illnesses with the weather on a roller coaster like it has been. Remember to wash your hands a lot, get as much rest as you can, drink lots of fluids (non-alcoholic preferred), and eat as good nutritionally as possible…and pray.
Betty Williams took off on a short trip to California to visit granddaughter’s family (she really just wants to play with the baby.) Betty will be back home Wednesday.
Mary was feeling under the weather Sunday and didn’t make church; evidentially Marci Leap was too; we missed them both. Jessie Mullins wanted us to remember Megan Dasia, a young lady that was hurt in a soccer game. Garrett Kent just left for the Air Force and keep remembering Kali Carfield too. Marci always wants us to remember her aunts Betty Mishler and Ruth Lohide; Peggy Eckerty put Teresa Miller on our prayer concern list, she is having medical problems.
Melanie Brundige reminded us that there will be a baby shower for Dana Carter (baby Carter due in March) on February 17th after church. She also wanted all the ladies to mark their calendars for January 27th which will be a special event for the ladies of the church and to let her, or Jessie Mullins, to know so they will prepare enough food.
Friends when you woke up this morning (or whenever), you began the first day of the rest of your life, so Happy New Year. Until we talk again my prayer for each of you is that the Lord will cause His face to shine on you, to bless you and keep you safe from harm; may He lift up His countenance and give you peace. Amen.