Memories

Today would have been my brother Joe's 67th birthday. He passed away nine years ago December 21 and left a big hole in the lives of lots of people. May he rest in peace. This time of year is problematic for me, as it is for many people who have suffered losses in the holiday season. I am thankful for all the loving, supportive people in my life, but my grief seems fresher as these sad anniversaries roll around.

We were planning to go to Jerry Story's C-1 dance this afternoon. Instead, Ken and Steve went to Home Depot to pick up parts for a plumbing repair. Ken was out trimming our citrus trees when he heard a bubbling noise. The faucet assembly at the rear corner of the Texas room is where it was coming from, so he turned the water off. Good thing we have water in our fresh water tank!

It turns out that whoever installed the faucets did not make any provision for repairs. The pipes were made of PVC and a T was glued inside a three foot standing PVC pipe. Steve brought over his saw and cut the large PVC pipe down to allow access to the piping. We are very fortunate to have such talented good friends.

On our walk this afternoon, we stopped by Jan and Steve's and made arrangements to pick them up for Joe's dance tonight. We stopped to see how Judy was doing. She says she is better, although she is still sounding very congested. She's hoping to be back dancing next Monday.

Next we stopped by lot 190, which is where John and Sandy Walenter are staying this season. They arrived today, tired from their journey. We are delighted to have them here. They delayed their arrival because John's eye suffered a hemorrhage, which they were hoping would clear up. At this point his eye surgeon is still counseling him to wait and see if his body will naturally reabsorb the blood, so they decided to go ahead and come south.

This evening we picked up Steve and Jan and headed to Pharr for Joe's C-1 dance. As usual, Joe had some complex calls to challenge the floor with, including some block formation calls that required collapsing and reforming the blocks. Those can be really tricky. We will not be dancing to Joe the next two Wednesdays, since they are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.