Mr. and Mrs. Cool and Casual!

So here is a picture from the fateful wedding. Alan looking like Mr. Cool and Casual - and me. Looking like a red-head and frilly. This is even way outside my normal comfort zone, but it was for a wedding and my sister didn't want me to wear black. So I humored her.

The wedding was very nice - there were a lot of family members there and it was nice to get a chance to talk with them for more than just a minute or two. My cousin, Amy and her husband Andy are so nice to talk with - even though it's been YEARS since we have talked, it was very easy to do. Cousin David still reminds me of John Denver - always have thought that. Al and I stayed in Dad and Pat's RV - they are heading out west for 8 months or so. I just hope that when I am their age that Al and I are able to travel - physically and financially!



But here is a picture that really shows the difference that at least 40 pounds makes on a person. I might have weighed more last summer - I don't know because I refused to get on a scale. But this really shows that I have taken Weight Watchers by the hand and I am watching the food that gets into my mouth.

Well, with the except my sister's wedding cake!

Memory of Jim

Jim - about 3 weeks prior to his death

It was one year ago yesterday that my brother Jim passed away from complications brought on from his liver transplant 14 years earlier. True, he wasn't a compliant patient, so I am not saying that University of Michigan didn't do a good job - they certainly did when Jim was being compliant. I do have some anger in my system towards Jim - who knew that something was wrong. He knew 6-8 months before his death that something wasn't "right". I have anger with Jim's primary physician, his internist, who should not have been refilling the prescriptions for the anti-rejection medications. That alone might have given Jim several more years.

Jim received his liver transplant at the University of Michigan Medical Center in September 1990. His recovery was lengthy, including a stay in the hospital from September through January 1991. Once recovered, Jim went back to school to learn a new trade, in electronics repair, a field that he worked in up to April 2004.

Memories of Jim:

Flaring his nostrils at the dinner table - timing this maneouver to coincide with my younger sister drinking milk. This technique usually resulted in my sister choking on her milk or laughing it up her nose.

Canoeing at Proud Lake Rec Area - actually, I just sat in the canoe because I was horrible at paddling and he said it was just easier for him to do.

Camping with Jim multiple years in Mio, MI - Jim really enjoyed going on this tubing weekend. He had a chance to meet and talk to many people - people that I don't even know if Jim realized that they were his friends....

Saturday afternoons - Living across the street with Jim, I had the pleasure (?) of Jim, with his trusty companion, Cinnamon, walking over to just sit and relax, chat with Alan and I. If it was summer, we were outside. Winter? Inside. Jim didn't care - he was just there with us.

I remember that Jim once told me that I was a gold-digger expecting men to buy me drinks at a bar. I asked him to clarify this. He then told me that if a man offered to buy me a drink, I should say no thanks. If the man offered a second time to buy me a drink after I said no, then he was a fool and I could accept without being a gold-digger. The same thing was true with a man buying dinner. Come to think of it - I wonder how Jim knew all this. He didn't date.......

All that said, I'll just end with one of the last things:

In a conversation near the end, with Patty (oops, Patricia), Jim and I - Patty said that she described Jim as "still waters run deep" - he thought quietly in his typical Jim fashion - and said "Patty, still waters don't run."

Two days later he was gone. His last meal was his favorite chocolate - Hershey's Kisses and his dog was under his bed.

Rest in Peace Jim - January 24, 1958 - August 2, 2004