Time flies when you’re older, but this is ridiculous!

I have to say, I need to really concentrate to determine what I’ve done this year so far.  It’s just been jam-packed; not with all pleasant things, either.

January and February are a blur.  Did I have fun?  I can’t remember. But then, I can’t remember a lot of things.  Time to get more serious about Lumosity. It’s supposed to keep our minds young — or something.

March —  Jim got his first knee replacement. That required nursing and transporting on my part. He healed pretty quickly, but there were 3x a week physical therapy sessions that I had to take him to until he was able to drive himself.  Since it was his left knee, he was able to do this within a few weeks.

April — I had house guests and my son’s 50th birthday party to plan and host. All in all, it was a fun month, but busy.

May — Well it started off with a trip to New Bern, NC with my kids. That trip included a trip to Aurora, NC to dig for fossils and shark’s teeth.

Well — some of us did!

This little girl was not one of us, but she sure did know her stuff!

Back and forth between Raleigh and the beach.  The month ended with my family coming down to the beach for Memorial weekend.  I believe it rained a lot. But remember, my faulty memory.

June — The 1st to be exact. Jim got his right knee replaced. More surgery and therapy. This required more driving on my part because he needed his right leg to drive.  But all went well and before long, he was taking care of himself. We paid for a Viking River Cruise to China to take place in August and the emphasis was on Jim being well enough and in good enough shape to be able to walk without trouble.

July — And then it happened!  My kids came down to the beach for the 4th and we decided to go to Brookgreen Gardens.  It was so hot and humid, we decided to cut the day short and head to the zoo area.  Well, a lesson for all of us — don’t walk along reading a map or this will happen to you.

Two weeks later when I decided I really needed to see a doctor.

Walked right off the curb. I have to admit, I tell younger people I was playing Pokemon Go and wasn’t looking where I was walking.  It just sounds better than being a dope, doesn’t it? As a result of this, I wasn’t able to walk much for the rest of July.  Since time was of the essence, I elected to do physical therapy five days a week.  Three days a week just wasn’t going to work.

August. The progress on my feet and ankles was encouraging.  I’d be able to do it! Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! Now, pay attention. Never minimize any physical ailment at the check-in counter at the airport! You get perks!  Like a wheel chair and early boarding. Don’t let pride get in the way! Accept it and rejoice. Well, this lasted until we got to China.  They didn’t care about this sort of thing. I was on my own.  They didn’t seem to care about people movers at the airport much, either.

The swelling in my feet and ankles had pretty much dissipated by the time we left Raleigh.  But, by the time we arrived in Shanghai, they were enormous and stayed that way the entire trip. Our first day, we were free to do what we wanted.  So we went to the Bund.

While there, Jim’s camera on his phone wouldn’t work. Now after an 17 hour flight, I didn’t have much in the way of patience.  Not that I ever really have, truth be told. With that in mind, I saw a couple of young Chinese guys.  Who better to ask for help, right?  Don’t all young men know electronics?  I got up and walked over to them and asked if they spoke English, which they didn’t.  Through sign language and gestures, I didn’t exactly get my point across — did they have an iphone and could they figure out what was wrong.  They thought I wanted them to take our picture. So we had no choice but to stand there and let them take one, which of course we knew wouldn’t work. At that point, they fooled with it, got it fixed and took the picture.  I knew they could fix it! You go, Irene. At that point, a lady they were with came running over and wanted all of them to take a picture with us.  We found this to be the case throughout our trip.  They wanted pictures taken with Americans — some of whom were British, but who was going to tell them?  Or did they think we were Bristish and didn’t care that we were Americans? I regret I didn’t take the same picture. So here’s the one of Jim and I.

I’ve bored you enough for this post.  The next post will give you more insight into the actual trip, our reflections and how I am convinced our tour guide tried to kill me with all the walking. I can tell you’ve had enough.  I can see your eyes rolling.