Due to a minor infection, I was forced
to ask Dr Basta for permission to drive myself to town. She wasn't
available to see me, but I met with Dr Torkelson, who prescribed an
antibiotic. He granted me permission to drive, but I will have to wait
until next week when I again meet with Dr Basta to find out when I can bear
weight on my leg. For some reason, Dr Torkelson would not give me
permission to drive the school bus with crutches!
But I can drive
to visit Mom, & I even took advantage of my driving to visit Linda Swing in
the hospital. She and her husband Larry (very good friends of Mom &
Dad) had taken me to Denver to visit Mom. Linda came very near the end
with some intestinal problems. But they were able to do some emergency
surgery on Monday, &, after many months of care, she will most likely face a
full recovery. Here's wishing for a speedy recovery.
Mom isn't eating. Nothing sounds
good, and everything makes her sick. She has lost 2 1/2 pounds in the last
week. Monday night, June made a pot roast, in the hopes it would be
appetizing and would sit gently on her tummy. Tuesday we took her a
sack lunch.
When I hobbled
through the door, I found Mom wheeling herself slowly down the hall. She
looked simply radiant! It isn't the first time she's done it. It's
the first time I've seen it. It is possible to jump up & down
on crutches while holding one foot off the ground!
Mom has an
appointment Friday in Denver, with Dr Morgan & Dr Ozer. This is a
3-week checkup on her last surgery. So Tom brought Debbie's car, and for
the better part of an hour, we practiced putting Mom in the car & getting
her out.
Afterwards, Mom was truly ready to return to
bed. She was too tired to eat. Her pot roast went into the
fridge. She couldn't even try her strawberries before slipping into a deep
and well deserved nap.
At dinner time,
the pot roast was heated up, but just the smell of food in the room brought on
instant dry-heaves. She ate a cup of strawberry sherbet. Tom has
found she can keep down a half a grapefruit in the mornings. A
start. We are wondering about the possibility of
lactose-intolerance. Today she will be trying Chicken Broccoli Pasta
Alfredo from Applebee's. We are desperate to find something she can
eat.
After the accident a friend of
Dad's (who lived across the street from Dad's parents in Tacoma Park) sent a few
old Christmas letters. I felt the letter from 1970 was a great one,
because it was a time when so much happened in our lives. Tom was 4, &
I was 6, so it is family history we have only a vague memory of. Dad would
always dictate the letters, while Mom wrote, usually while we were traveling on
some trip. I want to share this letter with you. ~ Val &
Tom
Christmas 1970
Dear Relatives and Friends,
As another year comes to a close
we can look back over the many miles we have traveled, and let our memories
dwell happily upon all the friends, relatives, and interesting places we have
visited.
We started our year off at Wheelus
Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya. During the month of January we took an
interesting side trip into the Libyian desert with our friends Bob and Toodie
Sawyer. This trip carried us up through the high desert mountains to the
little nomadic town of Gharyan. It was also in January that we said
goodbye to our very dear friend Doug Salter from Nottingham, England. He
returned to England after a 10 year stay in Libya.
During February we again took a
side trip with the Sawyers, this time to the ruins of the Roman empire Leptus
Magnus. This tremendous city was built on the shore of the Mediterranean
long before the birth of Christ and much of it still remains.
March was a big month for
us. During this month we were transferred to Bitburg Air Base,
Germany! The night before we left we graduated from our Square Dance class
and became certified members of the Tripoli Twirlers Square Dance Club. We
left Tripoli on the 19th of March by ferry ship. 2 1/2 days later we
arrived in Naples Italy and after unloading our camper-truck we drove to Rome
where we enjoyed a 3 day visit. From there we drove through northern
Italy, tunneled through the Swiss Alps on a train ferry, and arrived in Bitburg
on the 27th after a very interesting 8 day trip.
In April we moved into our new
quarters on the base and took a short trip to the world famous "Nurburgring"
race course on our newly acquired BMW motorcycle.
In May we drove to Frankfurt to
pick up our cocker spaniel, Roma, who had flown in from Dallas,
Texas.
June found us traveling to Mulhouse, France, to
try to locate Theresa's relatives. It was a nice trip but we weren't able
to learn anything about our relatives, at this time. Also in June we had
the pleasure of being visited by Bob's aunt, Helen, who we consider to be pretty
special. She was on her way back to Turkey after a trip to the United
States.
July was pretty quiet. We did take one
short trip back to the "Nurburgring" to watch the Formula II automobile
races. This time Theresa rode the whole distance on her 125cc Honda while
the children rode in the side car on Bob's BMW.
We started August off with a trip to Luxembourg
for the World Championship 500 cc motorcross races. Then on the 23rd of
August we departed in our camper for the ferry and joined Bob's parents and
taking a leisurely trip back down through Sweden to Copenhagen, where we stayed
for two days before returning home on September 9th.
In September Valerie started in the first grade
while Tommy began doing his thing in Nursery School. Roma became the
mother of 4 little white "coc-a-poo's; and we started taking Round Dance
lessons.
In October we drove to Stuttgart, Germany, for
the all night "Night Owl" Square and Round Dance. Then we stopped at the
Hockenheim Raceway on the way home to watch the International Grand Prix 500cc
motorcycles and also the sidecar races. We also helped celebrate the
annual German Ocktoberfest by eating shisk-a-bod and sauerkraut, and drinking
some good German beer. After receiving an answer to our request for
information about Theresa's relatives we traveled again to France, this time to
the town of Blodelsheim in Alsace where we found many relatives we had not even
been aware of here-to-fore. After a very pleasant two day stay with them
we returned home.
In November bad weather and a bout with the
mumps by both children prevented and further traveling. Theresa cooked a
25 lb. Thanksgiving turkey and we had several of the single men that Bob works
with over for a day of eating, card playing, and a good time in
general.
We expect to spend the remainder of the year
rather quietly and are looking forward to a white Christmas here in
Germany. We hope your year has been as fulfilling as ours, and that your
Christmas season is a Happy One. We think often of those of you who are
dear to us and have been separated from us for sometime now. We hope to
see a great many of you upon our return to the United States in July of
71.
We'll close for now and May God Bless you one
and all.
Signed: Bob, Theresa, Valerie & Tommy
P.S. Let us hear from you.