Another Valentine's Day
February 14th 2012
Another Valentines day together. Amazing that we have celebrated together since we were 16 years old. Some years we have had big celebrations, some like this year, we will celebrate at home. I am preparing some steaks with the trimmings and we will thank God to still have another day together. I will try to make it special with candles and some wine.
Steve has not felt well in the past few weeks. Yesterday he sat with a heating pad on his side and back. The pain is exactly where he was treated with radiation back in March of last year. Thinking back he has a hard winter with pneumonia and side pain all winter. We have stayed in a lot and I pray he will feel better when spring comes along. He sometimes thinks it may be the Sutent, because it comes with about every cycle. (today he is feeling better)
The what if's are hard to think about. If he stays like he is now he won't be able to mow the grass or take care of the outside work. He will not be able to manage the pool and heaven knows I don't want to do it. The pool has long been a pain in my side. No one gets in it any longer. We have talked about filling it in and making a small patio back there. Should I say I have talked about it? I can mow the grass if he would let me but the trees are a headache when storms come along.
We have talked about selling the place and moving into a townhouse. We have always lived in the country and don't know if we would like neighbors that close. I surely don't want to move if it involved another mortgage. Our home is paid for and we can afford to hire someone to do the yard work. It would be hard on him to watch someone else do the work but at some point I guess everyone has to do that. We could sell that expensive mower he has and use that to pay someone! I just pray his side gets better with warm weather coming and he can do some of the work. He enjoys that. I am not a lazy person I could do it if he would let me. He has one of those 0 turn mowers and I guess he thinks I would run it up a tree. I actually did that with a mower once!!! LOL scared the crap out of me AND Steve. hehehe
Happy Valentines Day, you all are my sweethearts!
Wanda
Another Valentines day together. Amazing that we have celebrated together since we were 16 years old. Some years we have had big celebrations, some like this year, we will celebrate at home. I am preparing some steaks with the trimmings and we will thank God to still have another day together. I will try to make it special with candles and some wine.
Steve has not felt well in the past few weeks. Yesterday he sat with a heating pad on his side and back. The pain is exactly where he was treated with radiation back in March of last year. Thinking back he has a hard winter with pneumonia and side pain all winter. We have stayed in a lot and I pray he will feel better when spring comes along. He sometimes thinks it may be the Sutent, because it comes with about every cycle. (today he is feeling better)
The what if's are hard to think about. If he stays like he is now he won't be able to mow the grass or take care of the outside work. He will not be able to manage the pool and heaven knows I don't want to do it. The pool has long been a pain in my side. No one gets in it any longer. We have talked about filling it in and making a small patio back there. Should I say I have talked about it? I can mow the grass if he would let me but the trees are a headache when storms come along.
We have talked about selling the place and moving into a townhouse. We have always lived in the country and don't know if we would like neighbors that close. I surely don't want to move if it involved another mortgage. Our home is paid for and we can afford to hire someone to do the yard work. It would be hard on him to watch someone else do the work but at some point I guess everyone has to do that. We could sell that expensive mower he has and use that to pay someone! I just pray his side gets better with warm weather coming and he can do some of the work. He enjoys that. I am not a lazy person I could do it if he would let me. He has one of those 0 turn mowers and I guess he thinks I would run it up a tree. I actually did that with a mower once!!! LOL scared the crap out of me AND Steve. hehehe
Happy Valentines Day, you all are my sweethearts!
Wanda
Replies
Dear Wanda. always really good to hear from you. I am sorry about the pain that Steve is having. Must really get him down. Could be the Sutent. Now we are getting on a bit and i am ill we have found it hard to maintain garden duties and we have talked about moving but, oh dear, the thought of all the business of moving makes me tired just to think about it !!! I am looking forward to Spring as I should imagine you are. My snowdrops and crocuses are all blooming. There was a time when I wondered if I would see another Spring.
My love and blessings to you both, Nita xxx
Dear Wanda. always really good to hear from you. I am sorry about the pain that Steve is having. Must really get him down. Could be the Sutent. Now we are getting on a bit and i am ill we have found it hard to maintain garden duties and we have talked about moving but, oh dear, the thought of all the business of moving makes me tired just to think about it !!! I am looking forward to Spring as I should imagine you are. My snowdrops and crocuses are all blooming. There was a time when I wondered if I would see another Spring.
My love and blessings to you both, Nita xxx
You & Steve are such a wonderful couple! How blessed to be together so long:-) My hubby & I have been together since I was 16 & he was 21. He & my brother, who passed in 2003, were best friends in high school.
It is so hard to get to the point, where we can\'t do the things we used to be able to do! I pray that Steve feels better in the spring. My husband was born with spina bifida, so there are a lot of things he has never been able to do, such as climb a ladder, so I do that, but only indoors! I worry about us being back in Florida without our neighbor or son-in-law to do some things for us, but I hope we\'ll have someone to help us. We\'re moving back to the retirement village, where we lived before we moved to NC. I hope that we can take all 3 of our kitties with us:-)
Love & hugs,
Lois
Hi Girlfriend!
HAPPY VALENTINE\'S!! Yep...you and Steve might be getting close to setting a record for a long term commitment. Congrats on that!
Ray had to give up all yardwork in 2009. We scaled down to a smaller house some years ago. However, the yard is larger than we really wanted or needed. We found a very nice yard service to handle it, and that has worked out well. Life is all about changes.
Enjoy your romantic dinner, sweet friend.
Love, Ingrid
Wanda Happy Valentines day to both of you. What a special relationship you have and from age 16. WOW. The 0 turn mowers are really hard to handle, I find, that is why I opted for an old fashioned yard tractor. I can\'t do as much damage with it, especially to me ! LOL. I hope Steve feels better soon. Spring is just around the cornor. Hugs to you both....Jane
Hey Wanda! so glad to hear you two are on the keepin on route, and how WONDERFUL to spend another Vday together!!! I agree with Carol! I\'d be in a townhouse now too, but the daycare business is flourishing here because they are having more BABIES here so this is where it\'s at!!! lol Hope all goes well with hiring the lawn service if you need it, and whether or not he can mow, he\'s there my friend! and a WOO HOO on that!!! So glad to read one of your entries and see you both are doing ok!!! Keep it that way!
Love and many hugs to you diane
Dear Wanda, I missed your Monday email, so I was a bit anxious to open this thinking that something may be very wrong. I am sorry that Steve is having that pain...I hope it resolves soon. You and Steve are quite the sweethearts....as far as what to do regarding your house and property, just take small steps if you can. Perhaps you and Steve can consult with your family and come up with a plan. You need the help and Steve really needs to focus on his health. M and I sought all the help we could get from family, friends, and then from hired help when there were things others couldn\'t help with. Take care of yourself and of your sweetheart Steve. Love you, Linda
Hi Wanda,
Happy Valentine Day to you & Steve, i am so very sorry that Steve\'s side & back is still hurting him, all i know is this winter has been very tough on my & Tim\'s body.. All kinds of aches and pains, maybe i should just admit i am getting older huh ??
I\'m with you on the what if\'s ?? I certainly understand how hard it would be for Steve to have to give up his outside jobs, these are the things that keep them going.. Tim works just a few hours a day, and to watch him get up everyday to get ready for his day, makes my heart hurt just to think if he had to give up those few hours, it\'s his lively hood, it\'s what keeps him going everyday, it\'s enough to keep him so happy and usefull to the outside world.. But gosh, he gets so tired and he naps alot during the day.. I\'m sure it has alot to do when he is taking his Sutent also, his week off he always seems better.. I\'m hoping when the weather starts to get much better and spring hits, i think we will all start feeling so much better, we need the sunshine so much.. Has Steve every got his vitimin D level checked ever ?? Tim and i are very low on Vitimin D we have to take a D supplement and calcium, especially through the winter months.. So many people are so low and there really aren\'t any symtoms and the bones need these extra supplements so badly, it might be worth Steve being checked and you also.. Just a thought..
It sounds like you had a very romantic dinner tonight, this is so beautiful and special for you both.. Tim bought me 3 yellow & 3 red roses mixed in a beautiful spring looking bouquet, it was such a surprised as i kept forgeting today was Valentines Day..
Thanks for sharing this journal Wanda, as always it\'s so good to hear from you..
Love,
Becca
I too am there with the \'what ifs\' dear Wanda. It\'s hard not to go there, isn\'t it? Hoping that you had a lovely evening yesterday - hey, of course you did!
It\'s hard to stand by when things that used to be so easy are no longer possible, and harder still to watch our guys feel helpless and less \'manly\' in a way. We know that they\'re not, not one bit, and in fact show far far more courage than perhaps they ever did back when things were \'normal\'....but the shift in the relationship isn\'t so easy.
Hoping the pain becomes less with the warm spring sun.
Love you Wanda, your journals are full of love and life
Meriel
Dear Wanda,
Thank you for sharing your Valentine day, I know you both enjoyed it.. It is great that you have been together so long. I pray that Steve\'s pain subsides and he is able to work in the yard some this spring.. take care my friend, luv ya, Annette
Wanda...I am so please you had a nice Valentine\'s Day with Steve. I am sorry to hear he is having pain and is uncomfortable. I have had to deal with all the house stuff and sometimes I don\'t like it and them other times I remember how much pride Buddy took in his yard and gardens. We had an above ground pool and last Summer it was in bad shape and I had the chance to just get rid of having a pool and I choose to install another one because my grandkids enjoy it so much. So I am left with taking care of it and the lawn mowing. I one thing I pay for now is snow removal...I will shovel my walk but I get my driveway plowed. We have been very lucky this year. I have also thought about selling but I still have a mortgage because Buddy and I didn\'t buy our house until 1998...so I am stuck for a while with hopes the market comes back some. I hope the Spring brings better health for Steve....Hugs, Ellen :)