Wrapping Up the Year

This year ended with some unexpected turns. I got a text informing me that Smitty had a heart attack on the 8th of December and had to have a stent put in. He was home alone and thankfully dialed 911 before he passed out. Just another scary reminder of how fragile life is. I checked in daily by text and then on the 16th got to go visit him at home and take him on a couple of errands before we went back to his house and took a short walk. It was cold but with a beautiful blue sky that contributed to our conversation about appreciating things when/while we have them. Speaking of which I noticed a tree on our walk that was amazing. It was so large that I thought it was several but saw it was literally one huge tree when we got to it. 





My final “race” of the year was the next weekend a 5K, The Jingle Bells Run in Eugene. It was a fun event and surprisingly I had my fastest race of the year. The race was my 19th of the year certainly more than I expected. I ended the year with 96 since turning 70 and 347 since turning 60. Time will tell how many more there will be if any.





The day after the race I got together with Smitty again for breakfast at Denny’s and then drove him around to do some Christmas shopping for Denise. It was good quality friend time. With the exception of Smitty I have to travel a long way for that. 😂 

The 23rd brought an ice storm. Fortunately I had my labs and treatment the two days before. This is a picture on the morning of the 23rd taken with my window down. 🥶 



That afternoon Donna got bitten by Trey when she was just walking past his stall. Fortunately it wasn’t worse. 



Christmas was really nice. On Christmas Eve we went out for dinner at Stacy’s Covered Bridge in Cottage Grove with Brandy’s boyfriend Brian. (I didn’t even know she had one). A really nice guy and we had a good time. 





Good food, good company and new memories it was nice. 



Christmas Day we had gift exchange and drinks in the morning and then we went to B&B for a beer and burger. Another first for Christmas. We finished off the day with chili and the family across the street came over. It was a fun time with good food and conversation. 

Next on my tentative schedule was to do the New Year’s First Run 5K on New Year’s Day but as often happens plans change. On the 30th I had a very unwelcome guest show up at my place. 



Fortunately it seems to be a mild case and my oncologist got me on Paxlovid right away. It’s day two as I write this, New Year’s Eve, and so far it doesn’t seem to be getting worse. 🤞🙏🏻

2022 quick reading summary. Non Fiction 21 and 47 fiction for a total of  68. The final book I finished yesterday was nonfiction but that’s a story for another post. This is it for 2022. 




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