Now even they are gone

Taken yesterday, all healed up

The final post about my cancer surgery. There, between my shirt's collar and my old wrinkly neck, is the final scar left from the surgery on the 14th. Last week, I still had the remnants of the stitches, but just as predicted, they dissolved at  right around two weeks. I have finally stopped putting all that petroleum jelly on the wound, and just yesterday I realized that the stitches are indeed absorbed and gone, just like the cancer which caused the entire procedure to begin with. I've read enough information to feel very reassured that I had a good surgeon and a positive outcome. Next time (if there is one), I will not be so scared, just glad I have the ability to get some professional treatment. So I am putting the event into the annals of my personal history, adding it to my many adventures as a human on this distant planet, circling our beautiful Sun in our tiny little Solar System.

Our weather has moderated considerably from the hot days of the past weeks, and I think today we will reach the low to mid-seventies (F) as we celebrate the unofficial end of summer with Labor Day, coming Monday, September 1. It's also the anniversary of the day that my partner made his first skydive, in 1962, so very very long ago. My first jump was many years later, in 1991. In trying to find the actual date, I ended up re-read many earlier posts from this blog, and I was really impressed by how important these posts are to jog my memory, more than two decades later.

We forget a lot when time goes by, don't we? But there are some things and events that will never fade from memory. Now, I am in my early eighties, but twenty years ago I was jumping every weekend at Skydive Snohomish, making friends, sharing fun skydives with them, and cherishing every moment of those days. I am incredibly grateful for the ability to travel back in time through these posts, to remember, once again, how much fun we had during those unforgettable summer days.

And now I am putting my Trailblazer days behind me, right beside those skydiving adventures, while I learn to navigate the loss of my vision, the aging of these old bones of mine, and learning to appreciate my volunteer work at the Senior Center and the friends I am making through that activity.

One day I will no longer be fit enough to do the volunteer work I am currently doing, since it entails at least several thousand steps, keeping going for two solid hoursk, but for now I am managing quite well. My days are well defined, but still when I wake up in the morning, I need to check my phone to remind myself of the time and date. I keep my phone on the stand next to my bed, along with the charger for my watch and phone. I slip them on and then fix myself a cup of tea, which will soon pull from my bed when the whistle sounds.

That occurs every morning, no matter which day of the week it is, and here I sit writing my Sunday post. I usually get back to my laptop to read my selected comics. Sunday is my favorite day for this activity, because on Sunday I get to read more complete strips, including the Doonesbury one that is current for today, while all the rest of the week I am only reading old Doonesbury reruns from decades ago. It's interesting to notice how much I look forward to my weekly routines and feel sad when something happens to change things up. Definitely a creature of habit.

From my neighborhood

I also walk most mornings to the bus, a half-mile excursion, leaving the apartment at exactly 7:04 in order to catch the bus at 7:23 and end up at the terminus of the line. Once I have had my morning coffee at Adagio's and visited with whoever shows up (usually John is already there when I arrive). Some mornings Steve joins me, which changes with his work schedule. Right now he is in Hawaii visiting his mother for her 92nd birthday. He will return next week before his classes start again. And sometimes R.J. joins us, always a treat, but it's only an occasional one, since he's a musician and you know they keep late hours. 

Tomorrow is one of the days that I don't especially look forward to, since the buses aren't running, the coffee shop is closed, and the holiday disrueepts the rest of my daily activity. Senior Center is closed, no yoga class, but I will mostly likely get an early morning walk in, probably to Squalicum Beach and the new pier. The weather should be perfect.

As you can see, life is good for me in these closing days of summer. I have noticed some leaves already turning, reminding me of the riot of color to come. So, I have much to be grateful for, and I don't forget my virtual family, and your own posts that I read every day. I almost always work several of the NYT puzzles at some point during the day, and make sure I haven't missed any posts since I last checked.

With that, I will leave you with a Quote of the Day: (apropos of nothing)

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. —Bill Gates

Thinking of AI, of course. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the company of your family, or friends, or animals, or books. Until we meet again next week, dear friends, I wish you all good things. Be well.