Since it’s been thirteen days since my last post, I thought it might be nice of me to ‘splain myself (as Ricky Ricardo used to tell Lucy) and ‘fess up.  I haven’t abandoned blogging although I know it seems that way, I’m just not able to find the time now. I know, I know. Same old excuse. Nothing different, we’re all busy. It seems like the older we get the busier we get–in a way that our younguns will never understand until–or unless–they get relatively unscathed into their own retirement years.

As some of you know, Hubby and I are planning a visit to Ireland, Scotland, and England–very soon–to visit the countries of my ancestors. I began to search that ancestry soon after our month-long visitors all departed so that we might have connections to some of the places we visit. As most of you know, the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City has the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and other resources, and the people working there are knowledgeable and helpful almost beyond belief. First we spent several sessions there. When those leads withered, I subscribed to the online Ancestry.com. Ancestry is really amazing because there are so many people organizing and documenting their own family records, and many of those records coincide. The problem is, you sometimes get so many conflicting records, you must search other sources–sometimes several–for verification, until you feel reasonably certain you’ve got the right connection. Therein lies the rub. It takes extraordinary amounts of time, even though it’s a totally absorbing hobby to engage in. Alas, my subscription is soon to run out, a few days before we leave for Ireland, and therein lies part of the rub.

Another complication, in addition to the month-long series of visitors, a few weeks ago I had another health scare when I found myself in the hospital emergency room being tested for a possible heart attack. (I had fallen ill on a family hike in the mountains, and according to daughter and SIL, all the symptoms were classic for heart attacks in women.) After numerous tests involving blood collection and physical tests (people who know me well know how I detest both) I went home the following day. Always there’s good! The good–that I knew my heart was perfectly fine. The bad–I finally figured out that I was probably in bad physical shape–obviously not having fully regained my strength after the chemo/radiation regimen from last year. I’d begun an exercise program–self designed–at the gym, but I had apparently not done that good a job by myself. Then I added weight and resistance training that I’m pretty sure was a great beginning.  Then we went to NYC to visit our daughter and attend the US Open (tennis). NYC means lot of walking, so an old foot/toe ailment re-appeared with a vengeance, inhibiting our New York adventures a whole lot! So, upon our return, and after much hounding encouragement from daughter and Hubby, I went for a consultation with the Physician in charge of the fitness program of the Wellness Center at Huntsman Cancer Center. The program is free and available to all Huntsman cancer patients past and present. Now that I know more about myself–my body anyhow–than I ever thought I needed to know, I find myself strangely reassured, since I know that I’m not lazy. There are physical reasons I can’t do some things well.

Based on my personal physical assessment, the center’s head, Dr. Hansen, and her staff have set up an exercise program that they guarantee will get me back to my pre-cancer condition, or more likely according to one of the trainers who promised me they’d “go easy” on me, BETTER than. Wouldn’t that be awesome! That program will begin on the 26th of the month. I’m also back to wearing custom orthotic insoles in my shoes, which must all now be replaced by shoes a half size larger to accommodate them. I see $$$$ flying out the window the rest of the year!

So as you can see, I’m sorta stretched to my outer limits, with all that plus the genealogy research and episodes of travel thrown in, but I optimistically view this as a beginning rather than an end! So with all that said, I must announce what I hope will be a short hiatus after which I will return to complete the India saga–for my own sake and for any others who may still be interested.  By then–as we should have returned from our most recent travel–I expect to have some stories about possible family transgressions I’ve turned up–of which, I suspect, there are plenty!  😀