Going strong again

Dear Family and Friends,
Wow, what a day! First our walk around the lake, then a quick breakfast and I sat to work. After completing three appraisals I showered and hit the road. Made a quick delivery of an appraisal and then went to observe Keanna in her tumbling class, the child does things that make a pappa gasp. Kallie was ready to eat so I held her while her mom shoveled it in. Then we quickly went to a nearby Mexican place and grabbed a bean burrito. Then I went my way and they headed home.
After I left I drove to the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez where I visited a relative I had not ever met. My brother is married to Donna and one of her daughters was in the hospital with a fairly serious condition but lives in Concord with no family members anywhere nearby. So I had the opportunity to meet her this evening, what a great time we had sharing stories and learning about each other's life. She is to be released tomorrow.
When I left the hospital I discovered the van had just 10 miles left on the current fuel in the tank. So I located fuel and as I drove home decided to take it easy. There was no traffic, an open road and I was in no rush. I set the cruise on 55 and watched the computer as it calculated the current MPG. Soon it climbed to 28 and then 29 and moved between 28 and 29 all the way home. Not bad for a car that is over 4,000 lbs. So I enjoyed my drive home with a heated leather seat, lumbar support, XM on the radio and a quiet ride. Sort of fun compared to my little bug which sort of bounces down the road as it gets its 44 or 45 miles per gallon, has no heated seat and requires frequent shifting.
Today has been a day with hardly any coughing at all and a general feeling of I can do this again instead of dread and concern. Of course the fact that Judy, a wonderful mortgage broker, just happened to drop $675 in my mailbox this morning and then more money came in the mail, that helps too. So far I've been able to manage my ongoing bills as they have come up and if all continues to go well I'll get ahead enough to cover some very important other looming bills I owe.
All in all I am very satisfied with the day, with better health, with blessings of all kinds and shapes and with the chance to visit someone stuck in a hospital bed. I do know my way around hospitals do to past experiences and I know how awful it is to be stick there, half dressed, constantly woken up to take sleeping pills and vitals, hoping for tasty food that hardly ever comes, listening to the beeping due to air in the line of the IV pump and growing tired of the daily TV fare. One begins to dream of escape.
Well in 20 hours the Sabbath will be here and it will be welcome. Putting the cares and stress of this life aside and renewing family ties, catch up on reading, listen to great music, worship, fellowship. What a huge blessing Sabbath is and I need it so much, so do you.
So I'm sending good vibes to all, thanking you for recipes for slow cooked foods and just wanting you to know, you are loved and appreciated.

love

tim
A friend who is battling GIST and is now facing new surgery wrote these words to me today.

Embracing fear allows the opposition to win without a battle.I don't like that.So, I shall continue.All that it takes for evil to win is for good men to do nothing.Someone wiser than me said that.But, I embrace it.