Major Mike’s Musings

Hardly a girl any more our sweet daughter, Stacey, turns 40 today. You’ve given us 40 years of joy. We love you.

I see by the forecast that my family and friends out on the west coast will be roasting today. Keep cool, my friends.

My little girl is 39 today. I’m really not old. Really.

Happy Birthday. Thanks for bringing us so much joy and so much life.

You make me smile just thinking of you.

I forgot to bring the USB cable for the camera, so I can’t download the photos until I get home. I still have room for 1300 more on the 2GB card in the camera, so you’ll have lots to see then.

Today was loads of fun. We walked the entire course—not in hole order, saw gobs of pros—but not Tiger or Phil¹, watched lots of shots, bought some U.S. Open goodies, and generally got sunburned from the long hazy day.

From our hotel, we walk to the trolley station, take the trolley to Qualcomm Stadium, take the shuttle to the golf course. It takes about an hour total, but is very relaxing…we don’t have to drive.

We’re looking forward to our trip to Seal Beach to see Old Dad and Pretty Betty. We’ll spend the whole day and part of the evening. 

Tonight, we’re beat and are heading for the rack right now.

1. We did see Vijay, K.J., Trevor, Michael Campbell, Bubba, Zach, to name a few [↩]

On Sunday at around 3:30pm, Son Major and The Major will depart for the Tampa airport to make the trek to San Diego and the 2008 U.S. Open Championship. We signed up to be volunteers almost a year and a half ago. We will be working the Thru and Leaderboards during the competition. We have passes for the three practice rounds on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and for the Championship on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If there’s a playoff on Monday, we’ll get to see that too.

The photo is of some of the gear we have. You can see the hat, shirt, parking passes, lunch vouchers (yellow), and of course the volunteer pass that gets us in for all the activities.¹

Much to my surprise, cameras will be allowed on the three practice days, so we’ll be snapping lots of photos. I might even get another card for my camera. No cell phones are allowed on any day, and not cameras are allowed on the Championship days. (more…)

1. We also received another shirt, water bottle, and jacket [↩]

Mrs. Major gave her final pint of blood yesterday. It wasn’t the ordeal that the first one was. The phlebotomist closed her eyes, said a silent prayer, opened here eyes, and stuck Mrs. Major’s vein on the first try. No bruising, even today. Now we have the pre-op visit on the 12th and the surgery on the 15th.

Mrs. Major is really looking forward to the day when her knees don’t hurt constantly. She’s even looking forward to the hard work involved in the recovery process. Three cheers for Mrs. Major.

Frustrated with the pain and inability to get around as much as she wants, Mrs. Major decided to go ahead with knee replacement surgery–on both knees at the same time. She’s scheduled for replacement on May 15, one month from now. “Bravo!” I say. (more…)

Mrs. Major has bad knees. She’s been taking cortisone shots every three months in them for almost a year in order to reduce the pain she constantly feels. Convinced that she was ready for surgery, she went to see the surgeon to set up the surgery…hoping to have both knees done within the next three months. He talked her out of it. He told her it was her decision, but when she pressed him for his opinion, he said, “Wait.” So she’s waiting.

With the shots she can make it from the car to the store, or the golf cart to the swimming pool, but forget about a day at the mall or the museum or the gardens. We recently went on a cruise and just the walking on the ship was painful. She’s going to tough it out until she can’t stand it.

One of the reasons she decided to wait is the doctor told her she’s too young to have the surgery.  :grin:

Jadyn

At nearly a year old, my grand-niece, Jadyn, couldn’t be cuter.She lives out on the Left Coast with her mom, Jennifer, dad, Eric, and sister, Taylor. Taylor is cute, too. One day, I’ll post a picture of her.Jadyn has grown so much since we saw here in person in January when we went to Charlene’s mom’s funeral. Hello, Jadyn. Love you, Uncle Mike.

Yes, we’re back from vacation. Weird calling a trip to the beach with friends a vacation when we’re already on an extended vacation in The Villages. The trip was a huge success. We relaxed, caught up with our friends, and I got to play with my friend Hannah, their 8 year old daughter.

This afternoon we went to see an orthopaedic surgeon for Mrs. Major’s knee. We were pretty much expecting that they would recommend knee replacement. But she was offered cortisone therapy. So she took it. We’re praying it works.

I encourage you to take a trip over to The Daily Detour. He’s a minister at a church in Indianapolis and has a great Christian perspective in timely issues. The above link is to an article titled “The Tragic Necessity of Violence,” and is required reading for anyone in the military, for anyone with a relative or friend in the military, and for Christians. It’s recommended reading for all others. Check out some of his other articles.