Behind Before We Even Started

We're past the middle of January already, and we're quite behind schedule.

Last month, we received a number of wonderful seasonal cards and letters from friends and family. They were all greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, we have not been able to return the favor. I had purchased a box of Christmas cards way back in December (late, as usual) with the intent of writing a Year-End-Summary letter to send out to everyone, along with a picture of our family, but there were two things that got in the way: (1) It was a lousy year which made my summary letter read like a horribly depressing dirge, and (2) we never got around to taking a family picture during Thanksgiving when we were all (mostly) together.

Cheryl managed to write up a very nice summary letter which was far more positive than mine, so we used her wonderful, optimistic prose instead of mine -- but we still only managed to send out about half a dozen of them. She also managed to get some pictures printed, but they haven't all been sent, either.

I'm just not feeling the vibe this year. What I'm feeling is old and broken-down and completely un-motivated to do anything anymore. With just a hint of a taste of the retirement life this past year -- albeit a completely un-funded retirement -- my towel is just about ready to be tossed in. After several trips to the doctor and several failed attempts at finding some level of medication to reduce the onslaught of old age, I tossed in the towel on those, too. Either they had a deleterious effect on my body, or had no effect at all. And this latest round of physical therapy which was supposed to help reverse the long-term effects of what we believe is my horribly bad posture and overextended allotment of chair-sitting while doing my job -- my right arm starts going numb when I extend it forward to tap on the keys - caused such a pain in my neck that I was unable to determine whether I'd strained a muscle or come down with strep throat!

I think it can be safely stated that it was, in fact, a throat infection rather than merely a muscle strain, as it did not get any better by refraining from my exercises, but rather got worse and worse over the course of a few days to the point that (1) it brought on a fever, and (2) only massive doses of analgesics were able to reduce the pain to the point that I was able to sleep, albeit fitfully.

In-between additional doses of pain medicine and herbal teas and cough drops, I shall endeavor to catch up on my post-2024 correspondence. At last count, we had received 20 cards and/or letters. If I can write four or five a day, I should be done by mid-week.

So long as my energy remains.