Still Doing OK

When I wake up in the morning (or more often than not in the middle of the night) I always wonder whether the back pain that radiates to the left buttock will return that day.  So far it hasn't. I am not pain free, but the really awful pain has not returned.  I'm hoping that the steroid has calmed the inflammation and that the cycle has been broken. So if I'm lucky, maybe I can have a summer free of that pain.


I'm starting to think about getting out to Carlsbad. I will be flying out this year on June 2nd. I'm looking forward to being there and spending time with Craig and his family. Val will be coming later in June and spending most of the summer, but she has to come back at least once. We have several things planned for the summer.  Joel and Judy Bedford are celebrating their 50th anniversary a the end of June. They are having the party in Saratoga, Wyoming. So we are planning to fly to Denver and rent a car to drive to Saratoga. Afterword we plan to go to Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks for a few days. We were unable to find any lodging in Yellowstone and will be staying at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton and make day trips up to Yellowstone. Val has never been up there and I haven't been to Yellowstone since the fire.


I'm also hoping to take Christopher up to tour Stanford this June. I would like him to apply and continue a family tradition. My mother, Boyd, and I went there.  I don't think legacy helps much, but it can't hurt. 


Toward the end of July there is a Board of Directors meeting for Lexicon Phamaceuticals, a company based in the Houston area. I am on the board and the July meeting will be held in Princeton, NJ where Lexicon has an office. I'm hoping that I can extend that into a trip to NYC for a few days--still tentative.


And then in August I would like to take Val up to Seattle to see my special friends Len and Alansa, my brother-in-law Jimmy and Teresa, and possibly get up to Vancouver to see my friends, Karen and Bob Rangno, whom I haven't seen forever. No real plans yet and we'll need to coordinate with friends, but I hope it happens.


So a busy summer. I've been debating whether to keep writing this blog, but I do hear from folk that they look at it once in a while, and I feel more comfortable with this than Facebook that I haven't figured out and not sure I want to. So I guess I will continue my infrequent notes.