This year held a lot of life-changing events. Early in the year Eston and I traveled to Pipestone, MN to visit with a non-surgical specialist about Eston’s back. The doctor identified that two disks in Eston’s spine were out of place and were the cause of his pain and inability to move very well at all. Ultimately he was still being referred for surgery due to the nature of the misalignment. After several more weeks of frustration at the idea of having to undergo spinal surgery, Eston became very sick with a cold. Resting in bed one of those days he coughed so hard he heard and felt a very painful “POP!” in his lower back. When he stood up all his pain went away. It was a miracle even if it was super coincidental! His cold went away after a few more days. Eston visited with his doctor again and surgery was no longer anywhere near consideration and Chiropractic Therapy prevented any return of the issue.
Basil started her first year of pre-school in February when an opening became available. Miss Peggy was her first teacher and she loved going to school every day. She got to sing songs, play pretend, and make friends with everyone she met!
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On our First Anniversary of Dating, Eston proposed to me in our home in Montevideo. I was cooking our family dinner, Baked Pork Chops, and had just finished preparing the pork chops to put into the oven. Eston stopped me for a moment and asked “What day is it?”, “Wednesday” I replied. “And.. what else?” he asked next, “November 21st?” I replied again in a questioning tone. “And…?” he continued, “The day we’ve been dating for a whole year.” I finally get the right answer. “And I’d like to make it many more…. Will you marry me?” he finally got his chance to ask me. “YES!” I said almost shouting! Afterward, he mentioned, “Do you know how hard it is to keep a 7-year-old to keep a secret?” I remember thinking to myself too that first “YES” to his proposal and secondly “I’m so glad I washed my face and brushed my teeth right away this morning!” I was so glad I wasn’t grungy for his proposal.
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We said “I Do” at the altar on July 27th at Salem Lutheran Church, it was a small wedding. We did not do hardly any decorating at the church as we decided that was not what we wanted. The Reception was held at the American Legion that I was working at the time. Almost all of our family was able to attend. My dad, Roger, walked me down the aisle to Eston. When we were pouring our Unity Sand together, I saw a puff of dust coming up from the vase. I went to gently blow it away and I could hear my mom from the front pew “Quit that!” she whispered loudly. I almost laughed out loud.
Riley has been enjoying being in a Multi-age class at Ramsey Elementary. He is so quick to learn everything and loves reading books. He has read every book he could get his hands on and could even finish a multi-chapter book in one sitting during an evening when he really gets into it.
In the Fall, I got a direct message from an old friend that Fester had been dropped of at the Alexandria Humane Society as a stray cat. I drove up there as quickly as I could and was able to rescue him back. In the same process, I had my ex’s entire family banned from ever dropping off animals there again as they had lied to them. Fester’s sister Molly had already been adopted off to another family so I provided the history for Molly to the humane society to pass on to her new owners. Because I had been able to so accurately identify Fester to the humane society associate I was able to get him back without an adoption fee. I am still so grateful for that message that day and to have been able to bring Fester home again.