seven years

This month, May 2022, marks seven years since Terry and I arrived here in Hemet. It is hard to believe.

A year after being laid off from my job we realized that we needed to do something different. We knew that if we moved south we could sell our house in Gilroy, a Silicon Valley bedroom community, and buy a house outright, without mortgage, here in Hemet. Since my dad was here, along with my brother and sister-in-law, our nephew Eric, and his daughter Teaghan, the move made sense. Thanks to my sister-in-law Bobbie we found a house here in Four Seasons, a gated 55+ community which has worked out marvelously for us.

Terry and Tasha in the backyard the day we arrived at our new home in May 2015

The moving van showed up in Gilroy on Cinco de Mayo 2015, a Tuesday. Terry and I spent the night at the Best Western in Gilroy, and Tasha enjoyed one last visit to the canine resort she loved, Dog House Inn. We headed south on Wednesday the sixth and arrived at our new home late in the afternoon. We had an air mattress that Tasha thought was really neat, but she was even happier when our furniture and her familiar smells showed up on Saturday, May 9.

During the first few years we had some good times, having Saturday breakfast with my dad and the rest of the family. Then COVID hit in March of 2020 and restaurant dining was off-limits. We lost my dad at age 91 in August of that year, his internal organs basically saying, “We’ve done all we can do.”

Pre-pandemic, Terry had knee replacement surgery in 2018, and I had surgery for an intestinal matter in March 2019.

Before her knee replacement Terry found work as a permit runner for a solar company and I developed web sites for local nonprofits and small businesses. I also wrote for various high-tech companies here and there. When the communications director at my church left for her new life in Tennessee, I took on the church’s web site and getting out its weekly e-news. I also manage the web site for the local Student of the Month program, which honors high school seniors who have overcome personal obstacles.

All that time our loyal four-footed beagle-border terrier mix, Tasha, was there for us. She watched after Terry when she had her surgery and looked after me when I had mine. We spent a lot of money on medications to address her thyroid problems, her digestive issues, and her arthritis. But she was well worth it. In February 2021, however, our elderly puppy dog had done all she could do. Her body told us that it had reached its expiration date, and we had to say goodbye to her.

Terry had her second knee replacement surgery on Tuesday of this week and is recovering well with the help of the good folks at Kaiser Home Health. The recovery and physical therapy process takes time, but coming out on the other side I will be delighted to see her no longer cringing in pain when she takes a step that her knee doesn’t like.

So we keep on keeping on.