By Elaine Rassel

In some respects this week has been a valuable one. Scott had been calling the house to tell me about Jennifer and of course I wasn’t there.
Jennifer had been in a second coma and come out of it, she was able to talk to her immediate family. She called Zachary the next morning to say she was “alive.” Then she was going to speech therapy. The latest is that she is being transferred to Unity Point. At least she is talking to some of us; unlike the past year.
I was scheduled for hip replacement surgery the day after graduation. Very few knew of this as I wanted people to continue giving attention to the two important “J” people in my life and not be concerned about me.
I was at Le Mars on that Monday morning and just before they did a nerve block the doctor called to say he was sick! That was a close call! The next date was the following Friday morning. This threw my schedule off as I had planned on being at the cemetery Memorial Day service.
I want to thank Larry Rapagnani for sharing his address with me as I couldn’t be present. He spoke on a few of the residents of our community that sacrificed their life for us.
I did include in last week’s paper about a few things the Goodburn Post did in their earliest days of existence. That is the time where there were people that were members of their unit. These returning from war didn’t have any other outside activities and were involved in their past.
People still do come for the Memorial service on the last Monday of May. There is still those that decorate graves. It seems there are less of them coming from afar to decorate. They leave behind nice (some very expensive flowers) flowers that after 3 weeks are removed. I think the time is coming when instead of decorating the will leave a remembrance for someone at a nursing home or church to enjoy. Time are changing and so are some of those decorating.
People don’t even wait to help themselves to flowers removed after three weeks. As of this writing, some have already been disappearing that have been secured; so the wind isn’t the reason for them being gone. Why can’t people leave alone what doesn’t belong to them?
June Pallesen had a 1 o’clock Sunday burial for her brother, Rusty, who was laid to rest beside his mother. On Monday, a few gathered in her backyard where she had a Memorial service for her dad, Jerry who had died in November.
With the passing of Jerry, he was the last of my neighbors that I had my older kids grew up with. His backyard always had interesting animals. A fox as well as a raccoon occupied it. And, what about “Rags” the dog that came there and stayed.
I cannot help but recall the time Bethany kept telling me about that we had a “burglar” in our neighborhood. I just brushed this off until the day we were out in front of the grocery store. She said, “There, that’s the car he drives (it was parked beside us). It was Jerry’s car that said, “Bugler on duty”.
Jerry played taps ever since he was in high school and let people know this by the sign on his car. (One letter does make a difference!) Jerry laughed when I told him of burglar!
Friday (May 28) has come and gone. Now it is time to concentrate on recovery. Can you guess what my room number is? Number 13! 13 has never been a good number for me.
I went through some cards recently and found my baptism certificate had gone with some pictures with cousin Jeneen. She sent it back and upon opening it, I found I had been baptized 3 day after my birth. The date was February 13! For all these years I have had to deal with number 13!
The days have been busy with two therapy’s coming in twice a day plus all the other nurses, etc. units. Zachary and Bethany have been mowing so I didn’t see them very much.
Friday night, after they left, I was sitting in the chair with my feet up. About 11 o’clock, the foot rest came down. I didn’t want to bother anyone as it was shift time. I finally got by leg away from the leather. I spotted the walker against the wall. So, I decided I was going to go to the bathroom and wash up without asking for help. I pushed the bed table to the walker and headed for the bathroom. As I reached there, I discovered I had lost one of my footies close to the bathroom. I couldn’t lean over to pick it up so it stayed there.
After I washed up, I headed back to bed. Now there was a problem. I couldn’t raise my leg up on the bed so I sat on the edge and waited to call for assistance after 11:30. When the aide came she wanted to know how I had gotten out of the chair and to where I was now.
We went back to the bathroom and as I was sitting I asked her why she was taking the walker. “I know you are going to try again, so I am taking away your escape vehicle.”
Anyway I am progressing slowly but am reminded that recovering from major surgery takes some time. I can hardly wait to be up and around.
Thanks to Bethany for typing for me and to Steve for all he has done to help. I have appreciated their help. Even Zachary has had some jobs to do!
I talked to Karen Jorgensen. Her sister, Tammi teaches 6th grade science at West Middle School, Sioux City. This past Friday was the last day of school for them.
Mrs. Gordon Roese has a birthday June 11th. The class of 1958 always included him and his wife to out mini reunion. How about remembering him on his birthday? His address 11501 Masonic Home Dr. Apt. 308 Minneapolis, MN 55437-3658. Let him know we care about him.
Keep in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost loved ones to death, those with health problems, those struggling financially and those who are distanced from family and friends. We never know when the Lord is going to call us home. Make amendments before the 11th hour.
I will leave you with this quote from Dietary Department at Floyd Valley, “You may not control all the events that happen to you but you can decide not to be reduced by them!