* Something New & Exiting From Chicken Soup for The Soul *

Chicken Soup for the Soul is publishing a special book "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Read, Laugh, Repeat" on May 4th as a fundraiser for nonprofits that provide love and laughter to patients in hospitals and hospice, from the very young to the very old.

My story, “A Bittersweet Victory” was chosen to go in the book!

(They have chosen various humorous stories, by various writers that have already been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul books. My story was included in "The Dog Really Did That?" from 2017)

It will be featured at Walmart (in the US and Canada), Target, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and many other booksellers.

* I will share more information as I get it! *

And oh my gosh, the cover definitely made me laugh! I love it!

https://www.chickensoup.com/files/book_cover_art/cover_art_236119.jpg

I am so proud to be part of this special publication!

* CAN I REST A BIT NOW? *

I brought Ron home a couple of hours ago. He'd been in the hospital since the morning of June 1st. I'm so happy to have the love of my life back home with me.

 



Ron and Becky February 1983

 

 

(Yes, he had pneumonia.)

* HAPPY BIRTHDAY! *

Today is my oldest son's birthday. I was a mere child myself when Scott was born on this day, July 28. The following is the first couple of paragraphs in the chapter titled, "Were Those Salad Tongs?" from my memoir, From Pigtails to Chin Hairs: A Memoir & More.

~~~

The U.S. Army almost killed my newborn son and me. Actually, it wasn’t the entire Army—just a few medical personnel at William Beaumont Hospital in Ft. Bliss, Texas.

It was the end of July 1972, a week before my due date. I was swollen, bloated, and miserable. Our living room “furniture” provided zero comfort, such as it was. Two webbed lawn chairs near the black and white TV were the sum of our décor. My only alternative was to lie on our bed with its saggy, lumpy mattress.

 

~~~

 

Scott and me in Germany, 1973

 

 

 

As you can see from the photo above, we both made it through the horrible delivery. Scott was a plump, happy, and healthy little guy! (Ah, for me...it would be nice to be that slender again...and young, but in totally different circumstances.)

 

I know, too, that I wouldn't be the person I am today, had I not lived through all the ups and downs in my life, and that makes it all worth it.

 

Some of you will remember the very frightening time in the summer of 2010 when Scott had a burst appendix, while being in England for business. http://beckypovich.blogspot.com/2010/07/happy-birthday-scott.html

 

 

Happy Birthday, Scott! I love you humongously! J

 

 

 

 

"Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing." ~ Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987

 

 

"There is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother to a son that transcends all other affections of the heart." – Washington Irving

 

  

 

* OUR REHAB CENTER *

*Note: I just realized this is my 1,000th post!

I haven't posted anything about the craziness going on here, which began on June 30th when The Ronald had total knee-replacement surgery on his right knee. He came home two days later and has been doing amazingly well ever since.....which is exactly the way I envisioned he would.

Mercy Hospital St. Louis

The hardest part for me has been keeping track of all his medications. I made a chart listing them all, what they were for, and at what times he needed to take them. Some were once a day, others were every 12 hours, others were twice a day...but with meals, etc., etc.

And along with those chores as The Ronald's caretaker, Vern was a bit more "needy" in the early stages of Ron being back home, too. There were strange, new things around the house: a walker, an exercise contraption, a large bandage on daddy's knee, etc.

Things were settling down pretty well when just a week after Ron's surgery, I became aware of some major tooth pain in one of my back molars. Long story short, I had to have oral surgery because it was cracked, couldn't be saved, and wasn't a "typical" tooth-pulling. I came home looking like a chipmunk with a huge bruise. Still today, I have a smaller, multi-colored bruise on my right jaw, but no swelling.

Vern looking at me when I first came home as if he's thinking...
"Who IS that? It can't be Mom!"

 

After he looked at me in the above photo, I kept talking to him and calling him by name,
 and he wouldn't even look back at me!
 (Besides the swollen cheek and huge bruise,
I still had gauze in my mouth and didn't sound like myself, either!)

This was taken on Friday, I think.

So, I've been trying to catch up on "normal" household chores such as laundry (but we have also acquired a bit of a plumbing problem,) so things are piling up....so to speak! (The plumber is supposed to be here later this afternoon.)

 

 

I'd like to leave a final thought from my friend, the brilliant Robert Brault. This is from his book, The Second Collection: Thoughts and Other Writings. It is currently unavailable, but his first book can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Round-Up-Usual-Subjects-Everything/dp/1499593783/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436850854&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+brault&pebp=1436850934412&perid=1GBZTDDRX8A0BQ30EHWJ

 

"Some mornings you wake up to the smell of the coffee, and some mornings you wake up to the smell of the halibut from last night's supper." - Robert Brault