Thanks, A LOT!!!!!

“Say, what happened to Old Tex? Did he die? I know he said he might.”

Nope I did not die. But I did have a stretch of falling down. It’s not the fall that hurts, it’s the getting up.

And it takes me a week or so to get over that.

Getting all tangled up with my catheter hose, and laying on the floor, sometimes I do not have the strength to pull myself up.

Had to call the EMS guys for the first one. This was on a Friday night, later on that morning had two more. I was not going to call them again, so I made it up on my own – which took me several hours.

All my upper body strength was tested to the max. That’s what hurts the most. There are ropes hung overhead that I use to walk around the house. They come in handy when I fall down.

But this is a Thanksgiving column, not a whine and moan piece. And, Boy Howdy, do I have a bunch of things to be thankful for.

Mostly that I have not died. And I hold out hope that most of my ailments will be cured.

Plans are still the same – get my car running and go to Arizona, where I’ll be able to breathe so much better. It’s hard for me to imagine that.

La Grange does not have good, clean air, but that’s what I must accept – at least at my house, here on Hwy. 77.

When I lay my head down for a night’s sleep, it’s about 30 feet to the edge of the highway. All the road dust, diesel fumes, asbestos brake dust, who knows what else, float through the air and into my lungs.

When getting up in the morning I’ll have a mouth filled with mud. Well, not exactly filled, but enough to call for comment.

But, I am still thankful; for the EMS guys and girls who come and pick me up off the floor, for the nice folks at HEB who help me get around.

And all the customers who decided to give me some cash. Not sure why, but I am grateful.

Mostly; lately I am thankful for Michelle Gardner; whom I found through an ad on Craigslist.

Michelle is a wonder of help. The other day she pushed my wheelchair, with me in it; from my house to the Tejas Clinic; a distance of maybe two miles.

Right now she’s at HEB, picking up some more food for the great big dinner she’s preparing. She brought most of the ingredients with her when she came here from Houston, including a 15-pound turkey.

So I have much to be thankful for this November 23, 2023.

I know it’s Thanksgiving time. I passed a farm house on the edge of town yesterday in the front yard was a turkey tied to a tree. Poor old turkey was going, “Moo, Mooooo?” Let’s all be thankful that we are not a turkey, tied to a tree.

As Always, Love from La Grange, Tex

Longtime La Grange resident Tex Parker shares his thoughts in this occasional column.