musings on turning seventy-one

Amanda snapped this shot of me going in to church back before Christmas...

without me knowing.

I decided to use it for my "71" picture.

It was a cold day.

I was wearing my black "fau fur" wrap, my black suede boots, and my dark sunshades.

My 71st year was like none other.

Battling tongue cancer was the fight of my life so far.

I won't go on and on about this...

but the year was spent struggling for the most part.

I had a 5 hour surgery in my mouth,

My face and neck and throat were fried with radiation.

I was in sometimes excruciating pain.

I lost a lot of weight.

I learned to subsist on chicken broth and milkshakes.

I read a lot...

Got through the Bible twice.

Spent a lot of lonely days.

Visited a lot of doctors.

I started to feel better in the Fall.

More energized to do things.

try a few new adventures.

I still tire easily.

I am quieter.

Sometimes it wears me out to talk.

My mouth is so dry.

My salivary glands were damaged permanently.

My God has carried me through this last year.

I never felt abandoned by Him.

I knew He had plans for me,

things He wanted me to learn,

places He wanted me to go that I had never been before.

Areas of my heart where only He could take me.

Glimpses of heaven that I would never know apart from adversity.

Bubba was my rock.

My children and grandchildren a constant source of joy.

My friends the happiness of my days.

Jesus my Savior my source of hope and inspiration.

What a blessed year for me!

Thanking God for always giving me exactly what I needed..

I read these verses yesterday...

"The days of our lives are seventy years;

And if by reason of strength they are eighty years.

Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;

For it is soon cut off and we

FLY AWAY.

So teach us to number our days,

That we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 90: 10&12

Hopefully this past year has given me a heart of wisdom,

or at least more than I had when it started.

Cathy C

❤️