Day 9 – Tuesday

After enjoying the 7:30 sunrise, I met Mya and Patsy at Denny’s down the road. She claims they have the best French toast. I had that…plus that first morning hot cup of coffee that allows you to sit back and know all is right with the world.
Next, an hour’s walk north alone on the beach with waves continuing to roll in near high tide after breakfast continued the life that I am most fortunate to be able to enjoy at this point in my life. I then met Mya and ran some errands with her before stopping by the new house where Patsy and his brother, Louie, were continuing their project of laying new flooring over the concrete flooring. They completed room after room and have two more to go. It’s a big job and the results are impressive and will be very satisfying for them to show off when all is said and done.
Temperatures never went above 70 today and although sunny, the wind did not make for a good sunning day. I spent about 90 minutes trying to prove to my New York friends that I’ve been in Florida. More tomorrow.
Tonight we (Patsy, Mya, Zane, Zahni, Vinny, and Mickey) are picking me up and it’ll be Leanh’s Chinese restaurant tonight with 3 menus: Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
I called the Boca Community Hospital and my cousin Larry’s extension. Amazingly, he answered; having had trouble in the past with hearing well while using the telephone, it was even more amazing that he heard me loud and clear…as though I was right around the corner. His speech was slow and deliberate but his spirits were very good. I did not want to keep him too long so I told him that his daughter Cheri has been terrific in giving me all the information and has been keeping us up to date. He liked hearing that because he didn’t want to go over it all again. I told him I was in Daytona Beach and, if possible, I’d like to make the 3 hour trip to pop in and say hello. I’d be gone as quickly as I appeared. He chuckled and said that it would be a great idea….but not tomorrow. Seems he’ll be involved most of the day involved in a surgical procedure that will remove yet another tube from his body…this time, the neck. That was his measure of progress; the number of tubes they removed. As I’ve mentioned, when he looks back at what he’s gone through, he’s quite happy with his lot in life at this present time. He said that he’s lost the ability to walk and regaining that activity will be the focus of some major physical therapy when he’s more on the road to recovery. We left it that I would call later in the week for a possible visit during the next weekend, playing it day by day. So, for me, I’m glad I called and the news, I felt, was good and better than I expected.