Well...it is here...the end of 2016.


With the closing of 2016, we also come to the end of this blog; TheThankYouYear.


It may sound trite, but I want to say thank you to everyone who has read my posts, all 176 of them.
176....not the 365 that I had hoped for


8 loyal readers...not the following I'd hoped for, but more than enough to make me realize I had to keep writing. I knew I had to keep writing for myself and for you all, even after my father passed away in June.


As I am sure you all noticed, my posts got less frequent as we entered the later stages of the year. Well, that was a direct effect of the fact that I just didn't have anything interesting to say as we progressed through the year.


I have had a year to forget and a year to remember.
As you al already know, I lost my father soon after finding out he had pancreatic cancer. That was the worst thing that has ever happened to me...so far.




I have not only survived a heart attack, but made myself better for it. At the beginning of this blog, I could barely walk a mile without losing my breath. At the end, I could run 3 miles without thinking of it as a hard workout. I went from 170 pounds to 145. I no longer have high cholesterol.


I also learned how hard it is to reflect on your life every day. There are days that, upon reflection, really don't warrant spending the time to write about them. There are days that you can't wait to get to the computer and start writing. And, there are days that you just wish you could forget.


Through it all though, I have really had a good time writing for you. I can only hope that you enjoyed reading about me and my recovery.


While my recovery is not over (far from it), the life of this blog is. I called it TheThankYouYear for a reason. I really don't have much of interest to write about, and I don't have much opportunity to tell my story anymore....pretty much everyone has heard it.


SO, with nothing much to say, no words of wisdom to impart, it is time to say good bye, and thank you for being a part of my year-long show my appreciation to everyone who helped save my life, who helped Ashley get through those early days, who has been there for us since November 22, 2015.


So, one final time....THANK YOU.


That's all, except for.........




Good night & God bless.

Travels are complete, gifts are wrapped  (finally) and children are nestled all snug on the floor....

Okay, so it is not the traditional version of that poem, but you get the idea.

Sorry I have not posted in quite some time, but that is sort of a reflection of what has been going on lately; not much of note.

This will be my 2nd Christmas since the heart attack, and the first "normal" one. Last year, Ashley was afraid to let me stand for the mass, this year I could have run 3 miles during mass (maybe 5....it was a long service).

SO much has changed in the 365 days since we last celebrated the birth of Jesus, some good some not so much. But, in all not the worst year I could have had.

I've recently started making a more concerted effort to talk to my mom every few days. I think that is the best t h ing that has happened to me in the last little while.

She is a wonderful woman, a good mom and someone who, when the dementia is not taking over, is full of more love and caring that most. Yha5God for giving me this extra time on earth to remember that.

Well, time for my not-so-long winters nap.

Merry Christmas, ano, as always.....

Good night, and God bless.

Wow...I just got a really interesting Facebook post.




Anyone want to guess what it is? GO, ahead, y'all are pretty smart guess. I'll wait...




<<Jeopardy Theme>>






No, really, guess...


<<pregnant pause>>






Oh, alright, I'll tell you, but you are gonna kick yourselves for not guessing.


Today is the one year anniversary of this blog!
It has been one year since my first post went public.




I have been writing to you for exactly 1 year & I want to thank you all who are still with me for the privilege. It has truly been an honor to share my story with you all.


While I have not been as faithful as I had hoped in writing every night, I have tried to give you all a full understanding of the emotions and the rollercoaster ride that is the recovery from a heart attack.


It truly has been a wild ride a rollercoaster of emotions, weight gain & loss, and physical "confidence". There have been days I have felt like I could run a marathon and days I wondered if I was going to live to see the sun.


Even my readership has taken the ride, I have been as high as 100+ readers and as low as 5 on certain days.


There are only about 2 weeks left in the life of this little exercise. I hope that somewhere in between now and 12/31, I can come up with something interesting to say and give someone an inspiration to get better, go higher, be happier.


Talk to you all tomorrow.


Good night & God bless.

So....
....what does anyone want to talk about?


I'll be honest, I am starting to run out of things to talk about.
Things are pretty much becoming, well, plain...normal....ordinary.




My day is starting with getting kids ready for school, moving into working and trying to fit everything in, and ending with wondering how I will handle it all tomorrow.


Dare I say that, unless something bad happens, the condition of my heart doesn't figure into the day.




I wish I had some great philosophical comment to make, or some great teaching experiment. But...I do not.


Maybe that is the great philosophical comment...
After almost a year, I am finally starting to "move past" my heart attack.....


Let's hope that I can continue that process well after the end of this blog is just over 2 weeks.


Good night & God bless.

Wow gang, I am slipping....I am sorry.
You know how the holiday season can be though.


Today was a tough day. Just "one of those days" that seemed to start okay but quickly went downhill.


It ended with me causing a bunch of trouble getting my oldest to his Boy Scout event.
His Troop was performing at an Assisted Living facility & I was supposed to meet him at home to take him.

Long story short (the details of the mess up are not relevant), He got to the event, but I was RUNNING to make sure I caught the performance.


Two things ran through m head as I was entering the building.
1. Geez I PRAY that I am not late.
2. This is WAY too stressful for me right now.


For the first time tonight, there was no feeling of, "well at least I was HERE to mess things up."
Nope....pure and simple, all I could think about was not being that dad; the one who JUST misses his son performing. The one whose work "gets in the way".


At just over a year out, the heart attack became a non-issue.


Is that good, or bad?
I don't know. I am not sure. All I know is, I felt like CRAP knowing that I almost messed up my son's night.....and that is all that mattered.


It was just for that brief second as I was at my highest point of worry that my son was looking for me only to not be able to see me, that I worried about my heart; that I was thinking that it was enough to "just be alive for this."


I guess that means things are getting back to "normal"....whatever that means.


Good night & God bless.

It is 10:30.
I am sitting in front of a slowly smoldering fire.
My kids are snuggled in front of the fire.


It is 10:30.
I am happy.


Today was an interesting day at rehab; it was the holiday party.
THIS is the table of goodies we had available to us for the party:

You will notice that there is a whole lot of good food. You will notice there is NOT a whole lot "good FOR you" food.


Well, I did my best to be "good." While I did have 1 or 2 things not good for me, I mostly ate fresh veggies and fruit. If fact, if you see a fruit tray in the picture, it is the one I brought.


I was very glad to see what was on that table. What I saw was not all good, nutritious food....
....and the rehab staff was OKAY with it being there. Knowing that will help me feel better about myself if I ever "fall off the wagon." It is nice to know that even the cardiac rehab staff admits it is okay to splurge every-once-in-a-while.


THANK GOD!


That is about it for tonight; I am in a good place...and...I found out that those days when I felt terrible for eating some goodies, I didn't need to be TOO hard on myself. It happens; sometimes even WITH approval from the medical staff.


So, if you are out there reading...don't let a single day of "breaking the rules" get you down.




Good night & God bless.

I walked into the rehab facility today & my weight lifting machine was gone.


Well, CRAP!
Can't believe it, but they took away my weight lifting equipment!


What are they thinking?!?!? That was there for ME...MEMEMEMEME!!!!!!




What?




Wait, really?




Oh, okay then...




Whew! As it turns out they are REPLACING the weight lifting equipment; MY weight lifting equipment (isn't it nice of me to allow the rest of the hospital patients to use my equipment?).


Next week there is supposed to be some shiny new stuff sitting where the old stuff was. I hope so for their sake, or there will be QUITE the tantrum.


Till then, I'll need to make due with some dumbbells, or make a special trip to the YMCA each day.


I can't wait to see the new stuf. Of course, the only bad part is....
....I didn't even get to say good-bye to the old stuff.


"Good bye old friend."


Have a great night y'all.


Good night & God bless.

Well, well, well, I bet you all thought I had given up a few weeks short of finishing the year didn't you?


Well, after a weekend and a couple of nights of children demanding that I lay with them, I finally have a chance to get back to TheThankYouYear.


I needed to look back at some of my older posts and it brought back some memories. Some are pretty cool, and some are pretty scary.


In looking back, I noticed that I am coming up on another 1 year anniversary. Can you remember what it is? It will be on December 16/17. It is sort of a two part celebration.


Anyone that wants to guess, send me a message.


Today wasn't anything special, but yesterday was cool because I did some resistance training for the first time in WEEKS. I had to cut back some of the weight, but that is a pretty normal occurrence when you skip lifting days.


What was cool, was that I had no concern for my cardiac health. I cut back on the weight because I didn't want to damage any of the muscles I was using to lift the weights. But...my heart never really entered the conversation.


I was really happy when I realized that fact.
I am really happy with where I have been able to bring my physical health over this last year.


Thanks for coming along on this ride with me.


Good night & God bless.

Today has been a pretty regular day. Worked out at rehab, worked and then got to hang with my kids.
The nice part about today is I set my treadmill at 6 MPH for the whole 30 minutes.


What is nice about that workout is that I set the treadmill at 6 MPH because I wanted to take it easy today. I have been pushing and pushing to keep doing better each week and today, I just needed a bit of a break.


SO, with a treadmill set at 6 MPH for 30 minutes, that means I ran....


...let's see....


...6x30.....


....carry the two.....


....YES! You got it, that means I did 3 miles (okay a LITTLE less since I warmed up the first couple of minutes) in 30 minutes and considered it a "break day".


That makes me feel really good. It makes all the work seem like it did something.
I still feel a little afraid that I am not really working hard enough, and that I should be even FURTHER along. But, I guess when it is all said and done, the fact that I can run 3 miles and call it taking a break, I shouldn't feel too bad.


I hope I am giving you all something worth reading still.
Remember, this blog has about 5 weeks left before I shut it down. If you want to read about anything particular, drop me a comment here & I'll do my best to fulfill your request.


Good night & God bless.