I had a great phone call to Lorena last night.  Roberto was her nurse, and he impresses me more each time I talk with him.  Lorena is blessed to have him as a nurse.  Even though Lorena was in therapy, we were allowed to talk, and it was wonderful.  I can’t disclose much of what we discussed yet, but that time will come.   Stephanie was not at home at the time, so I did not have an opportunity to communicate with her, but I will call again on Thursday night.  Suffice it to say that Lorena is sounding great.

This morning at school, I found the following email awaiting me:

hi Jaclyn i hope this is your email.

I was pleased to meet you the other day. I expect you are truly had like the New York.

So much so much happening all the time, lots of great opportunities.

And speaking of opportunities, the deal I was speaking you about other day included a company known as Tex-Homa (TXHE).

It’s already heading up, but the big press release isn’t even out yet, so there’s still time. I have got this shares already and made 2000. I propose you to do the same today.

Hope this helps you out. I’ll see you this weekend.

Yours Jaclyn Jamison

First off, I am amazed that Jaclyn knows another Jaclyn.  I am especially amazed at this because I know many people, but I don’t know ANY Jaclyn (and I certainly didn’t meet one the other day.) 

I am also amazed that Jaclyn might think that Jaclyn’s email would somehow reach her at michael.thomas@endoftheworld.com.

While it is true that I “are truly had like the New York”, the fact is that I have only had opportunity to “had like the New York” from the times I have been impounded on aircraft on various New York tarmacs either immediately before or after I ”truly had like” the long flight over the Big Water to or from the Europe.  In short, ironically, I have never set foot in New York although I have been there many times. 

(The irony is actually much deeper than that.  I was born and reared in the U.S., but I have been to many more European and Mexican cities than I have been to U.S. cities, and I can tell you about many more beaches there than I can describe in the U.S.  I have skied the Alps, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Dolomites, the Harz, the Krkonose, the High Tatras, and the Taunus in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Andorra, Spain, Austria, and Czechoslovakia — but I have NEVER skied in the U.S.  I have never wandered around most major American cities, but I have had incredible adventures in most of the major European cities, including doing some really stupid things.  On one of our trips through Southern Europe, Lorena and I, driving a car with U.S. plates, got lost in Marseilles and ended up in a Muslim area of the city where I could have sworn we were no longer in Europe at all — and were obviously unwelcome.  We learned later that gendarmes themselves avoid that sector of the city.  That was in 1986, quite awhile before 9/11 and the French riots, but it was alarming and eye-opening.) 

I am glad that Jaclyn got the shares and made the 2000.  I wonder if that is in some form of currency, or if she has just learned to write numerals — because she obviously has just learned basic English.  Actually, it would make a little bit of a difference to me if that were 2000 USD or rupees or baht or lira or clams…

Anyway, I am deeply indebted to Jaclyn, and I must go now because I must sell everything I have and borrow as much as I can in order to invest heavily in Tex-Homa.  (Stephanie, Darling, I am sorry, but I have worked out a deal to sell you to a pharmaceutical company for medical experiments…)  The rest of you are welcome to act on this most fortunate and timely tip that I am willing to share with you… 

When I have gotten rich, I hope to send some money to Jaclyn for English lessons…

Oh, yes, and, Jaclyn, this weekend we are having dinner with Grace and Bill Schouten.  Sorry I won’t be able to meet you…

Stephanie, I will call about 8:00 p.m. your time Thursday to talk to you and to work out the details of your sale to the pharmaceutical company…

It has been a wild and frantic week since I have been on here.  I am working as many hours as I can outside of school trying to earn some more money to help with Lorena and her expenses.  FUN!!!!  Several of you have offered to help some with our expenses, and you have touched me deeply.  I look at her bills as being my responsibility, and it bothers me that her Mexican family has picked up the tab to their detriment even as I have been remiss in my duties.  I have been thinking it over, and I will let you know soon what I decide.  Thank you so much, though, for thinking of us.

I mentioned being late for school on the last post because the electricity had been off and my clock time was mis-reset.  That night I reset EVERYTHING and checked it about three times to be sure there would be no repeat of frantic dressing in the car on the way to school.  (I wasn’t sure how that would play in the local paper if I were stopped for some traffic violation and discovered to be half-dressed…)  Finally, satisfied, I went to bed, confident in the alarm clock.  Tuesday morning I awoke before the alarm went off, feeling relaxed and refreshed — to discover that I was supposed to be at school about fifteen minutes before I had so leisurely awakened.  PANIC TIME!!!  It was dèjá vu all over again!!!  I relived Monday madness, only ten times worse, as I dressed on the way to school.  When I got home, I discovered that I had set the alarm for the correct morning time — in the evening mode.  Wonderful!!!

I have to go teach some homebound students.  There are many things going on in our lives right now, but I cannot discuss many of them on here.  Just pray for us all, please.

******************************

I am so sorry, Duane.  I just discovered that I had this posted private — after I had told you I had posted yesterday!!!  Mea culpa!  Mea culpa!  Mea culpa!

Mimi, the address there in Tepic is

Lorena Thomas de Aguilar
Mazatlán 159 Sur
Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico 63000

Little Kim exploded a nuclear device last night.  I, on the other hand, tried to call Mexico but only got the recording that all the international circuits were busy and that the call could not be completed.  Obviously Kimmie is successful, and I am not.  Hopefully, I will get through to Lorena tonight, and she will tell me HERSELF that she can talk again and that she can walk — and my explosion will make Kimmie’s seem like a pebble dropping.  The North Korean test registered on our seismographs — but my glee would absolutely destroy the seismographs. 

I would give anything to hear — and to see — Lorena declare victory!!!  Our victory celebration would make the euphoria in North Korea seem like nothing…

Stephanie, I tried to call again tonight.  I will try again in a few minutes, and then I have to go to bed.  If I don’t reach you tonight, I will call at 8:00 your time tomorrow.

Yesterday, I had to turn off the electricity in the house when a heating coil on the stove decided to impersonate a fireworks display.  Therefore, when I went to bed last night, I had to reset the clock and my alarm.  This morning, I did not have to be at school until 8:00, so I decided to sleep in a bit, setting my alarm for 7:15.  All went well until my alarm went off (at 7:15 of course, rousing me from a sound sleep).  I lay there for a moment savoring the comfort of the bed and procrastinating getting up — until the radio announcer said, “The time is now 7:46 a.m.”  Panic time!!!  I freaked out — and made it to school by 8:00 although I had to do some of my dressing in the car…

I was able to get through to Tepic again last night.  Lorena was in therapy, but Stephi and I had a wonderful talk.  I love my girls so much.  We were on the phone for over an hour, but we just could not end the conversation.

Things are going well there.  She is really enjoying school even though she says it is boring.  She is certainly learning more Spanish and Mexican Culture.

Lorena is doing well.  Roberto was the nurse last night — and he is FANTASTIC!  He is so good to and for Lorena.

Rainey and I got to watch Lya’s team win a volleyball tournament today, and that was wonderful.  That little stinker has talent.

I was finally able to go back and get some explanations on Stephi’s posting (from Mexico) yesterday.  It might give you some smiles if you haven’t read it.

Take care.  We love you all.  Lorena’s miracle continues…

YOU KNOW YOUR A MEXICAN IF… [Stephi posted this in Mexico, so I will explain a bit.  The italics will all be mine.  MT]

-You have ever been hit by a chancla.  [A chancla (CHAHNK-la)is an old huarache (or worn out sandal.)]
-You can play any sport wearing your chanclas.
-You grew up scared by something called “El Cucuy.”   [El Cucuy is the Boogie Man.]
-Others tell you to stop screaming when you are really just talking,
-You use your lips to point something out.  [This is especially true for the ladies.  They will purse their lips toward the intended target for several reasons, the primary ones being that "pointing" that way is unobtrusive and that they can point that way without being rude -- because pointing with the finger at someone is consider to be VERY rude.]
-You constantly refer to cereal as “con fleis”.  [Pronounced KOHN-flace = "corn flakes".  Folks who do this tend to be considered to be bumpkins.]
-Your mother yells at the top of her lungs to call you to dinner even if it’s a one bedroom apartment.
-You can dance ranchera, cumbia or salsa without music   [These are all types of music.]
-You call your sneakers “tenis”.  [TAY-neece = tennis, as in tennis shoes.]
-You have at least thirty cousins.  [Stephi has 32 just on the Mexican side of the family.]
-You can’t imagine anyone not liking spicy food.
-You are in a 5-passenger car with 8 people in it and a person shouting, “Subanse, todavia caben mas!”   [Get on in!  There is more room.]
-Tamales, champurrado*, posole** and menudo*** are must haves on Thanksgiving.  [ They left out "atole", a sweetened, flavored corn meal drink.]
-There is more Tequila than punch at little Juanito’s birthday party.
-There is at least one member in your family named Maria, Guadalupe, Juan, Jose, or Jesus.
-You call Quik “Choco Mil”  [A brand name borrowing "Chocolate Milk."  My favorite Mexican brand is a meat company called FUD, and pronounced FOOD.]
-You have a drunk uncle/aunt.  [Stephi doesn't have either of these.]
-You know who Don Francisco from Sabado Gigante is.   [Sabado Gigante (Gigantic Saturday) is a popular TV show, and Don Francisco is the host.]
-You have ever been told not to walk the floor barefoot or you’ll catch a cold.  [Boy, have we heard this one!!!  And you can't drink anything cold if you are feeling bad.  You can't sleep under a fan or sleep with the windows open or you will die of pneumonia.  And another two dozen cants that will give you a cold.]
-You go to a wedding or Quinceñiera, gossip about how bad the comida [food] is, but be the first to take a plato to go.
-You have a bottle of Tapatio at work. [Tapatio is a hot sauce.]
-Your have a relative in jail, and one of your cousins is a hoochie.  [We will just call her a paid entertainer; again Stephi strikes out here, so I guess she isn't a real Mexican...]
-You have a chola in your barrio named “La Flaca” who’s bigger than a house.  [Chola=pretty girl; barrio - neighborhood, La Flaca= Skinny Girl]
-You know a chola named “La Shy Girl” who is loud and obnoxious.
-You need to point out how much something you just bought cost.
-You have a bottle of Bacardi or Tequila in your house right now.
-You’re laughing because some of these things have actually happened to YOU!!!



These made me think of Mom and growing up…so true. especially the first one…ouch!

*Mexican Champurrado (champurrada) A special hot chocolate thickened with masa (corn meal) and flavored with piloncillo and aniseeds. Also referred to as Atole de Chocolate)

**posole or pozole [Poh-SOH-lay] is a rich Mexican stew made of dried corn (slaked with lime then the hulls removed) then simmered with pork, chilis, garlic and Mexican oregano. It is a Mexican Christmastime tradition and a meal great for any special gathering of family and friends.

***Menudo (tripe soup) with Pigs Feet.  We eat it with chopped cilantro, chopped onions, and fresh peppermint leaves in it — along with plenty of lime juice.  And, yes, that does make it a peppermint-lime flavored gut soup — and I love it.

P.S. Dad: I need you to call ASAP I know that you check this thing more than call, so I know you will read this. Just call.

Steph

Michael here.  I called Lorena last night.  Stephi wasn’t there, but Lorena’s nurse Roberto (bless his heart) was there, and he is great!!!  I had a wonderful chat with Lorena reminiscing about several of you and about life in Germany.  We had some really great laughs, and it felt so good.

Roberto said there was nothing new to report.  Lorena’s therapy regimen is continuing, and she is in great spirits.  I will try again tonight to reach Steph, and hopefully I will get to have some more belly laughs with Lorena. 

Thanks for your comments.  They mean a lot to us.

Today, a new acquaintance contacted me after reading Lorena’s blog and asked me what had happened to Lorena.  I know that I have explained the situation in the profile, etc., but I thought I would lay it out again for anyone new who might be joining us.  The following is an excerpt from that email.  [I was giggling at a mistake in the email I received…

I can throw stones because I NEVER make mistakes!!!  Lorena, my wife, is a naturalized Mexican American, and I was sometimes known to tease her.  One day we were with some friends who were reluctant to speak Spanish to her because they were afraid of making an error.  She was telling them just to try when I (obviously facetiously) made the statement that, “Lorena NEVER makes a mistake in English!”  She just smiled sweetly and turned to me, saying, “Oh, I do, too.  I said I would marry YOU, didn’t I?” – and put me resoundingly in my place.)

Lorena had a massive brainstem stroke almost three years ago.  She was Locked-In (you can Google it), and doctors here in the States gave her no hope for improvement.  In fact, after she was stabilized, she was stuck in a nursing home with an open tracheotomy, a stomach feeding tube, massive lung infections, (all of which we were told she would ALWAYS have) — and no therapy.  She declined quickly and would have very rapidly died except that we flew her to Mexico where she has made PHENOMENAL improvement.

Her tracheotomy is now closed.  Her stomach feeding tube has been removed, and she has been eating orally now for over two years.  She receives massive amounts of therapy, and they are now working on getting her back onto her feet.  She resumed talking briefly, but that has regressed, and she now communicates by laboriously spelling on a spelling board (in Spanish, English, and German). She still appears to be completely quadriplegic, but she actually has regained much movement.  The down side to this is that we get no financial help from anyone, and I am DEEP in debt.   

At the time of her stroke, our daughters were aged 16, 14, and 11.  They are now 19, 17, and 13.  Stephi is the 17-year-old who had gone to Tepic to be with Mom.  Lorena is now 46.  Her miracle continues, and it makes my heart sing to hear her laugh – which she does often and loudly!!!

We welcome your prayers!!!  Her miracle continues, and she has set a goal of two more years of therapy before she is back.  I certainly pray that that is the case.  Lorena is an incredibly determined, driven, and intelligent woman, and I have faith that she will accomplish her goal.

Lorena married me and moved to Germany.  There she studied German (and vehemently defended the US from attacks levied by anti-American classmates.)  Rainey was born there in Germany in 1987, and we returned to Texas where Lorena earned BS degrees in Spanish and Marketing.  She had just finished her MBA in International Marketing when she had the stroke.  (And, no, she had no health problems and no prior history.)

She is cared for in Mexico by members of her family, but both her mother and her father have died while she has been there.  That hurts me deeply, and I know it hurts her because she was unable to communicate with them, help care for them, hold them and tell them how much she loved them, or interact with them in any way before they died.  But she is tough.  And she will be back.  I live for that day…

O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
O they tell me of a home far away;
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

Refrain

O the land of cloudless day,
O the land of an unclouded day,
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

Michael here in Stephenville — taking a break from grading for awhile to post this.  (So much for a teacher’s 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. job.)  I will be calling Mexico again tonight (assuming I get home in time to do that.)  I only wish that I were joking.

Anyway, all is well except that it is HOT and DRY.  They don’t have to tell me of the land of the unclouded day.  I live here — praying daily for storm clouds.  We had hoped when we last received rain that those showers were the first of many and that the drought would break.  Instead, the showers were just that — small, temporary showers — and it is the farmers and ranchers who are broke.  As is my spirit.  You other folks might like dry martinis and dry wines, but here even our water is dry.  (In case you don’t know it, we get our dry water from dry wells and dry lakes.)  [Please forgive my dry wit...]

I often think of this old hymn and how our backgrounds and experiences shape us and our views both of the future and of what eternal bliss should rightly be.  Desert dwellers worship rain because their (our) very existence depends upon it..  (What else would drive an otherwise sane person to hold a live rattlesnake in his mouth while dancing, but, again, that is another blog…)  We pray for the clouded day, literally.  We pray for showers because any shower would be a blessing…

There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.

Refrain

Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.

Of course, our prayers here in Central Texas are for literal clouds and showers, for far too many of us live lives clouded by figurative clouds more fearsome than those of the most violent and destructive storm.  Dying in a storm holds no terror for me.  In fact, I would drive Lorena to distraction because, while she was running frantic circles seeking safety during tornado watches, I would be out in the yard or even up on the roof watching for a tornado.  (I would tease her that that was why tornado watches were called tornado watches.  She would not be amused.)

I have felt the sick horror of those figurative clouds of stroke and violent death that no cellar or basement can protect against.  Even as a believer, I have prayed for the mountains to fall on me to relieve the psychic agony of watching a loved one suffer.  So it is that my soul hurts today for the families of butchered children because they are beset by the most horrendous of figurative clouds and by agony far beyond that of any physical suffering.  I pray for rain here, but I pray for unclouded days for them — that will still, somehow, in God’s mysterious ways, shower them with blessings.

I become almost physically ill thinking of what they are going through.  It is beyond comprehension to think of the ordeal of those families with dead children, but their lot is easier, if I may seem crass enough to say so, than the situation is for those who are existing in anxious limbo in the Purgatory of  ICU waiting rooms, waiting, interminably, for any word, moment by endless, agonizing moment, before they can even begin to think of contemplating the future and whether it holds a funeral — or recovery — or years of rehabilitation — or a lifetime of institutionalization.  May God have mercy on them.  And us.  For we are all victims of this atrocity.

I know that someday we are to understand.  I have faith that I will.  But I also know it will certainly not be with this physical mind I now possess because this mind will never be able to understand…

Last night, I had another wonderful phone call to Mexico.  Both Lorena and Stephanie were available, and I got to talk to both of them — even though they were supposed to be eating dinner before Lorena’s speech therapy.  I say that I got to talk TO Lorena, but that was all.  She did not spell anything out last night for me.  They are both doing well, and I am so thankful for that.  Steph says that things are going better there for her, and she sounded much happier.

Tepic is having incredible rainstorms.  They have had a very active hurricane season, and massive rains are the result of that.  Stephi loves the rains, but the high humidity the next morning (with temperatures sometimes in the 80′s) just about does her in.

I feel sick at heart today, and big macho me could very easily be a big cry baby today.  I left the house to come to work to the accompaniment of a CareFlite helicopter (playing a part in a drama that I do not yet know.)  That sound curdles my blood and depresses me severely.  I have hurt all weekend thinking of the victims of the school shootings last week, both those actually shot and their families, friends, and classmates and colleagues.

Then, today, I saw the story of the Amish school shooting.  That almost pushed me completely over the edge.  And the person responsible for butchering little girls and maiming others for life was a father???  If a person is so tormented that he must take his own life, why must he destroy the innocent around him?  Evil lives and walks among us.

The last report I saw reported that four people were killed.  That is an egregious lie.  Perhaps only four death certificates must be filed, but many people died today, some just as completely and surely — and brutally — as if they themselves had been executed.  My only consolation comes in my belief that one day God WILL damn evil and banish it forever. 

Furthermore, this horror makes me ask once again how anyone who does not believe in an afterlife can even contemplate existence.  Yes, this world is beautiful and life is normally fantastic — but one senseless act of brutality such as these can destroy a lifetime of awe-inspiring sunrises and sunsets and memories of good times.  Thank God there will be another chapter in which all endings will be happy…

Michael here in Stephenville.  Last night, I was ecstatic to enjoy the best phone call I have had with Lorena and Stephanie in months if not years.  Both of them were in excellent spirits, and we had some wonderful laughs and a comforting, soul-soothing conversation.  Several of you were mentioned by name:  Duane and Nony, Jerome and Ruth,  Barbara and Bill, Kay and Bill, Grace and Bill, Sherry Lowery, Alice and Sheila, and more that I do not immediately recall.  (Listing all these Bills reminds me that I must pay some this evening… *smile*)

Stephanie and Lorena have decided that Stephanie will return to Stephenville to finish out the school year.  They have not decided exactly when that will be, but Lorena is to make that decision next week.  She will either return in late October or with us at the end of the Christmas break.  I view this development with very mixed emotions because I know it has been great for Lorena and Stephanie in many ways, but I also know it has been difficult for Stephi — and that I miss her badly.  Anyway, I will let you know what develops.

Dena tried to talk me into going to the Stephenville game tonight, but I think I dissuaded her.  Stephenville is rated 3rd in the state in class 4A football, and Aledo is rated 7th in the state, so tonight’s will be an incredible game.  However, the last I heard, about 15,000 were expected to attend the game, and I understand that TSU stadium only seats about 6,000, so I am sure it will be standing room only — even down around the field.  I am sure that great courage, tenacity, perseverance, and overcoming incredible obstacles will be the order of the day on the ball field.  However, I suspect that even more courage, tenacity, perseverance, and overcoming incredible obstacles will be required to get to and from the bathrooms.  Call me a heartless traitor, but I think I might need to go home tonight and check my eyelids for cracks.

Gina, do you know where any pictures of the longhorns are?  If I had some, I would post them on here.  I have had some good giggles thanks to some of the phone calls and emails I have received.  Those were good days, and it was good to remember them.

Carpe diem!