May 2026

Dear Family and Friends,

The first weekend of April was occupied by the Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in Salt Lake City, Utah but broadcast all over the world, and coincided this year  with the celebration of Easter honoring the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  So it was a busy but very spiritual time for all members of the church as we were also able to participate in a Solemn Assembly, expressing by specific groupings our acceptance and support of Dallin H. Oaks as the Lord’s chosen prophet, seer, and revelator and president of the church today, along with his two counselors, after the recent passing of Russell M. Nelson.  And also by the same procedure sustain Gerald Causse and Clark Gilbert to fill the two seats recently made available by deaths in the quorum of the  twelve apostles, and to accept the twelve apostles as having the same priesthood power and authority as the prophet.  And Jesus Christ continues to operate his restored church through his current prophet and twelve apostles the same as he did in ancient times.  We receive spiritual guidance from these and other inspired speakers.  We also feel uplifted by the beautiful music and singing voices of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in Salt Lake City during the two day session of the general conference every six months.  Dan was able to set up my TV to bring in the conference channel and was kind enough to stay and watch with me the morning and afternoon sessions of both Saturday and Sunday.  We always come away enriched by what we have seen and heard and are determined to do better and to be better.  But as wonderful and uplifting as this conference was, we can always be reassured that the one six months from now will be just as great, if not even more enlightening than the previous one.  It seems to always be so..

As a little side note, my daughter Linda said that her birthday on April 5th coincided this year with both Easter and conference, something that hasn’t happened before.  The old saying that April showers bring May flowers is certainly true here because almost every evening or night we get a bit of rain that is causing things to sprout and grow beautifully.  That of course doesn’t apply to the kind of cactus plant I just acquired from the folks at NuHope which doesn’t require much water at all.  

I still enjoy meeting with them every Monday and Wednesday from 8:30 to 12:00.  But the second Monday of April was different from others because I got injured there that day.  Each morning in preparation for our exercise class the tables are moved against the walls to give space for the chairs to be assembled in the center of the room and facing toward the TV screen.  NuHope chairs are not folding ones but fairly heavy straight-backed chairs with armrests.  It just so happened that as I was maneuvering my wheelchair into place, someone came from behind pushing a chair so fast, so hard, and so close along the left side of me that it caught my hand in between and tore the skin from a one inch section of the back of that hand and started it bleeding profusely.  I gave a little yelp, but neither I, nor the rambunctious chair pusher, nor anyone else paid any attention to what had occurred.  But when it started to bleed I quickly grabbed some napkins from a table and began holding them firmly against the wound while heading for the bathroom to take care of it.  That is when Rob, the manager, and Kim, his assistant, saw me and my bloody hand and took over from there.  Kim pressed several layers of cloth into place to help absorb the heavy bleeding and by using a gauze bandage did a good job of covering it well.  So I just continued on with the events of the day, with no one the wiser until Cathy came to pick me up.

It wasn’t until later that evening when it continued to bleed that I decided we had better get it checked out at the ER.  We probably should have done that as soon as I was picked up from NuHope, but we thought things would be okay soon, so we put it off.  At the emergency room we expected to have a long wait but were surprised when we were taken care of right away. A very compassionate Dr. Fields was on ER duty that evening and was able to repair the torn skin that had been pushed forward.  Because my skin is so thin now he decided not to use stitches but tiny strips of adhesive material to hold the skin in place as it heals.  The wound was then professionally wrapped with gauze using the thumb as an anchor to help hold it in place.  I was told to keep it clean, covered, and dry for the next 48 hours and not to bother the strips as they would come off by themselves when ready.  And so there I was…. with my left hand being held up high so as not to get it wet, while my right hand did all the washing - me, the dishes, and everything else.  Some fun!  Huh?  The worst part however, was later, in changing the bandages and pulling off those BandAids from my tender skin… Oooh, Ouch!   But now at the end of the month, all is better again.

All of this traumatic experience happened scarcely two days after Dan began his long-anticipated three week Amtrak train trip wherein he would traverse various parts of the United States that he had never seen before.  Dan loves his train trips for many reasons, but the main one I believe is the peaceful serenity it offers and the ability to leisurely view new areas.  Of course airplanes are great for getting you to places quickly, but if you have the time then why not take the train?  Dan has a very nice car that has thousands of miles to its credit but there are always the ‘worries of the road’ that interfere with your peaceful enjoyment of a car ride.  Dan happens to have a modern-day Chevy, but I recall way back when singing ads were popular on the radio, the one that said “See the USA in your Chevrolet”  But not this boy, he prefers the train.  And he figures he deserves this 3 weeks by himself, since Cathy recently spent 3 weeks by herself in Utah tending to her daughter and four little grandchildren.  Though not as peaceful, I’m sure. 

In all fairness I should say that I am also a train lover.  The only train I had ever ridden was the one from the US border to Mexico City at the start of my mission in 1950.  Then in May of 2018 (it was Mother’s Day before the amputation) Dan invited me to accompany him on a week-long train trip that would take us along the outer portions of our amazing United States.  I was thrilled!  I don’t know what Dan does by himself, but with me along we had a nice roomette that became a bed at nighttime.  Another was dropped from above and Dan very politely chose to occupy the upper bunk.  I was lulled to sleep by the continual rocking back and forth of the car and the far-away sound of the whistle occasionally.  We spent most of our time in the lounge car that had extra large windows and soft seats for viewing the passing scenery.  A truly restful and peaceful place.  It also had small tables where we could play games if we chose to.  In the dining car we were purposely placed at a table for four where conversation with others was sort of expected.  We certainly did meet some very interesting people that way.  In the regular passenger car we were next to an Amish family dressed in their recognizable clothing.  They kinda kept  to themselves, but  when I offered my Mother’s Day puzzle to the father of the group he readily accepted it and smiled.  

We ate delicious food in the dining car, but getting to and from the various cars was sometimes a bit tricky because they were openly attached to one another and due to the continual movement of the train had to be stepped on accurately and quickly in order to make it across to the next car.   I was a little timid at first but soon got the hang of it.  There was one place on the train, however, that I never did get the hang of.  It was the shower, which was very small and cramped.  Upon entering I found no place for anything to be put other than on the single towel hook.  It had a handheld sprayer that required the continual use of my right hand, while the left one was needed to brace myself so I wouldn’t fall because of the moving and sometimes jerking of the car.  So now, how was I going to use the soap?  I needed a third hand, didn’t I?  I tried letting go with the left hand but was then unable to balance, so tried turning off the water and using that hand for soaping up but got soap in my eye and couldn’t see. So, since I was unable to figure out how to get a soapy shower ‘safely,’ I just said “Oh, phooey!” and left after getting a very poor shower that day.   But that certainly didn’t keep me from enjoying that marvelous train trip provided by my generous, thoughtful son.  Now that I am minus a leg I won’t be able to ‘ride the rail’ again.  But I can still join Dan in saying “I too am a train lover!” 

I would like to close this letter on that happy note, but something else also happened to me in April that I figure I should tell you about.  I became angry for the first time in my entire 98 years of living.  And I certainly didn’t like the way it made me feel.  I’m usually a very pleasant, happy-go-lucky person, but Satan got hold of me over a certain incident and made my life miserable until I was able to see how it was hurting me but not affecting the other person at all.  I’m just thankful I didn’t let those awful feelings of anger boil over onto others… only myself.  I credit Cathy with not letting me do what at the time I thought was my right to do, but just to be patient and not get too worked up over the situation, because she could tell how badly it was affecting me, unnecessarily.  When I explain what it was, you will think as Cathy did, that I was foolish to let it affect me the way that it did. I have worn a pair of dentures for over sixty years with very little attention given to them.  Naturally in growing older, my mouth has done a little changing allowing the dentures to become a bit loose-fitting, but with some adhesive applied are still quite manageable.  In coming to Florida and signing with Humana as my new insurance company along with Medicare, it was suggested that I should see about getting some help with several different things.  I was able to get new glasses and new hearing aids that seem to be working just fine for me, so we decided to get new dentures too, and went to the dentistry that Cathy uses called Smile Design.  I’m not sure what the total cost was but when I signed with them I was required to pay immediately $1,000.00.  So I wrote a check for that amount that very day (Jan. 21, 2026).  I had several visits which included the final mold casting using a dummy pair of teeth to get the proper alignment for the final set of teeth.   The molding material was some awful stuff that was left scattered around the inside and outside of my mouth for several minutes after the teeth were removed, which I didn’t care for, but finally had to ask if someone would please come and clean the stuff off of me.  It was done rather haphazardly, I thought, because I still had a few bits and pieces after being wiped with a paper towel.  I also thought that they probably didn’t get a perfect mold because several fingers were in my mouth as they were telling me to press down a certain way so they could get a proper fit. 

The upper teeth seemed to fit fairly well but the bottom teeth were a problem.  They couldn’t seem to get me to move them so the front teeth of the bottom matched exactly with the front teeth of the upper.  My jaw did move a lot, until they told me to “quit fooling around” so they could match them up for me.  When the front teeth were in alignment then the back ones would be too, they said.  A picture was evidently taken at that time and was shown to me later when I complained that the teeth didn’t match, because I was unable to bite nor to chew with them in my mouth.  Their only reply was to say “They do match, see, but it will take a little time to get used to them.”   They even gave me a hand-mirror and said to use that to visibly match up both front teeth and the rest would be in line.  Well, even if everything did seem to match up they sure didn’t do the job teeth are expected to do  And because no one would believe me no matter how many times I told them it was impossible for me to enjoy a meal any longer because I was unable to bite or chew my food and my mouth was getting sore spots from trying to ‘get used to them,’  I was getting more and more upset and actually angry with them for not listening nor doing anything about it.  It was more than mere frustration, it was actual anger where I wanted to do something to hurt those people for continuing to hurt me.  

When my blood was beginning to boil I offered them several options: 1- Do something to fix these present dentures. 2- Scrap these and start over to make new ones. 3- I give these back and you give me back my money. 4- You keep my money but work on improving my old dentures.   When they flatly refused to do  any of these sensible options, I calmly asked what they would agree to do in order to honor their Customer Satisfaction Guarantee?   When their only reply was to say again “You just need to get used to them” I was fit to be tied and about ready to threaten them with all sorts of things: I’d report them to the Better Business Bureau and ruin their reputation, get a lawyer and sue them for malpractice, and who knows what else, but caught myself and instead said “OK, I’ll give them another try” while trying not to let them see how torn up inside I was because of the angry feelings I was having.  I knew I had to get rid of them for my own well-being and to do as Jesus would do and love not only my neighbor but also my so-called enemy.  Dan will be home soon, so I’ll see what my priesthood-holding son has to say about all this that has been going on in his absence.   

In his absence Cathy has been good about getting me to all my appointments, dental and others, and making sure I’m up to date on medications, sanitary and other supplies, and reminding me of special activities.  Because I tend to forget those things she wrote on a large sheet of paper stuck to my wall with the times and activities for each day of the coming week.  But even so, would you believe, I completely missed out on the one for Saturday because I thought it was an open day and was still in bed when Cathy came to take me to the Relief Society’s birthday celebration at 10:00 that morning.  I was even chided on Sunday by a couple of the sisters for being a sleepy-head and said they missed me.  I had no idea I would be missed.  I’ll have to pay more attention to details and Cathy’s paper.  Cathy is so great in her calling as president of the Young Women in the ward and even picks up those who don’t have a way and might otherwise miss out.  She is also a regular dinner supplier for the four missionaries assigned to our ward, who may often bring others being taught by them.  She credits Dan with doing the cooking while she prefers to make the dessert.  In Dan’s absence and the addition of two new elders, but with a bonus card for one of the restaurants, Cathy decided to invite all to a night-out treat.  In typical fashion it also included a newly baptized young man who engaged the elders in quite a lively conversation.  With seven of us there to eat, we were seated at a large table in a rather secluded area which was nice and made us all very comfortable.

I marvel at how generous Cathy (and Dan too) are with their money and make me feel that I should be doing more with mine.  She is always using her money in buying things for my house, including groceries, but I was overwhelmed when I was ready to pay Lisa for the permanent I just had and was told the price was already taken care of by Cathy!  She did confess, however, that a little help with gas once in a while would be appreciated.  Of course it would.  I seem to take everything for granted and think that because they have money they don’t need mine, without remembering that everybody likes little surprises now and then.  So I am being schooled to be more kind and considerate of others and their occasional need of recognition for the kind things they do.  I try to always say ‘thank you’ but that’s not always enough, is it?

With the upcoming month of May the word search puzzles I have ready to share with everyone are those of Cinco de Mayo and Mothers Day plus a newly made one of Women in the Bible that I think most people will enjoy.  Yes, that is still my favorite pastime and it makes me happy just knowing that they seem to make others happy too.  Those at NuHope especially like them and are anxious to receive each one I bring to them.  When I shared Easter puzzles with those who attended the monthly Ladies Luncheon here, I was surprised to see a familiar face.  Mary, one of the lovely ladies I see frequently at NuHope was there and is evidently a resident here and thus a neighbor, and I was pleased to know that.

 

Well, I guess I have been rattling on long enough and better get this letter ready to mail out.  So I bid you farewell and pray the Lord will bless you and keep you healthy and strong so you can meet each day with a smile and a happy heart.   I love you all.    Marie