Versailles, Kentucky.
Today was a stay at home day – at Melissa and Jerry’s home, that is. Unfortunately, Jerry has been having some long standing problems, and he and Melissa went to the Emergency Room during the night, and Jerry was hospitalized at the University of Kentucky hospital in Lexington, for an infection. Happily, though, this is a good place for him right now. Melissa was with Jerry all day, and will be staying with him each day and overnight while he’s there, and when I went to visit later in the day Jerry was feeling comfortable, was pain free, and looked good. Look how good he looks in the photo below!
I mostly meandered about during the day, and wrote a brief report I had promised to write, so made pretty good of my time alone, sent some texts and emails, and made a couple of phone calls. I visited Jerry later in the afternoon, after he was transferred from the ER to his room. UK hospital is gigantic, and they even have a 24-hour shuttle from the parking garage to various hospital facilities across the Lexington campus.
Bev and I were here visiting, along with Ken and Estelle, in 2018. Some lovely memories. Happier times in many significant ways.
Before I left to visit Jerry this afternoon, I took a walk for a couple of miles down the beautiful Kentucky lane behind Jerry and Melissa’s house, where I met alpacas and horses, and where Bev and I walked just six years ago this very month. Much has changed since then, and Bev was in pretty good shape back then, and happy, despite difficulties.
Just down the road from the house are beautiful fields, with an Alpaca farm and plenty of thoroughbred horses in this horse country, well known for race horses and, of course, the Kentucky Derby. This is where it all happens.
And then, there are the neighbors in this beautiful countryside.
I have strong memories of when Bev and I were here, just a few years ago, and, despite developing problems, how vital and alive Bev was.
I’ll be heading out tomorrow, en route for Denver, which will take a few days to reach, but before I head out I’ll be releasing some more of Bev’s ashes, at a spot picked by Jerry and Melissa where the ashes of their good friend Judy were spread after she passed, just before Bev, as well as the ashes of Melissa’s parents. That seems a very good place for some of Bev to reside.
Now time for bed (or almost, after watching some of the Olympics highlights of the day, which Bev always enjoyed). Tomorrow, I hit the road again. I started travelling just 10 days ago, but it feels like weeks… in a good way. I’m certainly finding the journey rewarding, and it’s taking my mind off of the question, “now what the hell I am going to do with my life without Bev?,” even though I definitely don’t have the answer. Bev feels very much with me all the way on this trip, and I feel her presence all the time.
