By Sherry Hopkins

Community Columnist

“I’m so tired I may not even be here tomorrow,” Dear Don remarked.

“Where are you going to be?” I asked innocently.

“The Good Lord might just call me home before then,” he continued.

“Well, tomorrow is house cleaning day and you aren’t going to get out of it that easy. So He better not call you before the housework gets done.,” I countered.

Dear Don hung his head and slumped down in his easy chair. He knew he was defeated and Friday housework was indeed on the horizon, dead or alive.

And so ends our week.

I wrote of becoming unencumbered last week by things in life that weigh me down. Add yard work to that list. But I finished the yard on Thursday and not a single leaf could be found afterwards. I love the look of a vacuumed yard in winter!

On the very last day of 2018 Dear Don finally got the decision from the judge on his disability hearing. He was found unfavorable, or in other words, he was denied benefits. We had expected this outcome and knew the judge only approved around 5-7 percent of all cases he heard. But no matter how much you prepare yourself with facts and support you are never quite ready for another NO!

So now Dear Don heads to Washington, D.C. Well, he doesn’t physically go there but his case will. The appeals court is actually in Falls Church,Virginia, which is metropolitan D.C.

His case, which has already been appealed, will be heard at some point in the next year, or not. All cases are considered but not all actually get to the judges bench.

The hearing judge that decided against him noted in his findings that Don had 11 severe medically corroborated conditions and or illnesses. He also found him to have at least two extreme physical limitations that would hinder him on a job. All of that plus pages and pages of medically based and backed findings still brought him to decline dear Dear Don.

So we have now appealed to the court and will await their decision. This wait will be the longest but we have decided, as I wrote last week, to put those things on the back burner of our life and just get on with it.

If you stay mired in a mud pit for very long the mud could eventually dry hard as cement and you may not ever be able to move beyond the pit.

We want out of the mud. We want our attorney to continue what we and he feels is and overwhelming case. We hope eventually someone will see the medical evidence and decide on a favorable decision.

If not, life must go on. The sunsets are still as beautiful, the bright yellow moon still sits low in the sky at dusk. The stars from infinity still wink at us in the black night sky and we are still alive and well with a roof over our heads and Murphy has finally moved on. Bless his heart. Life is good.

All of us in some way or another have many things to be thankful for. Sometimes it is only small things we can bring to mind. We will try our best in the coming weeks and months and years to remember to not be defined by our circumstance no matter how big or how scary.

So on that note I have discovered this this past week. I have always tried to be the very best at whatever I do. I finally got there this week. What am I doing that I am so good at? Nothing. Not one single thing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. And I’m happy to report I am very good at it and I’m so very happy.

Stay tuned.