In preparation for my surgery I had a procedure called an angiogram, where a doctor inserted a tube into my heart that enabled him to actually look at the aneurysm in my aorta. He told us it was bad. He was clearly worried. And when we said we already had surgery scheduled for it, he emphatically stated: "Good!" He also said that the first symptom I would have had that indicated I had a heart problem would have been to die.
I feel very fortunate.
We have learned that life is short, and when you are old as we are, it is even shorter.
Although we both "knew" this, we didn't really "know" it until we were staring at the inevitable full in the face, which is what this open heart surgery did for us.
We know that we can't count on years of easy living, of good health, of being pain-free.
We both feel our age. My right foot, on which I have had three major surgeries, is probably in need of another. Vicky's back, which was broken 20 years ago when her car was rear ended, gives her pain on a regular basis.
We both have recently had our high school 50th reunions. Of significance, 20% of our classmates did not live to be able to go to them.
The word "crisis" comes from the Greek word for "change." My heart surgery was a crisis, and as a result we have regrouped and made some significant life changes. These changes come from a recognition of how few years we have left.
One major change was that we decided to sell our Whidbey Island home. Although we love it, that home requires a lot of on-going effort to maintain. We no longer have the endurance needed to cut trees, split wood, etc., and to maintain an acre of yard and gardens. In addition, the "outdoor" season there is too short for us.
We will be moving to Nuestra Casa, our home in Mesa, Arizona. The major advantage of this home is that we can maintain our love of the outdoors much more easily. While in Nuestra Casa we swim for an hour every day. We cycle for another hour. We have beautiful walks, and regular dances we can attend. And we are only a few hours' drive from the deserts which we love, and which provide us with the wonderful hiking that sustains us.
Which leads us to our second major change: We purchased a Toyota 4Runner, off road, TRD.
This thing is a beast, just as the Ford 350 Dually that our camper sits on is a beast.
But this beast serves a different purpose. It will be a vehicle we can use to get to the most remote areas of the desert. With our camper we can get out onto many roads to camp, roads that typical family cars cannot reach. However, it has its limits--because of its size, width, length, and weight.
There are so many areas we have seen that we have looked at, longingly, wanting to be able to access but the roads were too rough, steep, or rocky that we couldn't.
Now we can. With this vehicle we can literally go anywhere. It is designed for this. It looks like a typical SUV, but it isn't. It is a body on frame vehicle, basically a pickup with an SUV body. It is what is called a "rock crawler," which means it can go almost anywhere. Almost the entire undercarriage consists of skid plates, which means that sharp rocks won't damage the engine, transmission, etc. It is like a Jeep Wrangler, except it has Toyota, not Jeep, quality.
This vehicle opens an entirely new chapter in our ability to access the deserts we love and to hike in remote and virtually inaccessible places. When we go for long trips (i.e, 2-3 weeks) we will take our camper. When we go for 5-day trips, we will take the 4Runner, and do tent camping.
We are leaving in 3-4 days for our first excursion in the 4Runner. We couldn't be more excited. We can't wait to show our grandchildren this type of adventure.
Live while you can. Life's short.
Move your body in a serious fashion every day. Makes life longer.
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