Hi! This is your buddy, Johnny, writing in here. I am sorry for not writing sooner since Hurricane Katrina, but I haven't really been feeling that well. Seems I am having more "weak days" with my muscular dystrophy acting up, and this past weekend, I tried to come down with a cold, which really scared me. I felt bad for a few days; I had to see Dr. Emmons, my pediatrician, on Monday, because mama was all flipped out about me getting sick. I had to have my ears, chest, eyes, heart, and lungs checked, and I had to get my reflexes tested, and I had to get a stupid shot right in my heinie, which HURT. But that shot must have worked because I don't feel so sick anymore, and I feel more like myself.
My sister, Ronee', is on the mend too, but she is getting over a nasty sinus infection. She had to leave school early on Friday afternoon because she felt so bad, and on Saturday, we had to miss going to the Grand Ole Opry's birthday celebration because of our being sick. We were both so mad!! But we ARE going to the Grand Ole Opry THIS Saturday, so it's like we didn't even miss it after all! We are both really looking forward to it; the last time we went to the Grand Ole Opry was sometime in August, right before we went to the LeCajun Awards in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Well, it seems like there is yet another hurricane in the Gulf, but this one is scheduled to head to Florida (but you never know where those things may go). The last hurricane we had (Rita) smacked the Texas/Louisiana border, and it really made a mess out of parts of Cajun Country, and also the southeastern parts of Texas (Orange, Port Arthur, Vidor, and Beaumont). Parts of Mississippi and Louisana are STILL WITHOUT power or anything because of Rita, and people are still in desperate need of help down that way. I hope this stupid Wilma doesn't make a mess out of Florida; there are too many hurting people already down in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas; we don't NEED any more danged hurricanes!! Seems that this has been a very busy year for hurricanes; and it's like whenever we hear the weather report, we are going, "NOT ANOTHER HURRICANE!"
Mama has been busy with her working, and she went to Mississippi for a week right after Hurricane Katrina hit; and she was gone for a week. We really missed her, but she made it through, and we were so happy when she came back! She WAS tired, though, and she slept for a few days after she got back because they really ran her ragged down there! She said that the devastation from Hurricane Katrina was awful, and she felt bad for the people down there because a lot of them lost EVERYTHING they had, and a lot of them are poor or black (or some other minority). She said that the damage from Katrina was akin to an F-5 tornado (that or an atom bomb), and she couldn't believe that one storm could do so much devastation; but when you are talking about Cat 5 hurricanes or F-5 tornadoes, they are NOTHING to mess with, and you'd BETTER take them seriously if they are forecast!!
I really haven't been doing much ever since LeCajun or since school started, but school IS going well, and I have some really good friends who have accepted me for ME, not for my being in a wheelchair or having health problems; and I am happier now than I have been in a long while. I am getting B's and even some A's in my schoolwork, and I really like my teachers! I also have not been getting teased, and that has been HEAVEN!! :) It's about TIME people accept me for ME and NOT feel sorry for me!!
Well, I know this isn't much, but writing is still hard for me, and it is hard for me to try to think of things to write about. But I AM a lot happier than I was since the last time I wrote; I am just having more problems with my stupid muscular dystrophy and it is during times like this when I wish I could tell it to TAKE A HIKE!! Now I have to get busy and try to think of what I want for Christmas; it isn't long before Hallowe'en will be here (I have to think of what I want to be for Hallowe'en as well), then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas; time sure goes by fast when we get older, it seems!
school IS going well, and I have some really good friends who have accepted me for ME, not for my being in a wheelchair or having health problems; and I am happier now than I have been in a long while.
This letter is heartfelt, sad, but uplifting in the same moment. Handicaps and disabilities often confines one to home and limits access to the outside world. To write letters, if one can, depending on the degree of their disability is great therapy and to receive letters from penpals, family, and friends is a great picker-upper for those who have disabilities whether they are children or adults. Johnny's Journal is timely for me to read. My 48-year-old cousin just contracted muscular dystrophy in a mild form and is being medicated so that it may slip into remission. Thanks for this Karen Lynn.
Rovella is a beautiful woman with a cold heart whom blames herself for an unfortunate old family secret that is literally ruining her life. This secret impedes a gorgeous woman from having happiness in her childhood, and throughout her life. Dark sec
