A collection of thoughts . . .

I know I have talked at length about my health and the removal of my left leg. I have recovered from that and now have an artificial leg.

Saturday night I went to work at the Russell - Fairview basketball game. Made it to the stage, up and down the steps, and then made it home, with a stop at Giovanni's.

All without a scooter or someone having to pick me up, thankfully.

I am grateful to all who have been on this trip with me and just wanted to say thank you one more time.

I will refrain from another post until I am able to successfully walk without aid of a walker.

I cannot tell you how blessed I truly feel. Thank you again! The Lord and Marilyn deserve so much more credit than I can ever give them.

I also must make a point to thank the truly 1000 or more folks who have reached out to me for their support and wonderful words of encouragement.

I will honestly tell you that the day I woke up from the surgery while I was obviously still pretty ill I made up my mind that no matter what I would not let this get me down.

I haven’t missed a paper, although one week, Marilyn and Beth had to do most of the work, but we were able to get it finished. I couldn’t focus well enough, but we trudged on.

When it came to football season our son Michael and Beth Ann our daughter made sure we did our home game coverage of the Russell gridders including the honor of carrying three football game deep into the playoffs.

There are so many times I have asked for content for the paper and my email would fill up with beautiful pictures and wonderful words.

I still do some work on it, but the community is so important to The Greenup Beacon it would be difficult to put out the paper in the form it is now without the help of many.

With that said I hope to continue to grow what we do with an eye toward the future and the wonderful contributions of so many.

-HB-

Last week as most everyone knows the nation buried its 41^st president. His family stood by his casket and went through many celebrations of life of who to me was a wonderful man.

I often did not agree with his political thoughts or some of his decisions but when it came down it he sacrificed the probability of a second term by raising taxes to help balance the country financially.

I remember the first president to pass in my recall was President Eisenhower. It was during my senior year in high school.

President Truman died in 1972. His vice president was Kentuckian Alban Barkley. I simply do not remember anything like this celebration of life for him.

Of course, there has been another with President Reagan in 2004 and President Nixon passed away in 1994.

There have been no celebrations like the one honoring President Bush 41.

I found him to be an honorable man, who of course had many political enemies, but who also stood up for what he believed without hurling terrible insults toward those who did not agree.

Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts.

And so, for another week, thanks and thirty.