Ruble's surgery went well.

We are on the high road now, and that's the best place to be. As I said, his surgery went well but the overnight stay did not go as well as it should have.

It was hard for us to travel on the high road during that long 24 hours. We had several detours, but made it through. We are, however, left with some concerns about lack of communication when it is so important (and it's always important!).

All his life Ruble has been such an active person and that worked to his advantage. The surgeon made a point of commenting on that, saying seldom had he seen a 68-year-old man in as good shape physically.

He also told Ruble that after the surgery he wouldn't have a 20-year-old back, but he'd have the best 68-year-old back anyone that age could have. God is so good. That seems to be the case.

Truth is, my husband doesn't think of himself as a 68- year-old man. He would much prefer the 20-year-old back, but he is a realist. Ruble knows to be thankful for his pain-free, newly remodeled, 68-year-old back.

Until today he could only walk inside so he contrived a walking trail in our house. He starts in the den, goes through the kitchen, into the living room, and out on the front porch.

From the porch he backtracks through the living room, makes a loop around the dining room, down the hall, then back to the den.

He hikes that inside walking trail several times a day, walking faster each time. As Pa Hughes would say, he's walking "right pert" now.

Ruble is determined to follow doctors orders during his recovery time, but he longs to do his chores. He instructed me (in great detail) on how to use the two-wheeler to roll the garbage cans to the roadside on pick-up day. He has been retired long enough that he has forgotten that I moved the garbage cans to the roadside for many years when duty called him away from home.

Nine years ago when I had surgery my family didn't have to worry that being housebound would bother me. I wrote, I read and scrapbooked. I love to do those things.

Ruble is a different story. He enjoys trimming shrubbery, mowing grass, revving up the chain saw, pouring concrete, and building things. He always has a project in the works. It was his "put a cover on the patio project" that pushed him to the point of no return with his back.

Intermingled with walking and watching the Western Channel, he takes an afternoon nap. I feel sure his slumber is filled with grass mowing visions and chain saw dreams.

All in living technicolor.

LaVale Mills is publisher of The Red Bay News, P.O. Box 1339, red Bay, AL 35582