Thursday morning had perfect fake-fall weather for a late September day.  The air was unusually crisp; I went back inside to grab a sweater before leaving for the office.

On the drive, my mind wandered into a memory of a day that felt like this.   It was mid-September, 2023.   Alby had been homebound on hospice for at least six weeks.   But it was still July in the heart of Atlanta heat when I took him to the Emergency Room, and a terminal diagnosis changed our lives forever.

Hello, I'm HiKath, and I have a spreadsheet for that.  

For what?  Yes, that.

I have spreadsheets for budgets, retirement, renovations, Christmas presents, cards, and even birthday adventures.

First, let it be known that I love to kayak. I’ve kayaked the Snake River rapids.    

Yet here it is: September, and I haven't been in the kayak all summer.  Between what seemed like constant rain and a back injury, I’ve been a homebody.   So when Mel messaged, “Hey, you want to go out in the kayaks tonight?”  

HECK YEAH!  

Back in the days of Obstacle Racing, some of my friends auditioned and were accepted as one of the teams competing in the televised Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge!  That was pretty exciting on its own, but even better when a group of us got paid as extras to be part of the television audience.    

I arrived at college alone in the fall of 1978 with everything I owned stuffed into a paper bag and a rolled-up panda poster under my arm. Most girls’ dorm rooms were plastered with bands, actors, and the latest trends. I had none of that. I didn’t even know what I liked. At home, my room had always been bare except for that one poster—a panda I bought on the 4-H trip to D.C. It was my only possession that felt personal. I taped it to the dorm wall not because it was cute or fashionable, but because without it the space would have been as empty as me.

Aw friends, this might not be so much a post as an update and a peek at how my mind works.  Scary.   

I injured my back (again) in June and started seeing a chiropractic office where someone I knew had great success with their pain and mobility.  So even though I had a trusted chiropractor who worked with me when I was racing, his office was all the way out in Johns Creek.  I let the distance influence my decision in the moment and scheduled nearby with a practice that appeared to have ‘a proven track record’.    

Okay, I already know a bunch of you looked at the title and automatically thought of Physical Education. 

And then some of you need to go to confession because your mind went straight to Premature Ejaculation. 

Well... you're both wrong. Kinda. Physical education was never my favorite either, but that’s not today’s confession.  

Alby proposed on Valentine’s Day, 2023. In my Valentine, he wrote, “How about we go buy you a big ring?” I was so confused; I didn’t think he wanted to get married again. I waited a few days before I even clarified—You want to get me a big diamond at a jewelry store?  

YES, he nodded his head—Yes!  

You know the big diamonds at the store are usually Engagement Rings.

Again, he is smiling and nodding, YES, YES!