Hi Everyone,
I know I haven't been around much. Ben and my fellow mods are aware of why but I thought I should let all my other friends at Pool Forum know what's up.

I'm a very lucky man: lovely wife, great kids, good friends, financially OK...and a cool pool! But a lot has been going on.

In short, my brothers and I have been coping with our dear mother sinking in the heartbreak of dementia. We've struggled with falls, a broken hip, in-home care and...well, you know. So we've had to seek to place her in a nursing home capable of managing the worst ramifcations, yet allowing her to enjoy her life even as she's disconnected from reality.

In the midst of all this I found that I needed to replace my left hip. I am writing this from the sub-acute facility where I'm laid up trying to recover from the surgery. Nothing went wrong and it all seems to have gone OK, but all the assurances that my pain would be gone and recovery from hip surgery would be easy have been, well, not EXACTLY my experience. It's been a week since surgery and while I can get up and walk and stand on it (with a walker), I'm not seeing the kind of recovery I had hoped for. Ironically, the sub-acute facility where I am is one of the ones we looked at for Mom (their secure unit in the long-term facility--I am in the short-term side)!

In advance, I lost a great deal of weight and got in the best shape I've been in for many years, but it still not helped as much with the recovery as I hoped. So my mind has not been really into problem-solving and, I must say, I've been pretty self-involved.

But I thought I should let you know that I am thinking of all of you.

And I wish everyone here a happy, happy holiday season: Hannukkah (tonight's the first night), Christmas (just around the corner!), Kwanza, or even just the joy of the season.

Carl