The difference between the way I felt emotions while on anti-depressants and the way I feel them now is like daylight and dark. Before, it was like I had a warm, fuzzy cocoon insulating me from the cold, cruel world, and now I'm exposed to the chilly elements without so much as a sweater. To say I'm a little raw is an understatement. I feel like I'm overreacting to everything. I want to get back inside that cocoon! But my head has quit spinning, and the crickets aren't quite as loud and I don't really feel depressed, so I'll probably wait and see if I can get along without it.
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I received the package from Cousin Kevin which included this picture of my great grandfather John N. Johnson. (Thanks, Kevin!) This man was a veteran of Hood's Texas Brigade, Company F, The Mustang Grays, a very famous Confederate unit that fought in the Battle of the Wilderness, Antietam, Gettysburg, Chattanooga and others. One tough old bird, wouldn't you agree?
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There has been a great deal of confusion about his middle name. "Nunum" is on his tombstone. His mother's maiden name was spelled Neunum on her marriage license, but there are indications that her relatives, or people closely associated with their family, spelled their name Newman. Combine the ubiquitous Johnsons with the Nunum/Neunum/Newman family and you have one mell of a hess! It will take a keener mind than mine to unravel this riddle.
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I also got a very sweet handwritten letter (remember those?) from Kevin's grandmother Aurelia, who sounds very young and lively to be 87. She lives alone and still drives. She would be my father's first cousin, so she's my first cousin once removed. I've got to get my genealogy software repaired, so I can add the information she and Kevin have sent.
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The links to the family tree websites are here and here. You will notice that nothing has been done on either site in almost five years. I kept research notes and posted them on the Familytreemaker site, which I tried to make sense of last week, but it was more confusing than ever. We do have identities for a couple of more people mentioned in my grandfather's typewritten letter to his daughter Mildred, who was a student at Hillman College in Clinton, from Liberty, MS in 1922.
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I've been to the gym three days this week and am really enjoying it. I get tired sooner than I did before Christmas, so I don't have all my strength back, and I'm still coughing, but not as often. Maybe I'm about over this crud, or pneumonia, or whatever it is I've had. Pam and Jean and I went to lunch after the aerobics class with the Water Lillies, a group of WOW who have one thing in common - we all do water aerobics somewhere. (WOW = wild older women) It was great fun. Next Weds. we're going to the Hilton.
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Tomorrow I'm having lunch with George. Afterwards, I have an appointment to check out the latest development in the treatment of tinnitus. From what I could tell about the full-page ad in the newspaper, it's at a Chiropractor's Office. I could be wrong, but the screening is free, so I figured I could at least listen to their sales pitch. As much as I would like to annihilate this annoying noise, I don't have real high hopes for a cure.