When I was a boy, I hated being sick and missing school.
We lived near my school when I was in the fifth grade and those times when I was ill I’d look at my friends and others outside, wishing I was with them.
Thanks to an untimely and colossally destructive stumble that broke a leg, I added Covid to my challenges and I find myself in the same predicament decades later.
Watching people walk and wishing I could be outside.
Funny how I avoided Covid during the height of the pandemic.
Vaccinations then helped me.
I didn’t think much about the virus then.
I’ve got plenty of time to think about it now and it’s scary that it’s still in our lives.
It didn’t go away.
For all of the political upheaval and blind denialism of its impact, Covid remains a health threat today.
I’m still getting tested.
I finally came up negative today, but more tests remain to determine if I’m truly free of this disease.
Funny how something like this makes you realize how you take the ability to feel all right and, in
my case, the ability to walk for granted.
Then again, I know there are people who will never walk again and like so many things in life I realize how fortunate I am that I still will walk again.
I’m also am comforted by loved ones nearby to care for me.
I should regain my right leg’s use by the end of March.
By then Spring will be here and I can rejoin my canine friends who remain puzzled when I’m still in bed in the mornings.
One of our dogs bounds on my bed in the 6 a.m. hour, wrestles with me and licks my face and then disappears into the house looking for more adventure than I can offer right now.
On a much sadder note, I learned this afternoon that Raleigh Conklin has passed.
I covered Raleigh as a reporter in his many iterations, most notably for me as Santa Claus for countless Matagorda County children, and in his portrayal of Sam Houston.
He was devoted to Texas history – something we both shared.
We would debate even the different versions of the Battle of the Alamo and how different authors distorted our view of that epic chapter of Texas history.
Raleigh created the Alamo display at the Matagorda County Museum.
Those are just a few of the things this brilliant artist has left us.
Happy Trails Raleigh.
