2024 - When it rains...

When making important decisions, I still use the old process of listing the pro's and con's of the issue in question, and then try to weigh one against the other. At the end of the process, it is still a matter of judgement, but at least I have made a reasonable effort at considering all aspects of the question at hand.

So...was 2024 a really good year or a really bad year? Having mastered the fine art of "under-stating" the obvious, let me say that at first glance 2024 has been a difficult year at best. Early in January, Marcee began to feel as if something was wrong. She started losing weight and did not feel like eating. Early in February, as we were parking at the movie theater, she announced that she thought she was having a heart attack and needed to go to the hospital. We had not yet paid for our tickets, so - no harm/no foul. Roughly thirty seconds later, and having broken at least 50 major traffic laws, I delivered Marcee to the emergency room. Luckily for us all, she was not having a heart attack, but unluckily for her, she had a severe case of Pancreatitis. She needed surgery immediately, but she would not be able to have it until her "numbers" improved. Five days later, after a successful surgery and 20 pounds lighter, we brought her home to finish her recovery process.

At 5:00 am on March 1, while Marcee was still recovering, I woke up with severe chest pains. After another quick trip to the hospital via the medical response center, the Fire Station, a small local hospital, and a fun ride in an ambulance to a bigger hospital in Boone. I was told that I was having a major heart attack (one artery was 100% blocked and the other 85% blocked).

Peter and Brandy were visiting that weekend, and awoke to being alone in the house. I called from the ambulance and asked them to bring my guitar to the hospital because I might be there awhile. My attempt at calming them down was not as effective as I had hoped, but they did bring my guitar with them when they met us in Boone shortly after.

After several days in the hospital, and five stints later, I finally got to come home to a "still recovering" Marcee. All of our kids came down to help out and made it possible for me and Marcee to recuperate. With the support of countless friends, family, and neighbors I started my recovery process.

To add insult to injury, I was put on a diet that did not include Krystal Hamburgers, pizza, or BBQ...or sweets, bread, or red meat. Surviving a heart attack does not come without costs.

Okay...at first glance, you might agree with me that 2024 was not shaping up to be a banner year.

I am going to take a step back at this point in my story to the ambulance ride to the hospital in Boone. As we flew down Hwy. 105 to Boone with the siren blasting and the lights flashing, God and I had a few moments to have a nice long talk. There was no negotiating; just a conversation. If it was my time, I was ready and looking forward to meeting my Maker and Savior and so many friends and family that went before me. End of story.

However, if this was not my time and only the result of a 72-year diet of Krystal hamburgers, pizza, and barbecue, then there were several things that I really still wanted to do.

It was strange, but I had a very strong sense of urgency. I still wanted/needed to accomplish a few more things left undone. I still have that feeling. I started eating right, going to the gym and doing some of those things you always say you should do: rekindle some old friendships, tell more people more often that you love them, travel more, take a little more time to smell roses, etc.

With a new sense of urgency and a list of things I wanted to do, the adventure started. Then, within weeks of the heart attack, I was diagnosed with several rather large kidney stones. Unfortunately for me, as I was getting ready to go into to surgery, I mentioned all of the blood thinners I was on due to the heart attack. "Oh, that is right, Mr. Corn. You can't have surgery. You will bleed out on the table. Hmmm. I guess you will just have to pass them on your own," said the Urologist.

"Really!"

"Oh, and you won't be able to take pain medicine because of all that other heart medicine your on," he concluded matter-of-factly.

So, I spent the next several weeks passing kidney stones, but I could still work out and do the other things on my list until I strained my back. That kept me put and still for awhile. I was not an overly happy camper. (And yes, it did cross my mind why I was the one that had to bring up my current list of medicines.)

However, the times they were a changing.

As spring turned into summer, Marcee and I both started feeling better. We drove to Birmingham to spend time one of our sons and grand dogs. From there, we drove to Perdido Bay to spend time with one of my oldest friends in the same beach cottage we had stayed at as teenagers. We ate, boated and told old stories.

From there we drove to Dallas to see our daughter's family and watch our oldest grandson, Cole, graduate from High School and attended his graduation party.

We started taking more advantage all of the things there are to see in the high country of North Carolina. We went to several concerts at ASU during the summer and saw Snarky Puppy and Buddy Guy. We went to movie night most every weekend with friends. One of our friends sponsored a back yard concert.

In June, Marcee and I celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary early by going back to Provincetown, MA, where we had gotten married a long, long time ago. Walking the streets that we had walked so many years ago was an incredible experience. Going back to P-town had been on my "bucket list" for the last ten years or so. I got the chance to relive so many memories in a place that holds such a major role in our history.

We ate at the same restaurant where I had proposed to Marcee. We walked the dunes, ate seafood, and acted like teenagers in a rented, ridiculously bright red Mustang convertible. We filled the back seat and trunk with junk from every garage sale and Flea Market between here and Massachusetts choosing to leave and ice chest, luggage and some clothes behind to make room!

From the Cape, we drove to Bethel, NY, and went to the site of Woodstock. We walked the concert site, visited the museum and found the lake where the concert go-ers had bathed and and swum over fifty years earlier. It was perfect.

(Insert a big thank you prayer here, for allowing me to make it to our fifty years anniversary with Marcee).

The pro's side of the column was taking great strides forward.

For my birthday, Marcee and the kids (all of our kids: Bailey and Ryan, Peter and Brandy, and Spencer sent me to NYC for a long weekend with Peter and Brandy. Pizza (okay, I did get off my diet), a night at the Comedy Cellar in the Village, and tickets to see James Taylor at the most beautiful concert venue I had ever seen. (courtesy of Brandy for Peter's and my birthdays). It was overwhelming.

We were three of the last five people to make it in the Comedy Cellar on that night. I ate my weight in pizza at Bleecker Street Pizza, and drove to Long Island to see James. (This does not even begin to cover the time I got to spend with our granddaughter Rosie).

When I got home, I spent a lot of time in my little studio, and doubled my efforts to try my best to write music. I began posting my songs on YouTube and at last count, I already have 12 subscribers (most of them family, but still...). I actually sold a piece of music for a local TV show in Alabama.

Just about the time that I began to believe that the worst of 2024 was behind us:

The mountains of western North Carolina suffered the worst natural disaster in over 110 years. Hurricane Helene dropped 20" of rain and wind gust over 80 mph. The beautiful highlands were devastated. Over 100 deaths in North Carolina. Over 1,000 bridges and roads damaged and closed.

I will be the first to say that we were extremely fortunate. At one point, we did come up with a plan for evacuating our house if the water continued to rise, but thankfully that was not necessary. A few trees down, high water, and the loss of water, power, and phone service was not much more than an inconvenience, but our lives are returning to normal. (Except for the water. Still no water.) Others were not so lucky. Some lost their homes, their possessions, their livelihoods, and some lost loved ones. There has been so much written on the storm/flood, that I have nothing meaningful to add except it would be nice if you would send up some prays for the families of the high country. It will take years for the area to return to normal, but progress is made daily.

If you can put a silver lining on the situation, it was amazing to see the outpouring of support from people across the country. Donations have been pouring in from one coast to the other. Neighbors have been helping each other. Strangers are driving in to bring donations and to help people they don't know.

The sites for free meals have become a time to meet new people in our community and meet some of the volunteers. The county, state, and federal government as well as many private organizations have done an incredible job of working tirelessly to restore our town and so many others in the mountains.

Marcee will probably disagree with the degree to which this next statement is true. But for the most part, it felt somewhat like an adventure. I feel sure that this would have been much more traumatic for me this time last year. We have a lot of work to do, but I was a little more measured in my reaction to the work we had to do and the time frames that we had to work with. We do what we can do everyday, and know the work will still be here tomorrow.

Our little town of Banner Elk was inaccessible except by air for three or four days, since all of the roads in and out of town were washed away. The town asked for visitors and residents to leave if they could in order to help relieve the strain on the damaged infrastructure. Once they opened a road out of Banner Elk, we decided it was time for another road trip.

Since we had no water or power, we drove back to Dallas to see Bailey's family for a couple of weeks, and came back through Columbia, TN, to visit one of my sisters. When we got back home, we still did not have water. So, we did the logical and adult thing: sold my dependable car, and drove to upstate New York to buy a 1970 MG...the same type of car I had in college. This now makes us a 1.5 car family for the first time since we were first married. It needs a lot of work, but I have the rest of my life to work on it (as long as we both don't have to go somewhere at the same time.)

I am trying to spend more time with family and friends . I am telling more people, more often, that I love them. I am trying to do more things that I would have declined or procrastinated doing before March 1. Fewer things get me upset. I worry less. I sleep more. We are doing more things that make less sense (Case in point: We have driven over 55 hours in the last ten days).

I am not sure what the point of this blog is, but I did feel the need to get some of these thoughts out of my head. As to the question of what kind of year was 2024, I think I would have to conclude it has been one of the best. Not the best, but one of the best. There have been plenty of opportunities for sure, but what a ride. I still have friends and family struggling with illnesses, and there are so many people in our community that are facing life-altering challenges. I don't want to dismiss any of the real and tangible problems that we all face, but God told me on my ambulance ride that he had everything under control. I believe Him.

NOTE: I guess this is God's way of keeping me honest. As I am writing this epic version of a blog, Marcee announced that the water had been turned back on, but a pipe in the basement is leaking. Correction - burst. I have a new job for tomorrow. Yaay... but it is still a good year. However, we still have two more months to go!