Celebrating 100 Years, 6 Months, and 18 Days

Friday, December 14, 2012 – Celebrating 100 Years, 6 Months, and 18 Days

We’ll take any excuse to celebrate.  Yesterday, Elliott turned 100 years, 6 months, and 18 days old.  That sounds like a good enough reason to go out for a special lunch.  Actually, it was a belated birthday celebration hosted by Andrea and Ken, our long-time brokers, who were disappointed that they weren’t able to come to the big party last May.  We all enjoyed a delicious meal at the Capital Grille in Tysons Corner.  Lobster roll and truffle Parmesan fries for Elliott, seared scallops and tricolored cauliflower for me.  And I insisted on ordering dessert, a deeply delicious slice of chocolate hazelnut cake that we all shared.  After all, you can’t have a birthday celebration without birthday cake!  

The happy birthday boy

Elliott and Ken

Robin and Andrea

The "birthday" cake

Earlier on Thursday, Elliott went back to the pain center for another round of treatment.  He’s been experiencing more severe pain as well as pain in new areas since early December, and we hope these latest injections in his back will bring some relief.  So far, in the first 24 hours after the facet joint injections, he reports a big improvement.  We’ll see how long it lasts.  The doctor mentioned additional treatment options depending on the results of the injections.  Pain management is tricky with this kind of condition (spinal stenosis).  Over the past year, we’ve learned more than we ever wanted to know about the effects of aging.

Speaking of aging, our elderly geezermobile (the 2001 Lincoln Town Car my mother used to drive when she lived in Texas) has been making some very unhappy sounds for the past few weeks.  I know next to nothing about car anatomy (despite 7^th grade science class) and I tried ignoring the sounds for a while, hoping they’d go away.  When even Elliott, with his hearing problem, noticed the sounds, I finally brought the car in to our mechanic who did a quick check and diagnosed the problem(s).  To fix everything, it needs new tie rods, ball joints, pitman arm, and idler arm – things I’ve never even heard of before.  In addition, the mechanic cautioned me not to drive the car any more than necessary.  Ugh.  Sometimes I wish I could just move back into the city and ditch the car altogether.  In the meantime, while we’re waiting for parts and repair work, I’m driving a rental car.  We’ve discussed buying another car to replace the Lincoln.  I know many people don’t keep cars as long as we do.  How many human years does 11 car years equal?  But it only has 85,000 miles and its engine is in good condition.  I’d feel like I was abandoning an elderly family member.   Any advice?