I am feeling much better now. The drugs really helped. I am able to walk again! The one thing that I do not like are the side effects. Waking up, drooling in the gutter is not my idea of good living. Besides Anne says that the sickness and health clause of our marriage contract does not cover having her kneeling down next to me and licking the spittle from my cheek. I guess I should have read the fine print before we got married. Yesterday, the girls took us shopping. Anne brought a few things. That’s fine. She got her first social security check today. She is now officially a pensioner. The guys tried to keep up with the women, but were too easily distracted. We toured scenic Morganton, which has been nicely rehabilitated since when General Sherman, fresh from making Georgia squeal, ravaged the town, on his way north to Appomattox. A statue of Silent Sam is all that remains of those turbulent times. Later, we visited the neighboring town of Valdese. Founded by the 19th-century immigrant Waldensian sect, these people had been persecuted for heresy and had to flee Europe. We rounded out the day there with ice cream at Myrna’s, as pictured above.