No Hurries and Kevin Barbour

I was hoping that when I came into work today I'd have my medical back but that's not the case. Actually, I'm expecting a call at any minute telling me I'm good to work traffic again. I can always hope. I met with my doctor last Wednesday and he gave me the green light to get my medical back as it appears my cluster headache cycle is over. I'm waiting on the regional flight surgeon from the faa to act on it and get back to me. In the meantime, they've got me doing some menial stuff in the control room which I don't need a medical for and which needs to be done anyway. It's not all that bad but I'm anxious to work traffic again as this is the longest I've ever been away from the boards.

Coming off the Prednisone hasn't been fun. The injuries I received in my crash 10 days ago hurt more now than they did then. I'm not sure if that's because the Prednisone was helping to reduce the swelling and overall pain. Anyway, last Friday I decided I was coming off the drug to give myself a couple days over my weekend to allow my body some time to adjust. I felt lousy yesterday but I'm much better today.

My sister sent me a link to an old neighbor of ours when we were growing up. I think Kevin was maybe a year and a half younger than me but we used to play a lot together when we were 9-10 years old. Their family was our family's first exposure to black America. This was during the late '60s and I can remember the talk amongst the neighbors was not one of embracing this new family. As it turned out, the Barbours' were probably some of the best neighbors we ever had. Our mothers were best friends and even though they moved apart decades ago they still stayed in touch until Kevin's mom died a few years ago.

I think Kevin's relationship with his parents has not been a good one. The last I heard, his father was trying to reach him but Kevin would send back his father's letters and packages unopened. Kevin's been working as a musician and has released a couple CDs. I ordered his last years release.

I gotta go—my medical just came through!

Okay, so it's good to be working traffic again but I felt like a fish out of water in my first stint back at the sector. Five weeks away from the boards is quite a while, heck, sometimes just coming back after a weekend can be difficult. Anyway, I'll keep plugging away and hopefully, my feel for working traffic will come back and my comfort level will rise.

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