Better late than never!

Anyone still reading? Apparently no one has posted since the initial blog start. Maybe no one will see this but I'll continue. I am no more computer savvy than I was in December of 2008 so no picture will be added. But I am interested in keeping communication/information going with the Wildcats! Hopefully there will be another reunion in the future I can attend.

The general basics of my life after high school was college and then some more college! I actually went for a total of 7.5 years! I attended 5 different schools in three states and ended up with two degrees. Not all of this was full time because some semesters I just had to earn some money and work! Otherwise I would have been a professional student!

My career, so to speak, has been GM of a golf course in Belvidere, IL for the last 15 years. I ended up here in a round-about way, but really do enjoy my job! Bob says I am a backwards school teacher: balls to the wall all summer and down time in the winter. Even though there is way more to do in the off months then you would think!

I have done quite a bit of traveling in my years after Holy Ghost, and my favorite place on earth so far is Rome. I would have gotten off the plane, walked to the next gate, and flown 8.5 hours back it was so great! Truly an awe inspiring place. A big part of my life the last twelve years is actually not a good thing. I destroyed my ankle in an accident in early 1996 and it changed my life drastically. I have had mutiple surgeries since and through all of these if you add up my time on crutches it equals more than a year! In 2005 I went to California to one of three doctors in the country who were performing a procedure called complete osteochondral allograft.

This is fundamentally an ankle transplant. I was put on a wait list and got the call and had three days to be in CA for the surgery. Yes, the ankle came from a cadaver. For almost two years I was thrilled with the results, but ultimately the cartiledge died and I am back to bone-on-bone arthritis. Not something that is easy to live with. But I am currently researching more options and when I am over 45 an artificial ankle may be the best choice.

Hope all is well with everyone and enjoy the upcoming holidays! Catherine