Do you remember what you were doing during the month of July in the year 2012?

Here I am today and I have yet to get an idea of what I could write about. So, I randomly got out one of my old journals and opened it to the page that just happened to be the review of the month of July in 2012. It is a list of more than 25 things that happened in July of that year that I didn’t want to forget.

Below, you can read the things that happened that I thought were the most interesting. Some of the wording is changed and put in parenthesis to have a clearer meaning for you, the reader. Uncle Sonny’s real name is Joy Thomas, and he was at his own home, on Mill Creek, at Bellepoint, during the time I had written about him.

So, be ready to read some of what was going in my life, during the whole month of July in the year of 2012:

1. Pastor Erin Porter began as our 17th minister since I started going to church here (63 years ago).

2. George’s Uncle Sonny was not well enough to come to the table to eat.

3. There were 28 days in June with no rain. Bad for crops.

4. George unloaded sawdust and watered down the indoor arena today. The sand was dry, clear through to the ground.

5. I spent the 100-degree days reading a book titled “Mom Still Likes You Best” by Jan Isay.

6. My brothers, Bob and Jerry, and sister, Ginny, are still out of their homes since their electricity has been off since the June 29’s big storm.

7. I watched as the veterinarian, Dr. Chase, took an eye out of a pony, in 15 minutes, at the farm.

8. Katie was here, and we made up a game of banking and called it “Money Bags Bank.” (Playing this, she learned how to count money. She was 6 years old.)

9. George and the other trustees met with Bill Bowers about his company (Quality Masonry) doing some necessary work on our church.

10. My daughter has no air conditioning in her office and has to work in 90-degree temperatures.

11. The grass is dead, and the rain barrels are empty. According to the news reports, this summer, we have broken records for hot weather in 2,000 categories.

12. Pizza on the patio for lunch until the temperature got up to 80 degrees, then we went inside.

13. Now, Uncle Sonny is not able to get out of bed.

14. Went to the annual yard sale at Marengo Methodist church.

15. Watched a DVD starring Tom Hanks, called “Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close.” Had to watch it twice.

16. Served at one of our free church suppers that are on the third Thursday of each month. We had “church chicken.”

17. Twelve people killed and 50 wounded by gunman in Colorado.

18. Saw a good quote: “When your talents and the needs of the world cross, here lies your vocation” — Aristotle.

19. All six of my siblings and I met at Cracker Barrel in Findlay for breakfast for our brother Jerry’s birthday. (He is 73 now.)

20. On a 101-degree day, our sister, Ginny, came home from her daughter’s after 10 days there, due to damage of her home from the June 29 storm.

21. George had his “every six weeks maintenance checkup” at his chiropractor, Dr. David Thomas’ office.

22. Hospice came to be with Uncle Sonny. They brought a hospital bed for him.

23. Our librarian, Liz Brooks, retired from Ashley Wornstaff Library.

24. The Summer Olympics opened.

25. George took his Aunt Mary to her dental appointment, while their daughter stayed with Uncle Sonny.

In reading over my month of July of 2012, I realized that “everything changes.” First, in 2012, we were worrying about setting records of hot weather with no rain, and now we are in a time of tornadoes and too much rain. Also, after a lifetime of having six siblings, our oldest sister, Ginny, died in 2016. Katie was only 6 and now she will be in high school this fall. And, how, in one month’s time, the progression of Uncle Sonny’s illness moved along from not being able to come to the table to eat, to his passing on Aug. 2. He was a special guy. May he rest in peace.