[NOTE: We are looking for volunteers to transcribe John's journal so it can be included in this electronic version of the book. If you are interested in helping, please send us an e-mail message.]

John kept a fairly consistent journal since September of 1976 however, there was quite a lapse during the two years before his unexpected death. My thoughts are that he was so incredibly busy as well as happy with his life and the way things were going that he didn't feel the need to write. He had really found his "place" at both work and church.

About the same time John started keeping a journal, he also started taking a medication for high blood pressure. He decided that a convenient way to track his hypertension would be to record his blood pressure at the beginning of each entry.

Another running record throughout the journal is an assessment (non-scientific of course) of his strength. This, John measured, by his ability to "get around" that day. It was for John and it is for me (since I have a much milder form of the same kind of Muscular Dystrophy - Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy) a constant source of "wonderment" as to why it is possible to perform some tasks one day and then not the next. Often, in a couple of weeks the ability to perform that task again would return as mysteriously as it had left. We discussed often what we thought could cause the difference in "getting around" ----diet, rest, stress, exertion, the stars, hair length----the answer never came to him and it has never come to me. John's rating system was based on a 1-10 scale. Anything above a 5 was tolerable and not worth mentioning until it got to the 7's and below 5 was not fun and 3's kept him from doing things.

One more fairly consistent record in John's journal was his Saturday chess games with Boyd Biglar. Saturday mornings John would go to Boyd's vacuum repair business and he would take breakfast or lunch and then the loser of the day paid for the others' meal.

The journal will appear here in it's entirety but I have taken the liberty to "suggest" a couple of entries on the chance that you may not want to read it all.

09/25/76 reactivation
09/23/78 endowments
12/31/78 year assessment
04/01/79 mother died
01/23/80 (29th also) bought computer
03/09/80 church activity
03/30/80 chess record (wow!)
08/10/80 Blair's mission
12/31/81 life assessment
01/01/82 surprise party

Puzzle
Carrying through an activity is worthier than units of language.