Topic: People/Family stories
My mom asked me yesterday if I’d had time to write lately. She loves to read my blog, but doesn’t go on the internet, so I give it to her a year at a time in written form for Christmas. I just said, “No, not really.” But that was not quite the truth. I have had the time. The missing key ingredient to writing though, is the heart to do it. And I knew if I started writing from my heart, that it would be a hard, long journey into things that I wasn’t ready to sort out on paper…or even in Microsoft Word.
But here goes.
It’s been a rough week with school starting. Usually at this time of year, we are collecting homeschooling supplies, books and thinking of schedules. This year we moved to the city and decided to put the 2 teens in high school. This in itself was a horribly confusing and tedious journey. We really wanted them in 2 other schools, but one did not work out and the other one was not a good choice for Bethany because they didn’t have a good band program. So they are going to the school we are in the district for and jumping in with both feet.
“I hate Mondays!” On Monday, the first day, they both came home deflated and tired. They each had to eat lunch alone, having different lunch hours. And they felt lost in the sea of kids they didn’t know. For Emma, it was freshman orientation day and for Bethany it was finding classes and trying to get a parking permit, having to give up eating lunch to stand in line.
Monday morning I also got the not so surprising news from my doctor’s appointment that I need a hysterectomy. Things are collapsing and though I am not in any pain or discomfort from it yet, it would just continue to cause bigger problems down the line. So now I have to mentally prepare myself for that hurdle in late September. She gave me birth control pills to stop everything until I could have surgery, which I said I would try, but couldn’t take 22 years ago when we were first married. They made me wacko and sick. She promised these did not have those bad side effect and I went home with 2 trial packs.
We talked, we prayed, we worried.
Then Monday night, as I tried to sleep but could not, having had a few little things on my mind, I heard Charles’ cell phone ring at 10 minutes til midnight! It was Hannah….and I had a bad feeling as I answered, knowing it was her at midnight, calling home. She sounded very subdued and quiet, so I cut to the chase…”What happened??” She said she wasn’t going to tell us, not wanting to worry us, but she couldn’t sleep and needed to talk to us. Of course, this does a number on your adrenal gland and energy/stress hormones go shooting through your stomach and head, making you feel a little nauseated and dizzy. (or was that the BC pill I had taken 3 hours before?) It turns out she was closing up the coffee shop where she works 2 nights a week and was robbed!!! I’m asking questions that come out of thin air, without passing through my conscious thought, and I am hearing her saying, “No, he didn’t have a gun…no, he didn’t hurt me, I’m fine.” With that information, my head starts to gain a little control of my adrenal gland and she tells me the whole story.
She was working alone (I hate that) and had just cleaned the coffee machine and was about to count out the register. There was one customer still in the shop…really an acquaintance of hers who likes to hang out there, but can’t afford to buy fancy coffee. So she had not locked the doors yet and there came a young man, about 20 years old in the door. Letting him know she had just cleaned the coffee machine for the night, the young man said he’d have tea. And as she turned to begin making it, she heard him say, “Actually, I’ll just take this.” He had his hands in the register and was grabbing all the bills he could, then ran out the door. Hannah and the guy sitting in the shop stood there in stunned silence, frozen in shock.
She had to call the police, which meant her acquaintance had to leave, since he knows the police rather well and didn’t want to get into any trouble. The police dispatch said it would be a while since there was a shooting that most of the town’s police were already called to. She had to call her boss, which was when the shaking began, oh and the crying. He could not come, he was at his other job. So thankfully she called her roommate, who came there, along with her boyfriend, to wait with Hannah for the police and see her home safely.
We talked, we prayed, we worried…..again.
We finally hung up, with the knowledge that her roommate and boyfriend would come the next night, to be with her while she was closing. She also said a church meets there after closing on Tuesdays, so there would be a lot of people around.
“I love Tuesdays!” Tuesday was such a relief. Except that I had waves of nausea all day. The girls came home from school somewhat energized. I asked about their day as they began to tell me of all the supplies and things they needed for classes. I asked about lunchtime….I dreaded knowing the answer. But Emma said she had found a girl from her orientation group, who was eating all alone and sat by her. The girl said she was new and didn’t know anyone, so she was glad to have Emma to eat with. They’ve now had lunch together everyday this week and Emma is going to invite her to youth group. Bethany said she went outside to eat her lunch and a girl came and asked if she could sit by her. They got to talking and found out they are both strong Christians and made plans to eat together thereafter also….*whew*…. At which time, I started crying so much that I could not hide it, kind of like a very short version of Emma Thompson’s breakdown in Sense and Sensibility upon learning that Edward is not married, but it was his brother who married Lucy. (my favorite part)
Bethany hooted at me, thinking I was ridiculous to cry because they made lunch friends. She thought it was very strange. It was then that I decided not to take any more of those BC pills, suddenly remembering the wacko and nauseas thing. Vicariously, I was having panicky feelings all day about lunch hours, but it worked out and I was so relieved! Usually, such a thing would not move me to tears, so I’m thinking my assumption about the BC pills was correct. It was Emma’s first day of classes after Monday’s orientation, so she reported about all her teachers and funny or strange things that had happened.
We went to Target to find notebooks and gym shoes, laughing a lot and feeling so much better than Monday. We ate frozen pizzas, swam in our pool, and the girls arranged their notebooks and backpacks. I had also called Hannah, who was feeling quite fine at work, not fearful or nervous. The church group who meets there was coming in and out with equipment…making a welcome distraction! The girls went to bed on time without so much as a mild protest and all was well as we all slept soundly through the night.
“You just can’t trust Wednesdays!” Wednesday though, found trouble, as we were called to a meeting with a nurse at my dad’s nursing care facility. They are advising us to put him on hospice care. That will be another post though….soon I think.
Wednesday night was good, meeting with people at church to pray, learn, talk and laugh. What would I do without having a good church? I thought about that because a friend of mine online, who I’ve been emailing with, is a pastor’s wife in the South. She and her husband are in a tumultuous situation in their church, brought on by hypocritical, mean people. Not all churches have good, like minded fellowship, but if you find one, count your blessings and dig your heels in! (and pray for my friend as they wait this storm out)
I came home, lost a few games on online gin rummy and quickly went to bed so that there could be no more bad news for the day.
“Thursdays have a way of making you think….or of thinking a certain way.” Today is Thursday. I took my mom to her weekly hair appointment, then to visit my dad. My sweet dad. The nurses settle him into a recliner each morning by the nurses’ station so they can keep a close eye on him. He sits there with his eyes closed, drifting in and out of sleep, existing. We talked to him, he was awake but his eyes stay closed as if it’s too much for him to open them. His normal babbling talk was silenced and he nodded or shook his head ever so slightly when I asked him yes or no questions. He is tired and he’s fading. But it’s not a bad thing….it is a thing to be endured and walked through. And we hope to walk through it with him. More on this tomorrow.
Right now I have ribs in the crockpot, homemade bread ready to pop in the oven and beans to bake. I came home feeling defeated and low, but we are not defeated:
Eternal glory FAR (way far, go long, on and on) outweighs our light and momentary troubles. Come to think of it, I think that applies to our whole week.
