Today is a Saturday. Just an ordinary day in early August like many others where I have gotten up and prepared a cup of coffee and sat at this computer to write. My dogs are stirring around me and looking up at me occasionally as they hope that I'm about to say the word that they love most in the world - "treat" -while halfway fearing that I will say one of the three that they hate - "vet," "beautified," or "bath." My house is relatively clean because we've been gone so much this week...and other than a few loads of laundry and facing the American Express bill that I have yet to figure out...my day is my own.
Right now, the Military Channel is playing some program about weapon systems in the background...with words like "technological disaster" and "missles" floating over here like unwelcome guests. I'd get up and turn it off, but when I begin writing, I usually sit here until I complete my thoughts. Besides, there is virtually nothing else on anyway, more than likely, in spite of the fact that we have a ridiculous number of channels from which to choose.
Big Dave has left to go to work...fixing a ceiling or something...and then coming back here to change my oil. Yeah, we're the most interesting people in the world.
The house has been quiet this week...we have a family member in Hospice...and we have tiptoed around that fact by trying to keep our lives running as normally as possible. We have been happy, sad, and every emotion in between as we wait and reminisce and wonder. Fortunately, there are no issues to work through and no words that need to be said that haven't been. There is very little drama in this family and it is one of the most functional families I know. In this day and age...that is nothing short of a miracle. Anything that is out of whack gets brought up into the open...and there is acceptance and forgiveness. Which is wonderful.
Jill has been on her own since June and Brian has been gone a lot this summer. He has traveled around and is currently hanging out with his sister before school starts in a few weeks. Big Dave and I have become empty nesters in a more gradual way...like a gentle wave instead of one that knocked us down. We have found that we don't mind the quiet...and that it is actually easier to choose to eat salsa and chips for dinner when we aren't that hungry instead of putting a meal on the table for someone that may or may not choose to eat it anyway. Other than the dogs...who are in our bedroom instead of one of the bedrooms at the front of the house...and who hear every leaf blowing in our backyard and see fit to bark at it...it has been surprisingly easy. Almost too easy...but I'm not complaining....it was time.
In a few hours, I am supposed to see some old sorority sisters as we prepare a meal for the girls going through Rush Workshop in Troy. I have done this for the past five years with one group or another...and I recognize the faces now...even if I don't know the names. It is my way of giving back to the group - Phi Mu - that gave me instant friends at a school I transferred to after I met Big Dave and moved to Troy without knowing a soul. Girls that I remember well and that I am glad to pick up the thread of acquaintance with after years of letting it drop. All because of Facebook, if truth be told.
This afternoon, I will attend a wedding of a sweet girl whose existence I have known about since her Dad popped into my hospital room with his "It's a Girl" button on to see my Jill. I thought he was just a lost but exuberant father...but it turned out that he was my pediatrician. His daughter, Abby, was born a day before Jill. They attended school together for many years and then were in a bible study for a year after Abby transferred to another school. They have been friends...but have lost touch...which happens in those years when everyone scatters to the winds. But for me, Abby is one of the sweet girls that went to school with my Jill, and is therefore...special to me. Plus, she has always struck me as an amazing and godly young woman. That's probably because she is.
Sometimes you look at a bride-to-be and you see someone who is concerned with every detail of her wedding. And other times you see a bride-to-be that is concerned about every detail of her groom and their upcoming marriage. Abby is in the latter group. Not only does she look happy...she glows. And not only does she glow...she radiates joy. A lot of this is her sweet spirit and her precious personality. But there is really something deeper with her. She has found the man that God created just for her...and she is overjoyed. I hope that one day that some of the women in my life who have not found their special someone will find what she has.
The best part is...if the engagement video that Abby posted is evidence is to be believed...and I am 100% sure that it is...her groom knows what a jewel he has in her. Which is as it should be.
After all of that...I expect that tonight I will probably do some of those things that I need to do but don't really want to get into at this point in time. But for the most part...it honestly matters not if I get to them or if I leave them for another day. Which totally rocks, by the way.
It is a simple day in early August with a whole lot of opportunities but no pressure to perform. Nobody is requiring anything from me and I am happy that it is what it is. All appears stable on the Hospice front, and for that I am appreciative. The prayers of many people are obviously getting through.
So, off to enjoy a few hours of relative inactivity while looking forward to seeing some sisters at lunch and a beautiful bride this afternoon...while realizing that sometimes it is those points in time that are strung together that make a life. A really, really good life.
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