And Life Goes On

This week has been a hodgepodge of things, rather like a crazy quilt that is put together with bits and pieces all mismatched but somehow making a whole.

The biggest thing to happen was also the best: a visit from our grandson who will soon be leaving for the Navy. What a blessing to have time with him before he leaves on this new adventure! He graduated from college last weekend and we could not go because of Larry's knee.

Clayton and granddaughter Haley who has been in the Army National Guard for 4 years.

Haley, Clayton and Hannah, who is expecting a baby in October. The family grows!

Two other granddaughters and one of our sons and his girlfriend came to see Clayton while he was here too. It was just wonderful to have so many family members coming around, something that happens less frequently as the grandchildren grow up and fly out on their own adventures. I am grateful for this time with Clayton before he takes off on his next life journey.

The other thing is Larry's knee and visits from his home health nurse and physical therapist, along with phone calls from his doctor and others at the VA.The therapist comes three times a week, and we love her--she's the kind of independent woman that I see my granddaughters becoming. The nurse is great too, very good at her job and so caring.

The downside is that the patient is becoming harder for me to deal with. He wants to do all the things he did before and I think he is getting tired of doing the exercises. He thinks he's "good enough" but he still has a long way to go. I feel like such a bossy woman, insisting that he do the exercises and get on his stretching machine; he is one recalcitrant patient sometimes! I think we are just in the hard part now--the exhilaration of getting through the surgery and recovering this far is wearing off, and now we're in the grunt work of getting that knee back into full service. It's the not-so-glamorous phase. I'll keep being the nagging wife, making him do the things he doesn't want to do, and we will get through it, but it's going to be a tough slog for a while. He's doing well, and I think in his mind he's good to go,  and that will be my challenge to get him to continue working to regain as much range of movement as possible.

Along with this, we are packing the van and truck for this weekend's Ripley on Sale event, a big flea/antique sale on the courthouse lawn, Our grandson was a great help today loading my van; tomorrow I will finish loading the truck. I am sharing the space with a friend so I will have some help, and I will help her too. It will be a good time once we get set up. I cooked a turkey breast today and made bread and mayonnaise yesterday so we can pack sandwiches to take with us.

I am keeping up with the gardens and weeding as best I can--my flamethrower and string trimmer are my best friends--and Larry does a little mowing every day so that the place looks pretty good.

I'm also working on my presentations for summer storytelling, slowly refining my Summer Reading program and putting together setlists for other gigs. Here and there I list a few things on ebay, and clean house and do laundry in the odd free moments. This time of year is always so busy and this year I have to make time for Larry's therapy so it's a bit more crowded. But if I wasn't so busy, what on earth would I do with my time?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.