A Clean Sweep

I was awoken this morning by Mary so I could help her get ready for school. Funny thing is, she was dressed and looking down on me while I was still in bed... so I did my duty of "helping her" get to school. Grandma was up as well, and I went downstairs to insure that Mary was readying herself... you know, I sat in the lounge chair staring at WISH 8 News while she took the dogs outs, brought the paper in, got her breakfast, brushed her teeth, etc. and I gave her a goodbye – be safe kiss on her cheek. She walked out the door, and I thought to myself these early mornings are tough ya know… having to get these kids off to school.

The next thing I know I see our bedroom light on and hear the shower running ~ I’m like wow that’s cool. So I do my things to get ready and Carol begins her morning on the move. I was beginning to think things are totally back to normal and that had my spirits up for sure.

I began preparing the upstairs for a thorough cleaning as Helen was coming today, a very nice cleaning lady who has been a friend of my wife’s family for years. Preparing means a lot of different things to different folks, so I’ll leave it at that – but I will say it was the hardest I’ve worked in a long….time, so someone else could clean!

I discovered Carol downstairs trying her best to eat a banana and looking a bit “green around the gills.” I had to put on my football coach mentality and inform her she started her day missing some of her gear… and ya can’t play football that way. I brought her a Zofran and stated it would remove the greenish tinge shortly… so not quite as well off as I had first hoped, but she’s certainly improving.

I headed off to work, and Carol’s day consisted of cleaning with Helen. I decided to leave her alone and only called her 29 times from the office today… thinking it would give her a chance to rest. I made my last call at 5:05 PM stating I was on the inbound and she should expect to see me land wheels down at or around 5:45 PM.

I arrived to an extremely clean house… wonderful job Helen and Carol, and the smell of cheese which I soon found out was Mac-n-Cheese brought over by Kira along with some rolls. We sat down to a wonderful meal at the table just like the good ol’ days not long ago (actually a week ago). It was nice and brought back feelings that I think we all needed after nearly a week of experiencing the ‘Chemo Roller Coaster.’

Our evening closed with the girls heading off to bed, and I had earlier in the evening prescribed a dose of laughter for the two of us. We sat and watched “Bill Engvall – 15 Degrees Off Cool.” We cried so hard that we both hurt, but this time in laughter and not in pain. What a beautiful experience to see the smile and laughter on her face. A truly spiritual moment for me… and a healing one for her.

Thank you and bless you Denise for the many helpful hints, gifts, and genuine concern. I promise you I will buy the best Juicer I can afford to provide all the nourishing fruit/vegetable juice Carol will need. Thanks Diane B. for the flower cookies they were awesome and it's the first time I've eaten a cookie on a stick. Thanks to you (again… and hey you’re going to get us in trouble with Dave) Kira for the wonderful food. Lastly, a big thank you is extended to the business support team at work. The ladies there raised my spirits far more today than they will probably ever realize… by letting me do one of my favorite things, and that’s tell a good story.

Good night to all, and may the good Lord bless you as richly as I feel he has done for me today – Eric (smiling)