Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been absent a few days. There have been a number of reasons, and the old saying, “When it rains, it pours,” is right. Since Becky broke her leg, I have gone back and forth to help with things she isn’t able to do on crutches. She has found a few ways to make it work but not all. It is humbling to have to ask for help when you have been a physical fitness person and centered on a strong body. Now reduced to either having help, doing without or finding ways to do what she needs have been serious choices for her.

We all know the boredom that sets in when you can’t get up and do what you want. Boredom is only the tip of the ice-burg. Frustration, impatience, anger and blame all follow in step…so to speak. I’ve been there and done that but not with a broken leg. Any incapacitating illness or accident downgrades your choices, radically. We have tried to help but not smother……..a balancing act for experts.

News last week that an old friend lost her husband in a horrific traffic accident changed her life in a moment, and she was struggling, trying to stay on top of the onslaught that comes with tragedy. We talked on the phone and I wrote her a letter, knowing that would mean more than flowers or a sympathy card that only brings more pain. In the midst of my grief in losing Bear I found reading all of the cards with lofty verses about how it was “going to be all right….in time” or well-meaning Christian friends parroting cliché’s only added to my loss. It did not get better in time and sometimes no words are best. I may be odd but the thing that worked for me was working it out in my solitude. When all of the voices and well wishers were gone……I could hear my own thoughts in silence.

Becky and I have had three booths at an Antique Barn for six or seven years now. When she was able to manage crutches better, she was not one to sit around and wait for miracle healing. She got up and helped Rocky and me go through two garages full of things to be sold and helped price and tag them. We fixed her up in front of the small booth on a retro, red step stool. A table then made it possible for her to put things on the shelves from boxes we brought her . I was busy emptying things out of our large booth for quick sale in the small booth. With Rocky carrying things back and forth it helped the process because the booths were on separate isles. He is also a class weight-lifter, as you know, so it was no problem for him to transport the heavy boxes.

With one concerted effort, the three of us managed to get the job finished and the booths look great. We toted our empty boxes out to the car and went out for lunch. Today is “kick-ass Monday” and Becky IS back to work today……..but I doubt if she’s doing much kicking…..especially that high. She is in civilian clothes, working in the office of Troop G until she is able to resume traveling with her crew. I know it will be tough getting through her first day, but she’s not one to shirk so I’m sure the State will get their full eight hours of effort from her. Rocky is back to work and I’m going to do some serious cleaning………if we don’t stub our toe, I’ll be back tomorrow to pick up the rest of January 1996.

I hope you have all had a good week-end and are picking up the traces today. I don’t know where YOU are but where I am we are looking for some relief from an unusually hot summer, here in Southern Missouri. After a few sessions of becoming over-heated, I have been house-bound most of the time…..I decided I can’t win by being bull-headed about it so I fell into line. Old Mother Nature is bigger than any determination we have…….or is it just me? Perhaps……………

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther