Fire!

When my group leader informed me that he was ill and would be cancelling tonight’s class, my body got the message before my brain did. My body said, “Wow, I don’t have to go anywhere tonight. It’s time to shut down.” And shut down it did.

Since Ken’s surgery (and even before) I have been pushing myself to the brink of exhaustion almost every day. With adrenal fatigue, that’s easy enough to do just in a normal day’s routine, but I have been pushing way past and more or less hurting myself in the process. I have been unable to sleep much at all this past week because of all the pain I have been in, with running all the errands and to appointments and cooking and cleaning. (I know, quit whining.)

The topper, though, was yesterday when some prospective buyers came by to look the place over. I tried my best to get it all spiffy beforehand, but I still felt I did an inadequate job of it, but that is partly due to all the junk we still need to offload and the overall lack of storage space.

Back to my body shutting down: I figured I might just lie down for a few minutes, rest my weariness. Ken tried to get me up. He wanted me to either go for a walk with him or to just go outside and take advantage of the beautiful day. I could barely lift my arm to wave him off, while I slurred, “leave me be.” He could have yelled “fire!” but I don’t think I could have gotten up even then.

He was not happy that I was “wasting another day” in bed, but then again, he has never really understood my levels of fatigue. It is like when you have the flu and you are all achy and can barely move. Only mine doesn’t nicely disappear after a week or two of misery. It sticks around, waxing and waning to a certain degree, but always there. Always dampening my plans and squashing the best of my intentions. It sucks. (Sorry.)

So, after my three-hour snooze-fest, I feel much better. I was able to finish making dinner, which I had started earlier. At least I had gotten the prawns marinating before collapsing into bed. I added some leftover homemade Spanish rice from yesterday’s dinner and some steamed carrots, and we had ourselves a righteously fabulous meal outside in this beautiful weather.

My only disappointment is that the three kinds of chocolatey goodness I made for our RENEW dessert potluck yesterday did not make it to the church tonight. It’s just another example of my best of intentions going awry. Oh well, I am sure Trevor will be happy to gobble them down instead.

As a special bonus, here’s some flowers from our yard.

And a lazy little assist dog . . . (Tink fell asleep on the arm of the chair and then proceeded to slide onto Ken’s lap, which is better than her usual stunt—falling off the arm and onto the floor!)

(Wo)Man Up

Oh man, I feel like I am the one who went through surgery.

After a grueling day (Tuesday) of appointments, errands, and grocery shopping to prepare for Ken’s downtime following surgery, and then sitting at the hospital all day (Wednesday), I guess it was no wonder my body gave out yesterday (Thursday).

Luckily, Trevor came home early from work last night, because I was ready for bed by six, without having eaten much. Lucky also for Ken’s sake that Trevor can fix simple foods.

Speaking of Trevor, I happened to mention to him after getting home from the hospital that I would need him to help watch over Ken for a few days. Ken kind of scowled at the thought of needing a babysitter. But Trevor cracked up when I said, “Hey, the doctor said you have to have a responsible adult with you at all times for at least the first few days.”

Oh, how the tables have turned.

Tonight, if I feel up to it, I will venture out for my church stuff, and I can do that without guilt because a good friend has offered to “babysit.” He may grump, but I know Ken loves to be pampered.

As for me, I have to buck up and take on more responsibility than I have had to in the recent past. I too like to be pampered, and Ken and Trevor spoil me rotten all too often, but now it is not my turn.

Another thing I need to do is learn to accept the help that has been so generously offered—by our friends, our neighbors, our church family. I need to whip out my calendar, and say, “yes, please, dinner for Saturday would be great.”

After all, I am not alone in this journey. God gave us others to help carry our burdens. We only need to reach out our hand.

Our assist dog, Tinker Belle, hard at work. Check out the latest hospital-to-home fashions.

Tulips, Part Two

Here’s the second posting of tulips from the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon.

It is always great fun for me to go out to the fields and wander around, though since the weather was so nice, there were too many people for my liking. Having gone to the early church service that morning, we were thankfully able to beat most of the crowd, though. As we were leaving, more and more cars were pouring in. I was rather grateful we were on our way out at that very moment, instead of in.

Enjoy these beauties.