Bonnie Recovery

A Week at the Beach, and Another

We’ve now been in NC for a week. Daniel has been in constant motion with a crew of guys finishing the house. Today they finished re-screening the porch. I went to Lowes and had shelving cut for the closets (this was my first solo trip in the car in more than six months). Closet shelves are being installed as I write this. Pictures of the house will be posted later.

Tonight I go again to Jen’s where I’ll stay a couple of nights. I’ve been spending two nights here at the beach house then two nights there since we arrived. Here are some pictures of the grandchildren and me. I kept Abi on Tuesday while her mom went on a field trip with Zac from 9 to 1. I am having so much fun.

Jennifer and family came to the beach house last Sunday. We played games, ate ice cream, and played putt putt. Zac won by seven strokes.

 

We faced an impossible task in getting the house ready for us to turn it over to renters tomorrow. The rental company was able to find them a different house and so we are staying ANOTHER WEEK. We should be ready to head for Cambridge on June 8^th.

I’m feeling pretty good. I’m eating a normal amount and generally enjoying life with morning and afternoon naps.

Once in a Blue Moon

Once in a blue moon the Atlantic ocean is so still that it looks like glass.  On the last night of May, it's second full moon rose so round and bright over a silver ocean that it's reflection shimmered like a lone toboggan track across a frozen lake.

A few days later the ocean was roaring, and crashing and the winds howling;  Barry, our second tropical storm of the 2007 Hurricane season, blew through Oak Island.  The ebb and flow of Life are so abundantly clear at this the point of transition, where the sea meets the earth.  I hear the surf break as I type.

I am happy to report that our house no longer sails or shudders in moderate winds - though it does continue to do both when the winds really get going.  The house just feels more solid now that we have hundreds of new Simpson Hurricane ties strapping it's wood to wood joints together.

Privileges

Yesterday I was emptying the dishwasher when I suddenly realized I WAS EMPTYING THE DISHWASHER. It has been nearly six months since I last did that. Keeping the dishwasher ready to receive dirty dishes has long been my job, but about the time of my transplant I was unable to do it. I couldn’t stand up that long; I couldn’t bend over to get the dishes off the bottom rack. I can remember being in the Cambridge kitchen and looking at the dishwasher, thinking that there had been a time when my job was to take out the clean dishes. At that time I couldn’t imagine having the energy to do it ever again. 

It seems to me now that wellness is like a switch that is either on or off. When I’m not in the wellness state, I’m afraid of much that I need to do. I am scared of climbing stairs. I’m constantly looking to make sure that I have a place to sit down nearby. When I think of leaving the house, I become obsessed with strategies for how I can go to the bathroom safely. Much of the time I was in rehab, I was afraid of falling or being left without help, even though these events happened only a couple of times. Being an invalid is a state of mind… a state that takes over the mind. As an invalid, I didn’t want to do anything except stay in bed where I was comfortable. Therapists would encourage me to get out for a walk, but I seldom wanted to even when I did go. I couldn’t imagine another life.

Now life has almost returned to routine. Yes, I still celebrate a little when I’m able to get out of bed by myself and go to the bathroom; I’m not quite oblivious to what they called “bathroom privileges” at rehab. I still think of my friends at rehab, wonder whom they are helping now, and feel gratitude for their patience with me. They could see what I could not – that my resistance was my ill health. My six weeks there seems distant to me now, but I hope never to forget it and become oblivious to the privileged life I lead of just moving around and doing the simple necessities of life like emptying the dishwasher.

 

Grandkids at the beach & now we are heading home

We had the grandkids to the beach yesterday and they had a ball in the water and sand.  Lucas, who is 18 months old, does whatever his brother does, so wading into the surf was just fine, so long as Mommy or GrandDan was there to secure him. 

Zachary jumped up and down in the waves with his lifelong friend Ty.  Then they built a pirate ship out of a big white box, complete with clearly marked "entrance" and "exit" ends.  They created hats and swords from paper and delighted in their creativity.  Meanwhile Bonnie errrruhhhh GrandBee fed tiny Abigail Jean, who is now holding her head up and looking around and outgrowing her first infant clothes. 

I grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for the whole crew and we delighted as we surveyed the scene of our grandkids and friends and Jennifer errrruhhhh Mommy enjoying their day at the beach.  What a long strange trip it has been since Christmas, when Bonnie could not even stay at the same dinner table to eat after grace. 

We give thanks to the Source of the ocean, and sand, and children and grandchildren, and the moon and the stars - and the stardust out which we are each formed. 

And thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts.  It has made all the difference in the world.  One day we will rejoin the sunset.  Until then we are enjoying our children and grandchildren.

I am signing off to go pack so we can return to Cambridge. 

as ever  /Daniel for BanD