Friday, August 28, 2015

August 28 – “Home Alone”

Chris left me home alone yesterday.  Frightening thought, isn’t it?  I behaved myself for the most part, though.  She had to meet her sister (the one who lives in England) in Bay City and the two of them drove to Victoria to sign some final release papers with the funeral home so that their Dad’s body could be cremated. They also went over some of the details for the memorial service we are having tomorrow over at Seaside at 2 p.m. 

While she was away I had a typical day.  Went to water exercise.  There I realized just how much I have come to rely on working out right behind Chris in the water.  I just can’t always hear what the instructor says.  And I am not alone.  Yesterday five or six of us were looking around with questioning eyes after some new exercises she threw into the mix.  I can usually say “what?” just under my breath and Chris will turn around and interpret.  We managed to muddle through, though. 

At home I spent most of the day working on the teaching for Sunday and the service for Saturday.  I was going to let Josh and Kel do most of the service Saturday, but now it looks like Josh won’t be able to come.  His family is in various stages of sick-dom – from one end or the other, if you know what I mean.  While I was fervently trying to stay focused on the computer, the tell-tale ping of a FaceBook message notification went off.  It was a good friend of ours who now lives in Minnesota.  We chatted online for a few minutes, and he finally asked for my phone number and called instead.  It was really good to do some catching up with Gary. 

The second phone call I received was not quite so cordial.  Well, I can’t say that exactly.  It was the neuro-surgeon, and he was very nice on the phone.  He called to tell me he had received the results of the test the neurologist had done in his office several weeks ago (The one where he stuck all those acupuncture needles in my back).  In these or quite similar words he explained, “I got the EMG results, and you have a mixed bag in there.  There is some element that indicates the neuropathy in your feet is from irritation in your back.  But there are other things there that mean some of it could be from something else (of course it is).  So, basically, you have both issues (of course I do).  We still need to do the procedure to tell for sure what would be relieved with your back surgery.  Give me a call to set up the test.”  Notice that he never used the word “myelogram” in his comments.  It was “the procedure” and “the test.”  I finally asked him point blank if he was talking about the myelogram, though.  Sadly, he confessed that he was.  Sadly on my part, that is.  It’s not going to bother him at all. 

My third contact was some texting from Nathan.  I was originally supposed to pick up Cailyn from school, but he was offered some vacation time at work, so he took it.  As it turned out Cailyn was not at all happy that she wasn’t going to be coming over to our house.  Sorry about that, Mom and Dad.  Wait.  No I’m not.  Here’s a big “Ho Ho Ho” from Grandparent Heaven over here.

Chris made it home from her all day journey, and we had some supper.  She settled in on the couch and eventually fell asleep.  I had no problem staying awake to watch the extra-inning Little League baseball United States semi-final.  Pearland, Texas, defeated California in an exciting eight inning affair.  The walk-off home run was hit by a youngster who had struck out every plate appearance in the World Series up to that point.  Good for him. 

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 says, “Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”


Father, thank you for the relief of a walk off home run after five straight strike outs.  Grant that kind of relief of relief to Chris and her siblings after the service tomorrow.  Amen.

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