Spring Is Springing

On the walk to the mailbox yesterday to mail a letter and pick up our newspaper from the paper box, I was pleased with all the henbit and other tiny flowers by the road. The one mound of dirt from a crawdad making a hole into the ground reminded me of long ago when our children were always fascinated by the many such holes by the pond at the edge of our yard.

The reason I was going to get the newspaper yesterday was that Gerald had left at 3 a.m. to meet Gerry for a last-minute trip to Waco to watch Erin and Texas A&M play Baylor on their home field. Walking down the lane for our newspaper is usually the first task Gerald does each day, and I am spoiled to find it on the breakfast table in the kitchen when I get up much later. Although I would have loved to see the Baylor campus and certainly been thrilled to see Erin, I thought better of tagging along on this hurriedly planned and executed trip because the arthritis that the last trip to Texas stirred up still causes me pain.

Just the trip to St. Louis on Tuesday was painful. (Of course just sitting, walking, or lying in bed can be painful at times also. Other times I am pain free.) I need lots of time to get out and walk and break up a long car trip. We had gone to St. Louis for Gerald’s six-month appointment with the cardiologist there because the ice storm prevented his doctor making his usual trip to Murphysboro for a February appointment. With this trip to Texas suddenly planned, we didn’t dally on our St. Louis jaunt as we might have otherwise, but we enjoyed the pleasant spring drive and especially the trip home since the doctor had given Gerald an excellent report.

I watched the Baylor-Texas A&M game on game tracker in Gerald’s office as usual except by myself and was delighted we won over them the second time. Gerald was still elated when he called at 10 p.m. after watching Erin play and then briefly seeing her as the team collected carry-out at a restaurant before their long bus ride back to College Station. The plan then was for him and Gerry to drive for awhile and get a motel.

Since Gerald had the car, I drove the pickup into Katherine’s this morning. She had an occupational therapist coming to help her work out more efficient ways of doing everyday activities. I was able to fix Sam an egg sandwich when he woke up and even fixed his mac and cheese for him before I left to come back home. (He is quite capable of fixing his own, but I enjoyed doing it and hearing about their two-day trip to the St. Louis zoo and science center.) I was in no hurry to get home since I assumed there was no one to fix lunch for at our house.

However, when I pulled into the garage, there was our car. And downstairs Gerald was conked out fast asleep in his easy chair in the family room. He and Gerry had just kept driving all night, and they were home before ten this morning. I served him a sandwich from the Easter ham and listened to the story of their trip.

I have spent the week gathering up Easter decorations and getting ready to put them away for next year. The bouquet of daffodils that Sharon Robinson gave me has been thrown away now, and most of the left-overs are either eaten up or stuck in the freezer.