I apologize up front if our meeting today comes out a little confusing. I am currently on a muscle relaxant. For someone who doesn’t even take an Advil for a headache, this is extra relaxing. I’ll explain more, but first things first.
Scott has been out of town for the past few days attending his niece Jenny’s college graduation. Jenny graduated from Washington State University in Spokane with a Doctorate of Pharmacy. Wow, we have a doctor in the family!
After graduation, the gang all headed to a fancy Italian restaurant. Jenny had to make reservations last December! Congratulation Jenny. All your hard work has finally paid off.
It was great for Scott to visit with his family.
He got home last night, with enough time to unload his dirty laundry and enjoy homemade pizza.
Did I mention that I recently acquired a bread machine. I love it! We have been experimenting with all different versions of bread. Yesterday we made fresh pizza dough. It was seriously some of the best pizza we have had in a long time. Tonight is a standard white bread to go along with the homemade baked potato soup.
This past week’s weather gave me the excuse to get out the Capri pants and sandals. (Sorry for the blinding white legs) The flowers are starting to bloom. It’s still a month away from being able to plant the garden though.
The flowers hold a special meaning to me:
My friend Kate gave them to me as bulbs. See, Kate is a self-proclaimed bulb hoarder. Those are her words, not mine. Last fall she arrived at bookclub with a trunk full of bulbs that she had bought. She said that she couldn’t take them home. Her husband would kill her for buying more. She begged us to take them, but also added that we had to promise to plant them.
I put these bulbs in my large washbasin that sits on our front walk. It is full of flowers during the summer, but sits empty and sad looking the rest of the year. We planted the bulbs. Something dug them up. We replanted them. Something dug them up. We replanted them. This became a game. At one point we were going to set up Scotty’s critter cam to see if we could catch the critter in the act. I am making a point here. These are the flowers that survived the digging up and replanting.
I can see these flowers from the kitchen sink window. They bring a smile to my face when I see them.
I tell you this story because Kate just told us that she has breast cancer and is going up to Portland in a few weeks to have major surgery. Kate is always such a positive person and I know in my heart that everything will be ok. But when I look at these flowers, I smile and think of her. I think of that night standing by the trunk of her car loading them up in grocery bags. I think of the silly things that we laugh about at bookclub. I think about the things that I have learned from Kate.
My plan for the flowers is to dig them up when they are done blooming and replanting them in the fall so they will bloom again next spring! They will always be known to me as “Kate’s flowers”.
Today is Mother’s Day. Scott had to work so we had a nice dinner last weekend. I got up this morning and read the Sunday paper while enjoying a fresh cup of coffee. Then I put on my yard digging clothes and headed down to the lower part of the yard. I know have three full buckets of goodies I have dug up.
After sitting on the hard, uneven ground, in a pretty awkward position for most of the time, I decided it was time to head in and take a shower. I stood up, took two steps, picked up my bucket, took one more step, and my back completely froze up. I dropped to my knees in pain. I wasn’t sure that I could get back up. All I could think is that no one would stop to help me because they are used to me sitting out in the yard and they would just continue to drive by thinking that nothing was wrong. My next thought was that my husband was a work, which basically means that everyone I know within a ten mile radius was also at work.
After a minute or two, I was able to get back up on my feet. Thinking that I just needed to stretch, I took a couple of steps. I could literally feel my back muscles freeze up with every movement. My back muscles were locked and my legs were moving anywhere. I dropped to my knees again.
I crawled most of the way back to the house until I reached the sidewalk. The dogs got a real kick out of it. They totally thought I was playing with them.
I finally made it back inside and into a hot shower. I called Scott at work and told him that I could barely move. Fortunately he has the sick time to take. He came home to take care of me. He’s in making dinner right now. I have a pretty good husband!
Hopefully these muscle relaxants will help. They certainly aren’t hurting anything, that’s for sure! This just wasn’t how I planned on spending my Sunday.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! I hope you got to spend your Sunday doing something that you enjoy.
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