All good things

You know the old saying, all good things must come to an end.  So this morning, a cool, dreary Sunday, in a fairly quiet house with the dog curled up in my lap, I'm reflecting on my time off over these past many days and dealing with the fact that in a few days, this will indeed come to an end.  But, I'm pretty stoked this morning to realize that even after this Sunday I get to sleep in or do whatever I want to do for two more mornings before heading back to work.  And let me be clear, heading back to work ain't all bad, I've just thoroughly enjoyed this past week and a half.

Wendy and I originally planned this week off from work in order to be able to travel to North Carolina and see the kids for Christmas.  My work requires us to select these days about a year in advance so little did we know what 2018 would have in store for us.  We began the New Year with Wendy's mom so very sick and needed some extra care to recover from that illness.  Just a few weeks later Wendy came down with severe pain which was diagnosed as 12 bleeding ulcers.  Her hospitalization and subsequent recovery dominated January and part of February too.  Then March brought the awesome birth of grandbaby #3 in the person of our Brennan Leigh.  A now fully recovered Wendy spent numerous days helping Elizabeth with her first baby.  We did have a really nice May visit with Calvin and Katelyn but our return began months of extreme challenge.

On June 2nd Wendy's mom took a terrible fall at her apartment and we began getting alerts from her medical alert necklace.  By the time we met up with her in the ER of the closest hospital, we thought we would just be dealing with a very sore person who luckily did not break anything.  But something wasn't right and she would never go back to that apartment again.  From June 2nd until her death on November 19th Wendy was at her side 90% of the time, often for periods of 12 hours or more, even spending nights in the hospital.  By the end of September she was very ill and fell victim to pneumonia and sepsis.  She was very ill but thankfully recovered.  She was strong enough to finally get her mom permanently settled in to a very nice nursing home and we prepared for a more peaceful end of the year.  It was not to be; her mom was back in the hospital and soon would be critical, excessive complications with her heart and lungs and her journey here with us came to an end on a quiet Monday morning.

So as you can see, we had plenty to deal with and Wendy and I simply decided to stay home during this final vacation I had for 2018.  I also thought it important to spend some time with Wendy and hopefully plan some things that she would enjoy.  So that's what we did.  Our past week plus has been dominated by family and holiday fun and just great time spent together.  Between my very demanding job and my ministry schedule that goes far beyond Sunday's only, Wendy and I often see each other coming and going, especially this past year.

We had one day devoted to spending time and sharing a meal with her family, now just her sister and brother-in-law and niece, one day we traveled to Hammond to see my nephew and niece who live out of state, the children of my youngest sister, on Christmas Eve we spent the whole day with my daughter and son-in-law so we could play with Brennan and watch her open Christmas presents.  Christmas Day brought my family to town to eat Christmas dinner and enjoy the day.  The next day, which I blogged about earlier, is Wendy's birthday and the deacon celebration for St. Stephen's Feast Day.  Wendy and I had a delicious lunch at Pascals Manale in New Orleans and we attended the St. Stephen's Day mass and celebration that evening.  On the following day I took her to whatever movie she wanted to see; my goodness that choice was Mary Poppins.  Yes, I endured it even though Wendy says she had to wake me up twice.

Friday was a very special day as we drove to Thibodaux, about a 2-hour drive, and spent the whole day with two special people we became fast friends with back in the Jaycees days of the 1980's.  Blair and Sher went through so much with us in those heady years but as our Jaycees time ended, so did opportunities to visit.  Events of recent months made this possible again and we agreed to visit them at their home, it would be the first time in almost 20 years that we would visit in Thibodaux.  The day was about good food, great conversation and good friendship.  I know that this may have been one of Wendy's favorite events in  week long whirlwind of activity.  So by now we had done so many wonderful and busy things that I asked Wendy for one favor; could Saturday-Tuesday be more laid back and relaxing before I return to work on Wednesday.  And that's where I find myself on this Sunday morning.

I blogged earlier that perhaps my mother-in-law's final gift to us in her passing may have been the heartfelt desire this Christmas to focus more on the family, to truly be attentive to one another, to measure our words more carefully and just be thankful for what we do have, for one another and for our many blessings.  In her passing, we should see gift, the gift of her life, the gift of memories that we have forever and the gift to move forward.

With everything going on in 2018 and the fact I always tend to over book myself I can tell you honestly that I have loved everything about this past week and a half.  I don't think Wendy and I have been in each other's presence this much in like, well, I'm not sure.  We've had fun, laughed, smiled and shared and that has been very good, very special.  Today we have nothing planned except time at home together, a game to watch and Mass tonight.  New Year's Eve, we sincerely hope, will be nothing but laid back time.  And New Year's Day will bring Wendy's traditional meal of pork, cabbage and black eyed peas; and yes LSU football.  And I will retire that evening with the realization that January 2, 2019 brings me back to the bank for the first time since December 21, 2018(when honestly I only worked for 2 hours).  As said at the beginning, all good things!

I will probably post something tomorrow or Tuesday reflecting forward about some of our 2019 plans and how we will try to ease back into routines well known to us.  I will say here that January will be kind of special as Wendy and I embark on our first ever cruise.  My goodness, married 41 years and I'm finally taking her on a cruise!

One final word.  My plans this last week of 2018 as well as the cruise are all things I hoped to do with Wendy in mind.  She deserves any and all goodness that can come her way.  The way she "served" her mom in the these most precious and special last months of her life has been inspiring to me.  She really deserves some good days, some nice days and I hope I helped her experience that recently and now as we move forward in 2019.  So even though this good thing(my time off) is coming to an end, the really good things that endure need never come to an end.

Merry Christmas everyone and prayerful best wishes for 2019.