Hello Alive Tribe!
I apologize for my recent silence. My husband and I made spontaneous plans to visit my best friend in Canada. It's over two hours away, so we quickly packed a bag and left for Canada Friday after work. During the drive, Jeff received a phone call from his brother in Arizona informing him that his Mom, who recently had another stroke, was being released to hospice at their home.
Saturday the gentleman headed out to pick something up at the store for a kitchen stove light repair and to meet up with the neighbor for a drink.
My friend calls this her back yard zen spa area
My friend and I spent a wonderful afternoon in her hot tub catching up on our lives since Thanksgiving when we last spent a weekend together at her home. We shared hopes, dreams, history, victories, defeats, fears, and prayers for each other.
Friendships like ours are very rare. Our friendship spans decades back to high school. She's as close as a biological family member, and in many ways, she knows me better than most. Time slipped away and after dinner, we went back to the basement to talk more. Before we knew it, the clock read midnight. A fierce wind was blowing outside the guest bedroom.
I checked my phone before laying down next to my sleeping spouse and saw my son had texted me on Facebook at about four pm with two pictures of the tree outback our home which the same winds I was hearing in Canada knocked down in Pennsylvania. I messaged to see if all else was well at home, but not getting a response quickly, I lay down to try to sleep.
When I woke, I checked the phone and my son texted some time in the night that the power had gone out soon after he'd sent the photos. He texted that he had fired up the generator.
In the morning before breakfast, Jeff's aunt called to share the news that his Mom passed away the night before. We thanked our friends for their hospitality and left for America. I had a migraine that lingered all weekend and the drive home seemed to crawl. My husband tried to begin the process of accepting the loss of his Mom. The migraine exhausted me. The power was restored at home before we got home. The tree didn't hit the house, so we will just need to burn it when the mud and wet dries.
Monday (yesterday) I got up and worked, but the migraine came on once more with such vengeance that, by noon, I decided I had to take the rest of the day off.
Thankfully, my paperwork went through for FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) allowing me to use the time off without penalty against my attendance/performance matrix which determines raises, etc. I still need to submit paid time off to cover the absence, but I'm under no risk for attendance.
I worked today and went to the nail salon after work. It is nice to take a break and treat yourself, even amid life's storms.
I am alive and thriving and I hope each of you are, too.
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