24 August 2014

Angela

Update:

As an update to “Our Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary” blog, Angie is now ready to get back on the trail after having her wrist being screwed back together. The doctor was somewhat concerned as to whether he was going to get all of the bone pieces covered by the plate which had to be emplaced to stabilize the pieces. However, after the operation, he was pleased how well everything fit together.

Following the operation, a solid cast was placed on the arm with the promise that if all went well a soft cast could be put on giving her much more flexibility and mobility. Thankfully, that was able to be done. However, during that two week interim her husband once more became the beautician, manicurist, pedicurist, dresser and an assortment of other things. Other things like the ironing, cooking, dish washer, laundry man etc, are just routine for him so they have no need to be mentioned.

The healing process was made significantly more tolerable by flowers from Leland and Lisa. It was anticipated by them that the flowers would be delivered soon after she got out of the hospital, but they did not arrive for a week or more after she got home. Each day Lisa would email us to find out if they had arrived yet. Each day the answer was the same – no. On the phone with the flower company, she would  try to figure out where the flowers were. Each day she would get the same answer, “We call but no one answers the phone.” The answer was unacceptable as the phone for us is like another appendage of the body, it never leaves. “Check the number you have, is it the right one” she would inquire. Each time the number was verified to be the correct one. Angie suggested that she cancel the order and save the money. But Lisa is like a bulldog, once she grabs on she never lets go until the job is completed.

 Finally, the day came when the flowers arrived at our humble abode. I think it was much better timing than if they would have come when she got home. The day brightened up for her and the discomfort she felt was forgotten. Then came the oohing and smelling as she admired the flowers.

“I want my picture with them” she said.

“Why”, I inquired, “they are just flowers.”

“No, they are not, they came from the kids and I want my picture with them.”

Obedient as I am, I soon found the camera.    I often wonder how many millennia it will take for me to understand the thinking of a woman. However many it takes, I know that I will not be alone in this task. For example, during an all men’s class I happened to be involved in, the discussion was centered around how us men needed to be more involved in what our wives liked to do or the decisions they need to make. One brave soul spoke up and said “I am willing to do anything if I could just get out of going shopping with her. For instance,” he said, “we go grocery shopping and she asks if we should get this or that. I say if you think we need it go ahead and get it, you are the cook.”

“No I want your opinion” she retorts.

“Due to past experiences” he says, “I have learned to simply say yes.”

In almost one accord, everyone in the class expressed the same opinion.

So, Angie is back to being almost fully functional. She has about five more weeks of the soft cast and then it is just continuing to be careful. That will last until something “pretty” appears as she is ambling along and that step that should have been there has elusively slipped away.