Back to real life

Well, we're back.  Almost a week in Florida with my mom and dad.

My brother bought a retirement home in Florida with his awesomely nice girlfriend, Noreen.  It amazes me my brother bought a retirement home in Florida and he's not retired.  We tease him about not mailing Christmas cards in order to save the postage (he gives them to us on Christmas)... I guess the savings on all those stamps added up.

It was a wonderful week.  It was the coldest week they've had in Florida all winter but still in the high 70's. It rained a lot, too.  But we still wore flip flips all week.  No snow!  NO SNOW!

My parents are the best.  They got Luther all the invalid equipment he might need:  a wheelchair, a toilet seat riser, a shower chair.  They worried about what to feed him,  which car to pick him up in.  They gave us space, they carted us around, they fed us and put up with us.

The warmth did Luther a world of good.  It's like it warmed his bones, his muscles.  If you asked me two weeks ago how he was doing, I'd say awful.  He could barely get up.  If you asked me last week how he was doing, I'd tell you he was going to live with me forever.

I think a lot of it was the one level living, too.  We live in a 3 level townhome and it's a drag for me -- a healthy person - to lug myself up and down those stairs.  Sometimes laundry doesn't get done in a timely way... it's daunting, at times, to carry those baskets down two flights of stairs.  So I imagine for Luther it's tiring to lug himself up and down those stairs.

In Florida, we stepped outside the kitchen and there's the pool, under the screen, overlooking a canal with palm trees, big Florida looking birds, fish jumping and lizards skimming.  How can you not feel better hanging out in flip flops by the pool after being snowed under in a three level townhome?

Luther had tons of energy.  So much so that we talked of moving to someplace warm.  It was that dramatic of a switch.  I doubt we will.  Our support system of friends, family, the VA is here.  But we had these moments of thinking we'd fling our winter boots away along with our fear and anxiety and head someplace warm where the warmth itself seemed like a cure.

We're back, it's chilly, rainy.  I worked today.  We're back.  The chill is back in his bones, his muscles.  It was a joy to have this illness put on hold for almost a week.