Further Examinations
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
In which there are new obstacles encountered in the last days of winter…
6:00.
“Mama? Is it time to get up? I slept four and a half minutes. Did you set the beep?”
‘The beep’, aka ‘alarm clock’ was almost always entirely unnecessary. What with Puck in the house…
Bacon.
On the way to return a stack of library items, Puck was speaking something about the entrance of himself into life…
“…and then a baby appeared and you didn’t want to live far away from each other, and you didn’t want to lose your baby…”
Explanations were in order.
Drop-off.
Rose had picked up Maranatha peanut butter with sea salt from Whole Foods for Collette.
Linnea needed her hair braided; there was still paint in it from remodeling her room.
Rose was discussing her ‘give-ups’ for Lent and her wish to purchase a miniature Jersey milk cow.
Later…
In the kitchen, Carrie prepared a new recipe: Sour Cream Fudge Cupcakes with quinoa flour to bring to Rose’s Bible Study Potluck, Thursday night, whose leaders were moving to Pennsylvania to minister in a Korean Presbyterian church…
Dad returned early from work to run three miles.
UPS brought a small box.
“Oh, it’s one of your birthday presents,” Carrie-Bri told Puck.
Puck’s eyes lit up.
“Do I get it in three minutes? Do I have to wait one more dark time to get it?”
“More dark times than that.”
“Three more dark times?”
And Carrie, with now six madrigal dinner costuming’s worth of experience under her belt, was putting the last touches on Francis’ pirate apparel.
Not long later, the kitchen smelled like a movie theater with Carrie getting the popcorn popper started for Puck.
After Francis worked for the afternoon, he joined Puck outside with a big blanket in the lightly coolish warm breezes.
“Where should we cuddle, Francis?” Puck asked.
They chose the porch swing.
Everyone split for the later afternoon.
Mom and Dad would be headed out to dinner.
Joe for bikes and then old buddies.
Rose to drive a friend from church around her list of errands.
Francis and Linnea to games and pizza with the youth at Henri’s house.
And while Puck stayed with his grandpa and Sun, it was time for another nutritionalist appointment for Collette.
Before she left, Puck gave her a hug and said, “You’re my best mama.”
4:00 in South City.
And, not surprisingly… Collette was also diagnosed with pretty weak adrenals. A sigh for the week… but all was not lost. There were improvements in other areas. And there was hope that within three months, she could be recovered. No fruit anymore, but rice and potatoes were added to her diet. And a prescription to follow that diet strictly and cut out the stress. So to look forward to the hope of June…
Whole Foods.
Back.
Get down Puck for the evening.
Collette was tired. Tired, but grateful.
And so despite all of the terrible catastrophes of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, wars and rumors of wars, nuclear meltdowns, and horrible things on the globe, and the less-so-terrible trials of living at home in St. Louis with minimal discomfort… the world spun on…