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From Ken on Monday 3/3/2008
On Monday, Norma's morning starts as usual. She attempts to start her day at 3:30am. I find her getting ready to take her morning shower. Just before she turns on the water, I say "Hey Hon, good morning ~ what are you doing?" She says, “I'm getting ready, I have to go.” I say, “Hey Honey, we never get ready for work at 3:30 a.m. She looks at the clock and shrugs. For the moment, she understands. She heads back to bed while I gather up four of our seven rescue cats to sleep in our upstairs master bathroom. Patches, Bandy, Hootie, and Teardrop are disappointed as they see nothing wrong with having more room to sleep, stretch and run at 3:30am. We turn off the lights for more energy-boosting sleep.
At 5:30am, I wake up to a light again. This time, we are up to stay. It takes Norma approximately two and a half hours before she is ready to walk downstairs for breakfast. She enjoys a chocolate covered strawberry, the last of the bunch, compliments of our Chalkboard/Toy Town team members - some yogurt with peaches, half a banana, and a couple of Bud Light's...okay...I'm kidding about the peaches!
My mom, Doris, is with us again overnight, as she has every single night since Friday, February 8th, so that she could take care of Scooter, our 17.5 year old aging Maltese who needs assistance during the night. Norma knows that things are not as they should be, and she knows that she is not feeling up to par. After asking where her car and car keys are, and then being refused transportation, she tires and goes back to bed until 12:30pm on Monday afternoon.
Her niece, Ginger (Munson) Perkins, has opted not to go to Orlando, Florida to our annual buying show with NSSEA, so that she can stay back to help out with Norma. She arrives at our home at approximately 9:30am. Since Ginger's husband, Jason, has taken the week off to watch their children, Audrey and Andrew, while Ginger was to be in Florida, we decided it would be a good idea to have all of them join us for lunch.
At 12:30, we have another great lunch thanks to contributions over the past couple days from John and Jen Munson, Eric and Lisa Munson, Dan and Carolyn Dial, Bill Dan Sickle, Dale and Karen Roberts, Ginger and Jason Perkins, and Mom. We should be good for each meal through this weekend. The kids have fun playing in our basement while Ginger and Norma supervise. Mom hangs out upstairs in the kitchen to clean up, attend to Scooter and rest her hearing aides.
Jason and I attempted to play a game or two of pool on our newly reconditioned nine foot pool table (thanks Rick and Jean Colby - you are going to love it!), but our game takes way too long because we both suck at it! Practice, practice. It's time for Jason and the kids to leave to go home for naps and our game of pool is left behind unfinished (however, after Jason leaves I do find time to finish the game without him - I won!).
Norma truly enjoys having everyone over but she is worn out with all of the activity and goes back up to bed for another 4 hour snooze.
Gee - time for eats and treats again? Ginger, Mom, Norma and I have dinner and at 8:30pm Norma heads up for bed. I follow her upstairs to help her get ready. I flip on the TV on tune into channel 11 - WTTW. The program is titled "My Music, My Generation, the 60's." Bingo, that's us! As I turn up the volume, the song playing is "What the world needs now is love, sweet love". Norma stands by her bedside, next to her nightstand, and starts walking towards me. I ask her to dance. She smiles, and stretches her arm around my neck. I pull her close and we stand in place and sway to the beat of the music. My eyes swell up with tears of joy, it's the best dance I've ever had!
We crawl into bed and she places a pillow on my chest and I gently rub her head as we enjoy more sixties music. As I comfort her I feel the stitches and scars that remind me of the skill of her surgeons whose hands were touched by God's grace so she could live. Norma drifts off to sleep and I ask God, "Why me? Why have you blessed me so?" We are so fortunate!
At 10:00pm I come downstairs to say goodnight to mom and Scooter. The phone rings. It's our good friend Pete Andrews. He wants to bring over a homemade banner they made expressing get well wishes for Norma. I share a funny story with Pete regarding Norma. I tell Pete, "you know, she is going to look at your poster in the morning and say something like…’Why does Pete think I'm sick?’". I further explained that earlier in the day I was again trying to tell Norma that she had been in the hospital for three weeks recovering from brain surgery - and she looks at me and laughs and says, “Yeah, right! When did I have brain surgery?”
I tell her, "Norma, you had brain surgery on Saturday, February 9th." She then pulls out her calendar and clearly points to the date … “There is nothing written down on the 9th." She smiles and says "Yeah, right," and laughs again, as she walks away.
Pete chuckles, and then he comments that he's been reading Norma's web site and her guest book, and he says it's amazing that so many have responded by praying for her. Then he asks me how I would be doing right now without the help and caring of all our friends and family. I tell Pete, I would be devastated and lost. Instead, because of all of you and your prayers, I am inspired and uplifted ~ you raise us up!
It's now 11:40pm on Monday night. I'm writing my thoughts for the day down on paper for a change, to make sure I don't miss anything. I'm down in our new basement theater and turn the TV on to keep me company while I write. I tune into Ghost. As timing would have it, Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore are dancing to the music of “Unchained Melody” ~ one of the all time greatest love songs.
I think of my dance with Norma just three hours earlier, and now it is clear to me. Life is all about the dance. So my advice to you, my family and friends, is to dance while you can, and to dance often. Don't take the gift of life for granted as we often times do with those we love. We have been given a gift -- many are not as fortunate as we. Have you all taken time for those special hugs I recommended a couple of weeks past? If not, what are you waiting for? God bless and good night.
Love,
Ken and Norma
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