Saturday, December 26, 2009

Home Again

At long last I was able to bring my sweet guy home on December 22. Not all has gone well. It is hard to regain strength--harder still when you have more treatment to endure and some of the meds you must take make it difficult to take in required calories and ample liquid.

It feels precarious some moments. We live in that well known land of 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

I read a lot while he was in the hospital and I carried books around with me. One very nice and very helpful doctor even brought me a book--I kept showing up with books she had read and loved so we determined that we had similar tastes in authors. She brought me a book of short stories by Amy Hempel--who is now a favorite author I now love.

On Christmas Day I began the next book on my list for our book club, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Yes, everyone else has already read this but I am glad I have it to read now. Reading the letters is perfect for a time such as this. A time when my I have short stretches of attention for it. It is a book that makes me thing of many things and many people. Among them is Mrs. Carter, the mother of one of my best friends. Back in college days I house sat for Mrs. C and then later lived with her during my  last year of school. I would have loved to discuss this book with her. We used to have the greatest talks. We'd leave the library after the fire had died down, put the dog to bed, start up the stairs--still in conversation--and end up sitting on the top stair--or both leaning on the door jam to our rooms across the hall, talking and talking.

One line in the book that spoke to me today:
      "The bright day is done, and we are for the dark."  -Shakespeare
The man who spoke these words in the book was saying he wished he'd known them on the day the Germans invaded their island (Guernsey) because he could have thought these words and been consoled somehow, and able to contend with circumstances better--'without my heart sinking into my shoes.'

I think that is what reading and prayer do for me.

1 comment:

Alexandra MacVean said...

"The bright day is done, and we are for the dark." -Shakespeare

I like that quote and will have to remember that. Glad to hear you are back. I wish you both strength and courage to keep moving forward. Lifting you up from here. Big hugs!

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