We arranged that I would come over after Steve's buss arrived, which I said could be anywhere between 1:30 and 2:30, so we'd probably arrive around 3 p.m. Both parties were agreed.
This morning, we had set up a makeover session here at the house, which a friend conducted with her guests while I put my 20% sale in motion, along with offering Mother-Daughter makeover portraits to my customers. Since it is the end of the month and I want to help meet our unit's goal, I placed a modest order of the exact items I need until after a few parties next week. I also spent time on the phone with a dear friend facing a sudden move from her home which was sold out from under her and her husbandwithout notice! We prayed fervently, believe me, for them and for my Steve! We need to live and believe James 5:16 (KJV):
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
After our makeovers were ended and cleaned up, I made some tuna salad, rested a while, and then greeted Steve off of the Special Trans bus about 2:15. His personal needs were taken care of, and off we went. I called my dad from the Arco station, but it turned out he had been waiting for me at 1:30! (That's the earliest time Steve might get off the bus, you'll recall). He was not a happy camper, but I told him not only can I not leave the house until Steve gets home, but getting him ready and belted in the Jeep is no speedy process either. Daddy wanted me to get him a 100 roll of stamps, too, so I think that his real worry was that the Post Office would be closed early. So that was fine, and I drove on to Redlands.
Having arrived in the west end of Redlands, I decided to drop off the pedicure bowls to my sales director and then get the stamps at a nearby post office before going to Daddy's rather than drive to his house on the far eastern end of the city and back to the post office. I'm making myself dizzy writing this!!
As I pulled onto Daddy's street, a young blonde woman in a grey car was waving me on to turn into the driveway, which I thought odd because a driver going straight has right-of-way. On second glance I saw it was my daughter Heidi, who had carved out some time to give me a hand with her grandpa before her busy evening began at home! Good! Now I'd have some backup for persuading Daddy to get his doctor to sign off on the handicapped placard he desperately needs now. (He'd been resistant to asking the doctor's office to do this for him unless he had an appointment. I shared the fact that Steve, too, has Medicare, and that I'd taken the form to Steve's doctor's receptionist, and we got a call that the doctor had signed it within two days).
The task at hand, once I'd gotten Steve settled on the couch for a doze, and put on flat shoes and covered my dressy dress with a skirt that was going to be laundered anyway, was to gather a barrel of recyclables on Daddy's covered back porch, and place the contents into the rolling dumpster for morning pick up.Heidi and I managed quite handily, with me picking up the barrel and dumping all of the contents, instead of picking out handfuls like Daddy was doing. I laughingly mentioned that I've gotten strong just from doing all of the chores at my house and moving Steve along wherever we go. And who know how much weight I've avoided gaining with all of the manual labor, because I can't just leave the house in the early morning for a walk while Steve's sleeping! And where would gym hours fit in?
This morning, I told Heidi, I'd found her dad downstairs when I came to start the coffee pot, in his thin t-shirt and diaper, with the spray nozzle broken off of an air freshener canister! This is eerily similar to the way I found him downstairs the morning after Heidi's bridal shower last spring, only his underwear was torn, he'd gotten outdoors, and he'd disassembled the automatic spray holder from the downstairs bathroom. Will definitely keep those out of reach! And I'm so glad the doors now sound an alert chime whenever they're opened.
Heidi had to leave, because she and her husband take a Monday night class on Hebrews at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta; she also had to pick up their puppy Jazzlyn from her spaying appointment. She reminded her grandpa that she lives super close, and to call her if he needs anything. I helped Steve to the car, and said goodbye to Daddy, because I had a customer delivery to make nearby, and we both needed to get home.
As I waited my turn in the beautiful post office, I noticed that Redlands people seem very relaxed and mellow, not agitated like they do in my city. Must be the hundreds of stately homes and quiet neighborhoods they emerge from. I know I thoroughly enjoyed growing up there. Heidi likes to say, "It's REDLANDS!" as the answer to everything from quiet streets to well-behaved children. She and her husband are already looking for a house to buy in the area of my old junior high, now Cope Middle School. .Sometimes I consider moving back to my hometown, depending on future developments, because my business wouldn't be affected, and I can drive to our church through the Canyon. I travel wherever my customers are, they come to me, or I have Mary Kay corporate mail out their products.
All depends upon the Lord's work in my life, the voice of the Holy Spirit calling me to make a move, if He calls for me to do that at all. I wouldn't consider moving in Steve's lifetime, because familiar surroundings are a must for an Alzheimer's victim. Other priorities call to me long before that of setting up a (small) dream house in my elegant home town.
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