Home again, home again

Jiggety jig.

Well my brother went West, and Alan and I went East. I left him and his wife this morning for our trek home. He was heading West to spend a few days with his daughter, Lori.

I'm glad to be home, and I have to say that my brother is a very busy pastor and even though he was attending the Israeli conference this week (Friends of Israel) down at Grace Theological Seminary, he still had a full-slate as far as his pastoral duties were concerned. It seemed like he was always counseling someone, or a couple, or off to the hospital to visit someone who was sick. He was never still, and he was definitely in pain the whole week. Add to that the fact that Sue, his wife, has no feeling in her right side, so he has to do a lot of things for her as well.

I was amazed at how much Sue can do, though. She does so much with just one hand. She sits in her wheelchair, and cooks, does the dishes, and boy, don't interfere with her when she's in her kitchen. I tried to do the dishes and she almost, but not quite, became violent that I wouldn't let her do them. She said, she NEEDS to do the dishes, and she NEEDS to cook because there's so little she can do, and she NEEDS that little bit of independence. She has so little of it. Also, there is the problem of understanding her when she talks. But by the end of the week I was able to understand her pretty well. She is so sweet and never complains about anything. She just always smiles. And, she laughs a lot!

As I mentioned pain does things to a person's personality. Mark in general is very convivial, but this week he wasn't and I know it was due to the pain he was in. He's off to spend a few days away from the church and is in "hiding" so to speak so that he can get some much needed R&R.

I know he put out extra to get Alan to the conference sessions he (my brother) couldn't attend, and drove 45 minutes each way to get Alan there, then come back to the church, then head back out again, and bring Alan back to his home. I guess I could have driven him, but I wasn't attending the seminar, and my brother was. Mark had invited Alan, and I think Alan needed that "man" time with Mark and time to discuss what they had heard at the various sessions.

So, now we're back home. My house is still in tact, and as dirty as it was when I left it. I had tried to get at least the bathrooms cleaned up, but I neglected the kitchen floor. It really needs a scrubbing.

Tomorrow I shall go to the farmer's market and get a supply of fresh fruits and veggies.



Regarding broccoli: We did not have broccoli the whole week we were at my brother's -- he hates it, his wife, Sue, loves it. But when we went out to Bob Evans last night, both Sue and I had broccoli, so he (my brother) was surrounded by it. It have to say, Bob Evans does cook broccoli just right -- not over done, not raw.


So, folks, I'm back and will be posting more "old" pictures in the upcoming weeks (on Runnemede Remembered). Mark reminded me of several events from our childhood in Runnemede, which if I've written about them before, I'll reprise them (bring them to the front). And if I haven't told the tales we laughed over, I'll write them up.



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