Well, we are now into Day 3 of the “Get Aaron all Healed up” campaign. If you have read it at all, you will recall that Friday, before almost any living thing was awake, we took Aaron over to the hospital for his outpatient surgery – taking care of a rather pernicious hernia. We went through the whole ordeal, including the ten thousand page instruction manual, as though there was a real risk that, if the hernia stuff were to come undone, Aaron would suddenly deflate, flying around the room like a balloon let loose without tying it.
So, when we got home, Cheri/Mom put together the schedule for the many medicines Aaron was to take over the course of a day. That meant, of course, that no two doses would or could be on the same schedule, or that like every 6 hours, Aaron could just gulp down one of each and call it good. Oh no – one is every 8 hours, one is two three times/day, one is every six-eight, as needed, and one is to be administered when the clock strikes a mysterious number known only to guinea pigs and sea monsters… There was something to breathe in, so that he could keep breathing. There was a significant stretch band that he was to wear to keep him from breathing, apparently – we found that it took about three people to stretch it tight enough so that it was as close as you could get to a 21st century corset. Adam, younger brother, had gone to the store before we got home, and secured the ice cream, chocolate milk, syrup, and a wide range of munchie and tasty goodies. I know it was to make sure Aaron ate stuff, but it also made for a nice tasty weekend as well! The weekend has progressed pretty well, with each person taking his/her responsibility, including Adam fetching water or milk, and chatting with brother downstairs, and Mom offering what only a mother could offer – lots and lots of tender love and care. I have been in charge of financing the campaign, and ordering in foods from restaurants that might taste good, and the cats have also offered their own suggestions of how Aaron could feel better by taking care of every one of their needs as well. It’s now Sunday afternoon – Aaron actually slept in this morning, which was good, but it meant having to reshuffle all the medicine schedule for the day. It will be a bit of a challenge when Cheri goes back to work tomorrow, since then all that tender care stuff falls to me.. maybe I’ll just have Cheri call him every hour. Oh, and “we” bought a new blender so the shakes will be smoother and tastier. And we moved the recliner into his bedroom so he could lay back while playing his Xbox. And so it goes. What I have realized in all this work, is something I learned, but forgot a number of years ago. The fact is, when someone in the family system is sick, or injured, or recovering, the entire family is part of the sickness, the injury or the recovering. Yes, we do other things than simply wait hand and foot, or stand nervously, expecting a need to arise. But when part of the system is affected or weakened somehow, the entire system is affected. Just like Paul talks about when he tells us that when part of the body is hurt or needing something, the whole body is afflicted or affected. It’s just the way it goes. Now, we are blessed in that Aaron in a few days will be all the healthier, and medicines will go away, and normalcy will come back to our home. I do feel for those families that undergo a struggle with a hurting family member, and the realization is there that they probably are NOT going to get better, to heal, to become whole. Our “meantime” is waiting and working toward healing; their meantime, sadly, is waiting and caring for a sadder and harder outcome, as they have to say goodbye. So I’m certainly not complaining these days, and Aaron has been a great sport in working through pain and discomfort, and not being a giant baby or anything, when he would maybe have the right to do so. But it’s a family affair these days, as we move into the Month of March, which hopefully means great weather and great health for us all. I pray the same for you as well! Word for the day: epoch. Pronounced EE-pock. It’s a word most of us are acquainted with, but most often it’s used to describe a certain prehistoric period where something distinctive happened, like the Jurassic Epoch. It’s actually a bit cooler word that even that is. It travels back in time through the Latin epocha, to the Greek epokhe, which means a stoppage, or a fixed point in time. Breaking it down further, we find epi, “on,” and ekhein “to hold.” In practical terms, it is either a noteworthy or particular period of time, or a moment in time in history or in a person’s life. I like it defined as an event that marks the start of a new period in time for someone. Graduation, or a wedding, or a baby born, or even the best – retirement – are epochs of our lives. Some actually become “epochal” only at some later point, when we realize the significance of that moment. Like when I met Cheri for the very first time, and felt like a light switch turned on in my heart. That was a great epoch. Try to name the ones for you in your life as an exercise today.
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AuthorAfter 43 years of ministry, Randy Cross lived his "fourth life" and shared about retirement, living boldly and intentionally in our world. To be sure, there was some North Dakota thrown in. Archives
March 2023
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