Settling In

It was a crabby kind of day. We all had our reasons to be short tempered and we pretty much maximized them. Kaleb started coming down with a cold so even though he had his best friend, Timothy, spend the night, by late morning he was sitting in a swinging chair outside, reading a book. Someone pulled the plug on his energy level so Tim went home early. Kaleb was a bit too whiny after that so I couldn’t even get him to pick up all the messes he’d made earlier in the day – which was the root of some of my crabbiness. He loves nothing more than curling up with a stack of books, so after Tim left he got a blanket and headed for the couch with at least ten books (which he can read in a matter of hours). I heard him sneezing so I brought him a box of Kleenex. He appreciated being waited on so as I handed him the Kleenex he said, “I kinda like being sick – except that I feel so miserable.” I thought that was pretty funny.

My goal for today was just to get the living room, dining room and kitchen back up and running. Our house sitters boxed up many of our things and put them in the basement, intending to put them all back the way there were before they left. They took photos of every wall in every room, but then lost their camera so they were unable to recreate the house in that special “Mickey clutter” style I like so well. So today I got reacquainted with all my treasures as I hung them back up on the walls and placed them on shelves. All the while I was doing that I was making food for Kory and Kaleb, watering different sections of the yard, doing laundry and hanging it out, and talking on the phone or visiting with friends who stopped by to welcome us home. My feet were killing me by day’s end so I was fairly crabby by sunset.

But on the upside, it’s been so nice to have such a great homecoming. Our friend Nancy stopped by with some fresh baked cookies, bread and wine. Our neighbor and friend Priscilla came by for a visit and several people called today from near and far to welcome us back to the States. I so didn’t expect that, but I think it’s God’s way of keeping the depression at bay. Yes, it’s good to be home.

Kory was pretty crabby all day, too, not from the pain in his back, but from his inability to do much. He didn’t take any pain pills all day today and he said his pain was manageable, so Hallelujah for that! He got up and walked around more than I thought he should have, but he did hang a few things on the wall for me, so that was nice. I found some little jobs for him to do while he was lying down so that helped him feel somewhat useful, but one of them ended up pointing out just how horribly we communicate at times.

I bought some crystals from old crystal chandeliers at a flea market when we were in Rome. I asked Kory to put some fishing line on them so I could hang them in the windows. I have one already upstairs and I like how when the sun shines on it, little rainbows sparkle all over the room, so I wanted more (why am I never satisfied with just ONE?) I gave him the crystals and fishing line and scissors and told him I wanted them to hang down about “this much” and showed him with my hands, but then, knowing him, I also said, “about six inches,” just to clear up any confusion. I thought that was a pretty simple and understandable request, but in Kory’s mind, when he hears “six inches” his carpenter brain takes over and what I got were crystals with fishing line attached alright, but if measured from the top of the fishing line to the very bottom of the crystal, it would have been dead-on, six inches. Which, considering each crystal is three to four inches long, left only the tiniest little fishing line loop at the top – so short I couldn’t even loop it over a window latch. Sometimes I wonder just how in the world he comes up with these conclusions. When I reminded him I wanted them to “hang down” six inches, (meaning, six inches of fishing line from the top of the crystal) he still insisted he followed my instructions to a tee and they were indeed six inches, and he offered to get out a measuring tape to prove it. This is why neither of us ever wins an argument – because we are both sure we are right. At least it gave him another job to do as he laid there and added extension loops to all the crystals. Uff da.