Yesterday, special days, Victoria

Even though my voice was weak, and I continued to wrestle with a cough, I taught class yesterday. Granted, it was only a 4-hour class, but I barely made it through the class. My voice was almost gone, and my cough was much worse by the time I has sent the test out to the participants. I was very relieved when the class was over. As is customary, one of my colleagues followed along with the class as I taught, and she was a little unsure if I could complete the class but said nothing until the class was over. Based on that assessment, she made sure I was not set as the instructor on the list of classes being taught next week and replaced me with another instructor on the one that I was set to teach. I am thankful. I need the time to fully recover. Fortunately, others had been set as instructors on two of the three classes because of vacation I am taking next week, so there was minimal rearranging required. Nevertheless, I will use the respite to regain my voice.

While was teaching, Mama ran errands with Grandma and Grandpa. One of the stops was for a dental appointment, while several others were for necessities and a brief stop for lunch. The dental appointment was for Grandma. She has been seeking such an appointment for months but was hindered until yesterday. Her appointment was an initial consultation to have all her remaining teeth removed and dentures made to replace them.  Lunch was at Wendy’s. Mama has learned that it is wasteful to buy a nice, more expensive meal for Grandma and Grandpa because neither of them eat much at any given time. Neither of them like good food as much as they like to snack.

So yesterday, Grandpa ate a small hamburger, a few fries, and a Coke, along with a cherry turnover bought at WinCo. Grandma ate chicken nuggets and a small Frosty. Spending more than that small cost for any meal eaten out is a waste of money. Mama is learning to adapt to their tastes which lean more toward snacking than any type of meals we would consider a proper diet. It is hard to watch, but if that is what they want to do, there is little reason to oppose them too forcefully. We still offer them good food and sometimes they accept that offer, but for the most part Mama and I make meals we enjoy and let them do as they please. We at least overlap in tastes of breakfast foods.

Also, while I was in class, Mama helped celebrate Savanna’s birthday party. Her seventh. Victoria was able to be there in person, but we got to participate online. It was not an elaborate affair, but Mama was glad to get to see the goings on for the brief time that she did. FaceTime is Mama’s friend as she maintains a connection with our children and grandchildren. I rarely get to participate, but I do get to hear about things after the fact. At least when Mama remembers to share with me the information any of those connections yield.

After I finished out the day, I took apart the smoker to replace the control box. The part was delivered earlier in the week, but I was busy with other things. It was not as difficult a repair as I had thought but it did take some time and a couple tries to get the seven connections the installation required made correctly. I had to affect the repairs while lying on my back on the floor of the shop. That in itself is not a huge issue, but the trifocals I wear make such positioning problematic. Anyway, when I first tried the power button on the new control panel nothing happened. I was disappointed, but I slowly went back through the connections and found one that had not been properly fitted. Once that connection was made, everything worked as expected. I ran the grill for a short time just to make sure the controller was working properly. It took about an hour before I was convinced that the controller was working as needed. I will know for sure the first time I use it.

Next Monday Mama and I will celebrate forty years of marriage. It seems more like an expected outcome versus some type of milestone. It is not like we are saying “We made it to forty years. Now what?” Not that it is not an important date to both of us, it is more like something that is happening simply because we are continuing to do what we started out to do; to love the Lord and to love each other until the Lord calls us home. We started out with some plans for celebrating this anniversary in a more memorable way, but instead of that we will spend the day doing something far less inspiring than the travel and time with our grandchildren we had planned. Are we disappointed? Maybe a bit. But the circumstances we are currently dealing with were no surprise to our Lord and our special times together are not necessarily based on what we do but the fact that we are doing something together.

Victoria, during her stay in Honduras, has gotten sick. I am not sure how ill she is, but she sounds bad – like she has a very bad cold. I probably should say she is sicker now than she was feeling before she left. Fortunately, she has a full week to recover before she gets tested and flies back home. Honduras still requires a negative COVID test within three days of travel to their country. I am just assuming that the same test will be required of her before she is allowed to board a plane to come home.

So, please keep her in your prayers.