Sunday, August 7, 2022 7:06 PM

Hello, thank you for joining us on this 38th day of our journey since Larry's stroke!

   Geraldine, one of Larry's God Mothers took me to the hospital today. She's an O.T. so I'm always sure Larry's in the most comfortable position when she comes to see him. When I took a break, she stayed with him for quality time together.

  Today was very much like yesterday. Larry was sitting up in a chair, snoring away at noon, until 3:30, when he was transferred back to bed. Almost no coughing while in the chair. With his mouth wide open he rattled a bit as he snored. It was so hard to get him to open his eyes today. When he did, I would jump into his view, with a big smile to show him how happy I am to see him and how well I am doing. Sometimes he raises his forehead as high as he can, to pull up what seems to be, his heavy eyelids, then leaves his stretched eyes open for a wee bit. I told him I wouldn't kiss him with his mouth wide open, so I scratched his bearded chin until he closed it slightly. In spite of the feeding tube in his nose, we got some good kisses in. His nurse walked by & kept going. I said "Did you see us kiss?" "No!" "Do you want to not see us kiss again?" "No!" He was delightful. I have to work on his name, as it is 6 syllables long (from Congo). He said he had to transfer Larry to bed, with another nurse helping. She loved that 2 'cute' (old) people were being so lovey-dovey! After the nurse was finished settling Larry in, he was bushed. The position he put him in helped him to clear some congestion. Then back to sleeping soundly. I did not get one hand squeeze today. I put Larry's hand against my face then in my hair, hoping that something familiar would make him start moving his fingers. No it didn't! But it sure felt good to me.

  So, the best part of the day is that Larry's lungs seem to be improving and… of course our eye contact & kisses.

Each day I look forward to the day, without huge expectations and accept what is and of course rejoice in whatever the bonus of that day might be.

  A couple of analogies:     

1)   Like a huge needlepoint tapestry, with one stitch a day & sometimes pulling stitches out that need re-doing. The picture does not start coming into view without a long and patient effort.

2) The other is being demonstrated on our balcony. The sunflower seeds I planted 10 weeks ago, showed no sign of life for quite a while, then the growth was very slow. The plant looked very weak until just recently. This week, it went from a green bud to the actual flower in 4 days. ***See the Pics of this progression.

So, exercising patience as a loving sojourner with Larry is a necessary virtue, which allows me to rejoice in small victories and not be discouraged when the healing/recovery is not obvious or where we might wish it to be.

     The reading today from Hebrews 11 "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." That's what I'm holding on to! God bless you! xoxo