Not of strangers, it hasn’t been that kind of a Blanche DuBois weekend, but of my friends and relatives for sure. I’ve always wondered a little at the Southern tradition of bringing food over at the home of the sick and the deceased, and that’s largely because I’ve never really dealt with being the one in the house dealing with all the shit that goes on with a sick partner. So the fact that our friends have supplied meals all weekend has been a huge help, more than I could ever explain to anyone that hasn’t been there. And I will never scoff at the casserole again. The ability to make a meal, meat, veggies and sides, into one dish and carry it someplace now seems nigh-miraculous to me.

Bonnie (my sister, who half-raised me) came up and stayed with us from Friday until this afternoon, and she helped with a lot of the little bits of cleaning that Suzy wasn’t able to get to before her surgery. Because God forbid anyone come into the house without it being cleaned from top to bottom first! And I am not exactly the domestic deity that my wife is. Honestly, I think I may have run the dishwasher more this weekend than in the first 14 years of our marriage combined.

But I gotta say, the people who have come by and brought food are saints among men and women. I couldn’t have made it through this weekend without a hellacious takeout bill otherwise, and I can’t thank them enough. I thought the road was going to smooth out when we got home, but I forgot about that whole split-level house thing. So the first night I must have made 20 trips from the den (bottom floor) to the bedroom (top floor) and back. But yesterday Suzy made it down to the den a couple of times, and she’s comfortable ensconced on the couch in front of the big TV right now as we wait for out last planned dinner to arrive. I’m still exhausted every night when I go to bed, because this whole nursemaid shit is not exactly my scene, so much so that I’m looking forward to going back to work tomorrow!

But her recovery is coming along incredibly well, especially for someone who had a defective organ the size of a football removed from her abdomen. She’s experienced very little pain, and is navigating steps like a champ. I still think our road trip in 3 weeks is probably off the table, but that’s a trip we can make at any later time – great thing about a road trip, the road will still be there. Ah crap – time to eat – I’ll finish this drivel later. Essentially – THANKS to everybody!

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