An Update as of 11/1/13

The last few days have been Murphy’s Law sort of days. First, Bob’s laptop died as he was trying to revert from Windows 8 to Windows 7. Then three separate things went wrong with our water, requiring us to call out three separate companies to set things straight. Then, to top it all off, our phones shorted out creating static and cross-over between our two lines. As he always has done, Bob took charge of managing all of the needed repairs as well as the comings and goings of the various contractors.

Our phones have been problematic for much of the last year, ever since we moved Bob’s office up to our dining room in the fall to make sure he was safe after we arrived home from our time at the University of Virginia medical center. Moving his office upstairs during that interim period meant that we also had to adapt our phone wiring so that his dining room office would have phone and Internet. That turned out to involved a lot of jerry rigging, and Bob had not really been as ready to take on that challenge as he’d thought he was.  

This time, I persuaded Bob that it would be worth calling the phone company for assistance. Chan, the guy who was sent out from the phone company, got way more than he bargained for.  When he arrived, Bob told him “this could take a while, our phones are really a mess.” Chan shrugged it off.  “This is what I do” he demurred. He got to work, with Bob in tow as the two of them puzzled over the confusing mess of wiring. Bob and Chan developed a sense of camaraderie as they worked side-by-side, testing wires and sorting out tangled circuits. Four hours later, the two of them laughingly congratulated one another for finally having gotten the whole system working properly.

That’s when I reminded Bob that today was the one year anniversary of his homecoming from Charlottesville. That day, as Bob wandered through the house with Bryn at his side, he was incredulous, arms outstretched in disbelief. “We live here?” he’d asked. “How did we come to live in such a beautiful place?” He had no memory of living in this home where we had lived for ten years.

At that point, we did not know how much of his memory or functioning Bob would eventually get back. We were just glad to have him alive and well enough to be back home. These days he gets frustrated that his memory issues are still such a challenge and he is not at the top of him game cognitively. But as we realized the significance of this anniversary, and realized just how far he has come, we couldn’t help but cry tears of gratitude in each other’s arms.

Thank you for the ways that you each have contributed to that healing through your thoughts, prayers, and acts of caring and kindness.

-Megab=n