"Oft hope is born when all is forlorn."
J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Return of the King"
Well, it has been a while since I have written. Congested into the past six months has been a turbulence and turmoil I had not quite anticipated. Had there been a glimmer of the mayhem to come, I might have been better suited to deal with the pandemonium. Alas, I never caught a glimpse of it. Thus, the delay in writing. My most humble apologies.
Toward the end of December I spoke of the pending move. Yoda was transferred to the Metroplex and so it began. I could go into all the gory details, but seriously, there isn't enough time and carpal tunnel would kick in long before I'm done. But here's the gist:
We sold the house, which wasn't even on the market, in about a month open to close. The buyer's lender insisted the close date be moved up two weeks. Because of the freakin' weather, we were having the outside painted and the little house reroofed almost simultaneously. The paint wasn't even dry on the final inspection. And that doesn't even include the other little repairs that were made during that time.
What Yoda didn't bring to DFW was thrown into storage during the sale of the house. The remainder of the items was thrown in literally at 8:51pm the day before we closed on the house. The storage unit locked down at 9:00pm. I have a feeling I'll never figure out all the things that were thrown out, given to charity or are tossed in boxes here and there. (And as a side note - paying rent on storage just irks me. I want a house again. Obviously I'm feeling a bit materialistic. Maybe I need to get over that.)
So the kids moved into an apartment - the lease was signed a few days before closing on the house. Begging, borrowing and stealing came to mind when it came to the pet deposits as two of the dogs are there and one is in the Metro. Seriously... why are pet deposits so blooming high?
Meanwhile my sister-in-law/sister of my heart entered the hospital over 350 miles from her home because she had to undergo a more rigid cancer treatment - diagnosed in November with leukemia. My mom-in-law for the most part moved with her to Dallas and moved into her hospital room and helped her so much as my SIL was so weak and miserable. I mean nursing staff can only do so much, eh? This started mid-March.
Birthdays and holidays came and went and I still hadn't heard back from the job I applied for. You heard that right. I applied for one. It's a specialized field and the hiring process is incredibly long. So long that I didn't go down for an interview etc for a while. However, after all this, that and the other they must have thought I could do the job because I started the second week in June. Normally, this is cause to celebrate; however, I LOVED my old job. I had planned to retire from it. This obviously didn't happen. So while I'm mourning my old job, I move down on Sunday and start work three days later Wednesday 6-11-14.
Obviously God had his reasons for the timing of the madness.
My Yoda, dearest Yoda... He was a half-match for a bone marrow transplant. In the entire registry, he and his brother were the only ones. The transplant took place just days before he helped me move. The process made him feel "blah" to say the least. But he has the biggest heart and I'm richly blessed.
But my SIL didn't improve much after the transplant. Apparently you have to bide your time and wait for the cells to kick in. Meanwhile, my MIL still stayed with her and cared for her. She only left the hospital for maybe a total of 2-3 weeks between mid March and June. Wow. She's such an amazing woman.
Saturday the 14th we went to see her in the hospital after going to church. Darling SIL didn't look so hot. I mean, sporting a hospital gown theoretically could be a sexy look. On cancer patients, not so much. However, her bald head was beautiful and her smile still so sweet. But you could tell something wasn't quite right. She was rather "out of it" and slept most of the time we were there.
The long story short is the excrement hit the proverbial fan. I don't remember how many calls and text messages flew back and forth over the next week, but too many to count. There were prayers lifted for my SIL all around the world. But she lost her fight to that ugly disease called cancer on Monday, June 23rd. Now the texts and calls fly because of funeral arrangements and all I can think about is that I just want to pick up the phone and hear her voice. I want to get her advice on some things and I can't do that. I feel bloody selfish. I feel bloody miserable.
Tomorrow I leave for "home" again - a quick trip. My new supervisor allowed me the day off if I work next Friday (which I was supposed to have off), but I'm not allowed to use vacation days, sick leave etc for the first six months of employment. And a SIL doesn't apparently qualify for any kind of bereavement leave. I don't know that I understand, but there's no arguing the point.
I feel like a stranger in a strange land. I am in a pretty dark place right now and I have a feeling it's going to be a bit before I'm feeling "normal" again - whatever that is. I believe I will feel better after my SIL is laid to rest and we all gather to celebrate her life. For now, all I can do is rely on my Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, to carry me when I'm weak and lift my heart from the darkness to the light.
May this letter from my new home find you in a better place than I am emotionally at this time. Always.... C
