Spring Remix

 

I am continually amazed at the passage of time; I’ve been retired for just over a year now, and it’s hard for me to believe. Every day continues to be a new adventure, and I pray that I never take this time for granted. When I think of all the long hours and hard days that I worked, all the late night walks to the parking lot by myself, all the mornings when my alarm clock roused me from the depths of sleep to do it all over again…. What I have now is so worth what it cost me.

I still have reminders of the times that I pushed myself past my limits. The pain in my hips and in my knees is a constant reminder of the miles I walked on hard cement floors. The pain in my left shoulder reminds me of the hundreds of patients I lifted, pulling them up in bed and making them comfortable. Sometimes I look down at my hands when they’re holding my grandbaby, and see the hands that started hundreds of IV’s, drew innumerable tubes of blood, performed cardiac compressions more times than I can remember.

They’re also the hands that soothed countless brows, and the ones that held other hands when there were no words. My hands haven’t retired; they’ve only moved on to other assignments; they only hold other things now.

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Spring is here for real; the northern part of the state was blanketed in 3 inches of snow last week, but we were spared here. We did have frost, and the thermometer dipped into the 30’s, but the days are warm this week. The air is filled with the perfume of spring flowers that cover the fields and paint the landscape. 

My yard is filled with crawdad holes, a sure sign of the season. When I was young, my brother Tim and I would tie a piece of bacon on a string and drop it into the hole. Many times when we reeled back the string, there would be a crawdad attached. We only played with them for a while, then let them go.

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My precious Lydia turned one last week. It’s hard to imagine that a whole year has passed since I first became her nanny. I still see her at church on Sundays, and her little face always lights up with delight. She always reaches for me, and I stop to hold her for awhile. We have a connection that defies explanation, and she will always hold a special place in my heart.

Lydia at 2 weeks, and at 1 year

Lydia at 1

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My beloved Emmi will be coming to spend the night with me again tonight. I usually keep her one or two days a week, as well as one night a week. This gives Summer and Taylor a break; it allows Summer to sleep during the day, as she works the night shift. And it allows Taylor time to search for jobs, and to go on job interviews.

He has been without a job since last October; they are doing well financially on just Summer’s salary, but he desperately wants to work. So far, nothing has come of the resumes he has sent out, and the interviews that he has gone on. I covet your prayers for his job search; he is a talented and hard-working young man, with a spirit of integrity. Please pray that God will open the right doors for him, and order his steps.

Now I’m off to explore the rest of this day.  Whatever it may bring, I still maintain that life is so s

weet, and God is so good. I know that I am blessed beyond all reason.