Spring inside and out

 Josh with John's design

 

Early spring

  Judy has recovered from the flu without developing pneumonia, thanks in large part to her determination.  She forced herself to sit in her recliner for a short time on the third day of her illness, then for longer on the fourth day, etc.  The doctors are still monitoring her, but she has declared herself out of the woods.  Not only that, but she believes that she has not slid any further down the pulmonary fibrosis progression than where she had been before she got the flu. It feels like spring in our house, to go along with the  blooming daffodils and primroses in the yard.

Judy at the dunes

   Our friends and neighbors took good care of us.  Betsy and Les made an emergency delivery of brisket and kugel, carefully leaving it outside our self-imposed quarantine house  Sheila came with walk-around tacos for us to eat while watching the Superbowl.  Janet is still sharing meals with us; last night it was spaghetti Alfredo.
   Judy had almost gotten strong enough for us to join John and Rose in Manzanita in the second week of February. It was not a good idea for her to pack her clothes and ride for two hours in the car all in the same day.  Even though, at the rest stop, I drove up onto the sidewalk to place her as close as
possible to the women's room, by the time we got to the vacation house Judy was desperately worn out. I have felt, during Judy's long struggle with the flu, that I was always arranging things in a way that would have been appropriate the week before or after. The next few days were a tonic for her, though, with great company and a window seat overlooking the dunes.

John sets off to work

     John was plotting large geometric designs, which he drew on the sand with
special tools that his brother Chas made for the task.  John would bend over his graph paper and compass at night, saying something incomprehensibly numeric to Rose who would reply, "So then pi would be 3."  In the morning he'd set off over the dunes with his tools on his shoulder to  work on the fabulous designs.

Search committee

    When we returned from the coast, I slid right back into total immersion in the work of the ministerial search committee.  We got twenty applications at the beginning of January, and have been narrowing the field and doing interviews.  When I come wide awake and alert at 3 in the morning, I fret about the search.  However, my respect for and confidence in the committee just grows and grows, and I take reassurance in that.  Even though we are at the point in the search when we will probably begin to disagree, I feel less worried when I am with them and we are working together.
   The other morning I woke up remembering being around 10 years old, and how it felt to turn cartwheels on the front lawn with my sisters.