December 28, 2014

A Chilly, Windy, Wet Sunday

With an Afternoon of Warmth

December 28, 2014

Two grandchildren added a lot of warmth to our Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday was warm and windy.  Overnight a cold front arrived and this morning was in the upper 40s with a light rain and winds.  Ron and I were a little late arriving for Sunday School.  I think the gray day just kept us moving slowly.  Class was good although attendance was down some.  Some of the people from our class were traveling, others were ill, and a few others arrived in time for the worship service.

About 10:15 I left the church to go get my mom to bring her to the worship service.  The rain was a little heavier and puddles had accumulated on her sidewalk and on the walkways at the church.  She later mentioned that she wished she had a video of us getting her loaded into my Suburban at her house.  She had her walker, her Bible, her purse, and an umbrella.  I just had my umbrella and my keys, having locked my purse in the car.  Her front gate on the deck needs two people to open it wide enough to get her walker through and the two doing it (Mom and me) each had our umbrellas and were trying to not get too wet.

At the end of her sidewalk a big puddle accumulates and I had soaked my feet going in to get her and was then trying to avoid the same situation coming to the car with her.  She got in the car and as I tried to get her coat out of the door before she closed it, the umbrellas were getting attracted to each other.  Mom suggested I not fold hers, but put it in the back seat as it was.  I tried.  It didn't fit.  I stepped on a clump of mud and about lost my footing, (but thankfully didn't).  The walker was trying to roll away.  We might could have gotten the prize on American's Funniest Home Videos, but I would probably have had to fall in order to win.  Not worth it!

I then stepped over the wide stream by the curb to open the back doors to put the walker in (which was again trying to leave without my approval.  The wind was helping it travel down the sidewalk.  I got the walker into the back of the car and folded my umbrella and just set it between me and my car door as I got in.  Did you notice that I did manage NOT to get my magnet from the Cochlear sound processor attached to the umbrella as I have in the past.  That would have been a mess.  I was out of hands and I think it would have ended up in the water.  Thankfully that did not happen.

We headed to the church and Mom said, "Maybe I should have just stayed home."  Yikes!  Not at this point!  If you know me well, you know that the cold was not bothering me at all.  I love the cooler temperatures and so I was fine without a sweater, but had encouraged Mom to wear her long coat to keep her outfit from getting wet since I already knew from experience mine was wet. 

The next thing was to decide where to unload Mom.  The church has a covered drop off spot, but it is a fair distance from the auditorium and I knew from earlier experience (soaking my feet earlier in the morning) that there was a big puddle on that walkway.  Also, knowing Mom, if I let her out under the awning, she would take off and not wait for me to help her along the way.  The handicapped spots closer to the auditorium were all taken except one that is a huge puddle and there was a huge puddle at the end of the walkway from the parking lot beside the handicapped spots.

We decided to go to the west side of the building to the entry not close to the auditorium (opposite side of the building from the awning) since that area is a little higher and there was no puddle.  I was able to back up to the walkway, opened my door and my umbrella that I put beside me fell out into the only muddy spot nearby.  I unloaded the walker, got Mom's umbrella out, helped her out of the car, and  let her start walking while I parked in a handicapped spot right beside where I had let her out.  Sure enough, she was almost to the auditorium by the time I caught up with her but there was less water on that sidewalk than the other one.

Maybe all that explained the low attendance today at church.  We do have a lot of older members and all those hurdles could be a challenge.  But a couple of rows behind us sat a couple who both use walkers and are much weaker than Mom and they beat us to church.  It is all in how much you want to be there.  It is easy to stay home with a cold, but when you look at some of the people who really have to struggle to be there, it makes us wonder about our own level of commitment.

When we got into the worship service, it had just started.  Our daughter-in-law was in the row I had left my things in before leaving to get Mom and it was a joy to have 3 of the grandchildren to sit with today (and their mom).  Our son was at home, ill, and the two youngest children stayed home with him.

After a very good service, Mom decided to accept a ride with a friend to go to lunch with "The Lunch Bunch" - a group she helped set up at our church where anyone can come along with them for Sunday lunch (dutch treat).  They vary the restaurants that they visit and the group runs about 15 most Sundays.  Many are singles who enjoy having someone to eat with.  The ages vary widely, but those who go have mostly become very faithful to the group and Mom misses it when she can't go.  The rain had stopped and they left to go join the bunch.

Our daughter-in-law and three of the children along with Ron and me, went to Wendy's for lunch and had a relaxing visit.  The oldest grandson was helping out after church and he had the oldest granddaughter with him.  After our lunch, two of the kids came home with us and had a quiet afternoon playing at our house.  The ones we brought with us were the 7 year old boy and the 9 year old girl.  They play really well together.  I got my General Store off the shelf and they spent a couple of hours playing with it.  I had recently bought a few new items for the store and they had fun making room for the new items.

Around 6:00, I took the kids home, visited a little while, and then came home to relax.  Ron had picked up a second small refrigerator at the office and we moved a few more items out of the big refrigerator that is not staying cold enough.  I read for a while and just rested.  Ron had snacked all afternoon so he didn't want me to fix any supper for him so I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich.