Allen felt a little blue this morning. The therapists said the week would have ups and downs, especially during the first few days. Their predictions proved true for Allen, perhaps because he knows how much ground remains to be covered and reclaimed.
I felt blue, too, as I walked on the hotel treadmill and compared the drudgery to my little gravel road back home. I missed the birds, the squirrels and the familiar things that normally anchor my day.
My blue turned nearly black after I dropped Allen off at the clinic and the receptionist gave me directions to a laundromat. The directions were wonderful, and I found the place without a hitch. But it was closed for repairs. I stopped at a bank and got directions to another laundromat. The road to that one was closed for the day, so I stopped at a third one I spied on the way back. It’s soap machines were empty and it connected to a bar, already busy at nine o’clock in the morning. By this time I was not a happy camper, ready to throw a hissy fit because I couldn’t find a laundromat and I’m out of socks, for Pete’s sake. What’s so wrong about wanting clean socks?
Then I thought about Allen, reconstructing memories of painful surgeries and procedures today and all this week. At the end of that experience, he has to reconstruct his life with nothing more than two suitcases of borrowed clothes and a family that loves him.
I quit fuming and I went back to the motel where the clerk gave me directions to another laundromat which I found without a hitch. Right now, the clothes are in the dryer, and I even have an internet connection. A moment ago, an email about Boone’s weather-related school closing arrived.
I smiled. If I was home, the snow would have kept me inside. Here in Morgantown, it’s almost fifty degrees and cloudy. The roads were clear while I searched for a laundromat, and I’ll be back at the motel with the clean clothes before the rain hits. Allen and i will go to lunch at Olive Garden. He’ll work through more memories today and be a day closer to recovery.
We will make it through today. For no, that’s enough.
