Martha, Mary, My Parents and My Garage...

I took this picture of my mom and dad Monday evening while we were out to dinner and waiting to be picked up in NY. It was just so nice to sit with my mom and dad and enjoy the time together over a great meal. One of my favorite places to go is for Vietnamese food right in the neighborhood. My father pulled out his camera at the end of the meal, to which my mother responded, "Oh No!" and then I pulled mine out and said "Kissy-Kissy" and here's the result!In light of my complaining and your comments about my messy house, I will note that I full heartedly agree with several comments. Relationships are more important (more on that in a minute) and dust is a great protective covering. My floor is basically never clean, and I have a dog too, so I don't get too bent about it, but it is clutter that gets under my skin. Stuff just everywhere and not in its place. (That was a huge problem for me earlier this summer when I needed to find my safe deposit box key and couldn't). Nicole also remembers everything and inevitably asks for the one skirt, or shirt, or baby doll that I have absolutely no clue where it is and things not being put away gets to me. Its a sense of order I crave. So check out my garage...which is anything but orderly and was not too long ago.

Then Howie came home today and announced that the pop up camper that is in our driveway needs to live in the garage and I said, "That's nice." Where does it look like a camper is going to fit in this mess? I would rather sell it than store it. But I am not stressing about the camper gets moved, because I am spending my time with my mom and my girls before they go back to school next week.

I have corralled the stuff into three areas and will get to them over the next three to six months...the toy room, the computer room and the garage. And if you keep your house too clean (which has never been a problem for me, remember it is more the clutter and people not putting their stuff away that bugs me) you don't have a healthy exposure to dirt and bugs.

So on to Martha and Mary. I hate to admit this, but Martha rears her head in my life more often than not, "'Martha, Martha' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed'" (Luke 10:41) Yup, I do get worried and upset about many things, but then I remember sage advice like be anxious for nothing (see Philippians 4:6) which also can be written no thing. And then I remember Mary and how she had chosen the better way. So I am trying with God's help to choose the better way and I know God smiles down when I make those choices. The difficulty I get in to is when I love and serve and relate, but sometimes am greeted with a response of entitlement or demanding expectation. That bugs me. But still I am to love no matter what, so sometimes I sigh, tell God I blew it, shake my head and take advantage of that new beginning I get each day.

I hung out with Nicole this morning, played play doh with her and then took her to a friend's house. Then the major part of my morning I spent with my mom. I went to a doctor's appointment with her for a regular check up to make sure she was honest with the doc. She has a tendency to omit important details, and there are a couple of things that are really concerning me. First, she has fallen a couple of times in the last month to six weeks for no apparent reason and without warning. Just fell off a stool at Chris and Erin's and tipped over after getting into the water taxi in Roatan. Now, it was hot before she fell off the stool and she had been on a long walk (from our house to town, about oh maybe almost 3 miles) and the water taxi was in the water, after all, and it was wobbly. But boom. Right over backwards after she had sat down.

But more worrisome to me is that her gait has become very shuffled. And rather suddenly also. The doctor agreed that these were concerning changes and promptly scheduled my mom for an MRI and an appointment with a neurologist. And then told her that she can't walk anywhere alone until after she has her neuro evaluation. She wasn't happy about that. No more walks with Tino around the neighborhood, and if she were in NY, she wouldn't be able to grocery shop unless my dad went with her (good luck, she walks a mile out of her way to save a quarter on a gallon of milk, and this just won't fly with him). I think we are all glad the appointments are both in the next ten days.

Tianna has a friend over and I cooked a yummy meal with some of the peaches that came off of Howie's trees and it has been a lovely day. I think I kicked a pile of stuff from one spot to the other in the garage. Maybe I will do the same tomorrow :)

Peace.