An empty roll.

There are some conversations that crack you open a little. And it seems like I’m having more and more of those lately. But this one, in particular, will stick with me for some time. For many reasons. It was with one of my dear friends from college. I hadn’t talked to him in way over a decade, but it was like no time had passed. The catch was the topic. We now have spouses with cancer in common. Only his just died three months ago. So now he’s a widower with two little ones and his strength flowed straight into me as we talked. “You’ll find you can do things you never thought possible.” And yes. I can already see that. I hung up with him even more ready for the whatever that inevitably lies ahead.

The ILs left today. We dropped them at the airport and headed straight to our appointment with the surgeon. He officially released the hubby back to work, reinforced that he was doing very well and set up the PET Scan that we had been anticipating.

We made it back home around 11:30 and, after a nap, I headed to yet another doctor who took a look at sick little bean and pronounced her viral. She’ll camp at home with us for a couple of days to be safe.

And now we have about 13 hours left of being alone with our thoughts. Mom gets in tomorrow morning at 9:30am.

Having the ILs here was super helpful. They are real troopers and tried so hard. The challenge was the lack of poopers in the house (we only have TWO). One is consistently occupied by my little pooper who does his thing more than TEN TIMES A DAY as a result of surgery. So that leaves the one. And with chaos all around, people coming in and out, the phone ringing, work deadlines, kid needs, meals, laundry and a steady stream of four toilet users going in and out of the remaining one —my chance to occupy the other one is a scarcity (and that’s an understatement). So when I finally get a few moments to myself, and go, the FIL comes downstairs and walks in one me. Gets totally red in the face and runs.

The next chance I have is immediately interrupted by a crying bean. Who only wants ME (along with a fruit leather). I finally get her to leave me in peace, finish up and realize that the toilet paper supply has not been restocked (but had just enough left on the roll to trick me into believing I was safe). Nor is there ANY on the entire floor. So I scuttle around trying not to get poop on anything, finally limp upstairs to grab a roll and am immediately accosted with “how do you spell Averil?” And “where is the [fill in the blank]?” I respond as any rational person in danger of getting poop everywhere would with, “CAN I PLEASE JUST FINISH WIPING MY ASS?!”

Lots of togetherness, but a really good visit none-the-less. And thanks to our good friends (and next door neighbors, the Theodores) followed by the Brents, we all could spread out to poop and sleep through the night in peace. So at least we have that.

TODAY’S THEME SONG: Empty Glass. Rich Price. So hold me (come on) hold me up. Can't you hear me calling. The way the clouds move. Here they come big and black. That's the sound of a man who's working on his way back.