messes revisited

Fifteen days ago, I wrote about the mess that we were preparing for with the large home project of replacing all the pipes in the house.  I briefly referred to some worries I had about health issues of a family member, as well, but I didn't go into too much detail.  Two weeks later, and the messes certainly haven't cleared themselves, but hopefully both are on their way to being resolved.

The house mess is a distant one for me, since I haven't been at home for twelve days.  My amazing hubby has been breaking his back juggling work and home repair, finally securing a plumber to do the job and then working with him over two days to complete the project.  Since we are five people living in about 1,000 square feet of townhouse luxury, we have to get creative with our storage usage, and all that useless crap much needed stuff inhabits lots of nooks and crannies.  Unfortunately though, all those nooks and crannies needed to be cleared out so that walls could be cut and pipes could be accessed, so from the pictures hubby is displaying on Facebook, it appears that 99.9% of our belongings are out-of-place.  (The pictures are horrifying, and if we're friends on FB, then you'll see them there soon... but I just can't bring myself to put them up here, not yet at least.)  And the next step involves hubby laying tile on almost the entire downstairs level- bathroom, hallway, kitchen and dining room, so all that stuff has to magically find a new place to be.  Of course, with me being hundreds of miles away, I feel awful that I'm contributing absolutely zero to this stage of the project, other than keeping the children out of the way.  When we return home next week, hopefully a good chunk of the tile will be done, and I'll have a whole lot of reorganizing to do, hopefully with a healthy amount of stuff getting weeded out of our possession.

While hubby has been physically exhausting himself, I've been staying with the kids at my parents' house, simulating a little of our regular routine in a different environment.  While I may not be able to listen to NPR like we do at home, we have been jamming to the new Glee CDs, and we visited what might possibly be the world's most perfect Target.  (If you're ever in Lisbon, CT, check it out.)  But really, I've been filled with a jumble of thoughts as my dad was preparing for a major surgery this week.  Since he's a somewhat private person (and probably my most loyal reader!), I've refrained from being too specific here, but I cannot let the wonderful occasion of a successful surgery go by without a bloggy mention.  The icing on the cake is that the surgery was followed by a benign biopsy, so there has been much rejoicing.  My dad has had a history of surgeries and health issues that is remarkable... and heartbreaking, because he's truly one of the most loving, dedicated, hard-working, and selfless people in existence.  My dad never had to have a discussion with me about the importance of a work ethic, because he lives his life as an example. 

To watch firsthand what he's had to go through in the last week, and to see how he's been feeling (even though he's a pretty talented actor when it comes to downplaying his own pain and discomfort), has been difficult.  I'm pretty sure that I don't even have an eighth of his strength or character, and he never ceases to amaze me.  I'm beyond grateful that he came through this surgery as well as could be, but unfortunately, his health saga isn't over yet.  As soon as his recovery period is over from this surgery, he's facing another procedure to address a completely different concern, unfortunately.

Life certainly isn't fair.  That's all I can think, as childish as it may sound.  My dad is an incredible and wonderful person, and he's had 30+ years of health issues and surgeries and pain.  That's simply not fair.  We're a family of five living on a very modest income simply trying to make ends meet, and we're facing a growing debt and an insane amount of repairs.  Absolutely unfair.  Well, fair or not, these are the realities that we're facing, and at the risk of sounding whiny, this is the reality of how I'm feeling about it all.  I hope there's a light at the end of this tunnel, because the darkness is simply overwhelming at times.


Holding out for peace and wellness,