This week I began to think about my blog post (and as usual, I was just sure that maybe I had run out of topics to write about). In the middle of the night it came--this month has been one of the worst physical months I have had in five years and yet I would say that I have received some of the best medicine I have had in five years.
A couple of weeks ago, I woke up late and called Jim to "check in" as I often do. We chatted a bit and then I heard him say, "Happy anniversary, Sweetheart." "What!," I said. "What day is this?" I was so sick I nearly slept through our anniversary without even knowing it. I felt awful. I usually fuss and try to surprise and this year it completely escaped me. A few minutes later a friend texted me to see how I was feeling. I admitted to her what had happened. Her immediate response was, "I'll be over with dinner for two in a few hours."
I don't know how she did it but sure enough, later that afternoon a surf and turf dinner with a table cloth, candles, sparkling cider, cloth napkins, and chocolate mousse arrived. I was so weak that my friend said, "sit--I'll take care of everything!" And she did. (She even brought a bottle of iced tea so we could sit on the patio sip and chat as though she had all the time in the world.) Jim and I had one of the best anniversaries we have ever had in thirty-three years and our hearts were lifted like we never dreamed. Good medicine!
This week I have spent many days home alone, and sometimes my formal attire has been pajamas. But a friend called and said, "are you ready to get out?" And on the most clear, crisp, sunny of days she pulled up in the driveway with her convertible top down I hopped in (well that description might be a bit overzealous but I did get in) and we took a long ride to nowhere. We wound through our beautiful countryside, past the sheep farm and through the apple orchard. We tried out back roads that were unfamiliar and we chatted about family and plans and nothing in particular. A perfect ten day. Good medicine!
Lunch followed. Homemade soup and a chicken salad wrap outside in the sunshine. I sat with my friend but the whole time I had one eye on a beautiful weathered bird bath that was in the middle of her patio herb garden. While we had lunch, a flock of gold finches flitted back and forth to that bird bath. It was though they were having a wonderful social gathering and they were thoroughly enjoying one another. "Those birds are for you," my friend commented. "I have never seen that many finches on that bath at one time." How blessed I felt. Good medicine!
Yesterday was one of our daughter's birthdays. I woke up yesterday morning to find the most sweet picture of our two girls hugging each other at her birthday celebration posted online. Good medicine! (And to top it all off we had a wonderful telephone call with our birthday girl last evening--even better medicine!!)Each day there have been pink, blue, yellow envelopes arriving in the mail with greeting and well wishes from friends and family. Good medicine!
The other day I made soup and as often happens, I texted Jim and asked him to bring home one last ingredient for dinner. This night I wondered if he could find "bread bowls" for our soup. When he walked in the house he was swinging his reuseable grocery bag with a big grin on his face singing, "I found bread bowls." Sweet success. Good medicine!
The list could go on but I will stop. In Proverbs it says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." My heart is full. The medicine is working.
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