Mixed March

Church is a great place for sharing and caring.

I love the ambiance David and Anita create and the availability and centrality of communion at all of our gatherings.

However, the "sharing" part of church led to a bunch of us acquiring a rather ugly flu.

The service was wonderful but the aftermath not so nice.

I'll readily admit that I am prone to despair when I get sick.

Not much "heroic" material surfaces in these dire times.

 In fact, I pretty much want to die when I feel really awful, but thankfully there is a sunrise after the dark night of the body & soul.  (This particular flu resulted in many hours of spasms leading to elevated blood pressure and extreme exhaustion.)

But I lived to see the end of February roll into March.

  

Since I was feeling better I was delighted to join in with a few ladies for a night of delicious Thai food and catching up.

I've known this lovely crew for many years, but they usually have a fourth in their number who has moved to Calgary.

I figured I'd fill in for her and take advantage of some fun.

Ever the extrovert am I!

I usually equate March with warmer weather and the disappearance of snow.

But it is winter with no spring in sight...

Feels a bit like Narnia this year - always winter and never Spring.

Snow falling often,

Dark skies. 

Icicles...

Despite the darkness and cold here's been some celebrating in the neighbourhood as one of "ours" won a gold medal! 

It's sweet seeing how a little community swells with pride and honours a former student.  

I had to send the picture to Daniel since he did some university classes with Kelsey and was cheering for her I'm sure.

She lives next door to us and her family are the ones who so kindly keep our driveway plowed when the snow gets too deep. 

As I was languishing at home fighting my own flu, mom and dad were both down for the count with an increasingly serious chest infection.

They both had really horrible coughs. 

So, as soon as I was well enough, I got Mom to the Doctor who put her onto antibiotics. I started alternating shifts with Elsie to make sure Mom and Dad were getting their meals, medication and helping them get to bed in the evening. 

Dad fell three times and Mom fell once during the night as they were so weak from fighting the infection.

It was a pathetic sight, the shuffling, wheezing, wobbling, and weakness.

Yesterday morning when I went to help out, Mom decided it was time to get to the hospital. She was having such a hard time breathing when she laid down after breakfast so we called the ambulance and had her delivered to Emergency where they gave her medication to get the fluid off of her lungs and admitted her.

Whew.

This morning I got a call from the Village and they told me Dad was too weak to get out of bed and his chest was still very congested so I told them to call the ambulance and get Dad to Emergency.

I happily enjoyed the chicken soup as I sat waiting for the Doctor to show up and let me know what the x-rays were showing.

So many little blessings around every bend!

I had picked up some of Dad's favourite coffee on my way and he was content with that and a sandwich.

He is now being treated for pneumonia and is admitted to the hospital so it's a huge relief to know that both Mom & Dad are in good hands.

By the time I when upstairs to check on Mom she was sitting and eating her lunch wondering what had taken me so long.

Poor little thing can't read or do much on her own due to being so blind.

I fixed her some coffee and took her for a little walk around the ward and soon some visitors showed up to bring her cheer! 

So there is hope on the horizon!  

This picture speaks of the longing that is March.