through the labyrinth
On the Saturday before Christmas, my wife’s mother suffered a stroke. She is recovering well and we hope she will be home soon. Christmas was not as we had planned. Susan spend hours and days with her brothers in caring for her Mom. It was time well spent, even if spent differently than we had imagined.
Instead of a Christmas Eve dinner with several family members, Dana Fuller, my nephew, and I attended our Fireside Service and then had a meal of Fondue and watched that old Christmas favorite, National Treasure. On Christmas Day the highlight was visiting Mom in the hospital, the dinner and gifts were secondary.
It is at times like these that we understand how important family is, how fragile anyone’s health may be, and how much we need each other.
Between my travels to see my children in New York and Rhode Island and Susan’s responsibilities in caring for her Mom (and dealing with nurses, doctors and hospital paperwork), we finally exchanged gifts with each other on New Years Eve. We were enjoying each other so much that we missed the actually moment of midnight.
Christmas is how and where and when you find it.
And the greatest gift we have to give each other is our time.
A Strange Christmas
