I’ve made progress since the strokes three months ago. I’m driving again, going for walks, reading Liz Gilbert’s “City Girls” and able to concentrate. I still prefer the ease of Netflix and Prime because I don’t have to focus so intensely… and there’s always the rewind button. 

All of this lounging about watching movies originally felt like a vacation… but it was beginning to feel like a rut. Was I bored? You bet. Feeling a touch depressed? That, too… and those are both new feelings to me.

I’ve been finding motivation, energy, and inspiration hard to come by. What’s a gal to do? Enter sister #5, Elizabeth.

She called to ask if she could come visit. She has been working full-time, then going home and taking care of her grandsons every evening so her daughter can work. I don’t know how she manages, that’s two full-time jobs!  Of course, I told her “C’mon down!”

Her imminent arrival provided the motivation to finish up the guest room by buying new pillows and sheets, and finally repairing a pretty set of Asian lamps that had been damaged in storage. I also ordered the perfect nightstand from Amazon and put it together. I love putting things together, don’t you? Hardware stores, Amazon, and IKEA are my idea of heaven! I prefer them to shopping for clothes… which explains the gaps in my wardrobe.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, is an expert shopper. Efficient, always perfectly pulled-together, and great at spotting a bargain!  Which doesn’t add up to traveling lightly. We joke about how I can travel for a week with one small carry-on… and she needs her own bellman and porter! 

She’s my youngest sister, there’s a fourteen year difference between us, and only a five year difference between her and my son, Jason. She came to live with me for almost a year when she was sixteen… and it created a special bond between us. And, my son, an only child, had a very cool “big sister” for a while.

Thankfully, she arrived from Wisconsin with only one item on her agenda: floating in the pool every day. I could manage that. After living here for six months, we finally went to the Activities Center and signed up so I could accommodate her wish. What a milestone! 

My sweetie even rented a golf-cart for us to use while she was here, so we could get to the pool and back. The first night we had it, the three of us crammed ourselves into the seat and went out “joyriding” after the sun had set and the air cooled down. We zipped along (and I use that term loosely, because top speed is 20 mph) giggling about the cramped seating and enjoying the night. 

“Hey, you do see that snake, right?” Elizabeth said.
“What snake?”
“Um, the one we just ran over!” 

Oh, dang… we turned around and went back, and sure enough, we had squished a baby rattlesnake!!  I felt terrible, but no telling how many residents we’d saved by eliminating the threat of a rogue rattlesnake rampage!

We had exceptional weather while she was here, (now, it’s relentlessly hot) and we spent each day at the pool, and each evening out on the patio telling stories and laughing. I shared my healthy-food lifestyle, and she shared the very best smear-proof eyeshadow and made us her famous Banana Pudding for July 4th.

She provided me the motivation to get out-and-about and enjoying life again, and gifted me with not only with her presence, but with acceptance and love. That kind of healing is something no amount of medicine can do for us. 

XO Donna