All I need is you

I didn’t have high hopes for this holiday weekend. My sister in law was coming back in to town, which generally makes our lives exponentially more complicated and I could already tell there was going to be trouble. I was sure my anniversary was pretty much going to be a non-event (and it was. I worked late, went to the grocery store, visited Nora in the hospice, ate dinner with John at 10:30, briefly debated immigration policy with him, and went to bed.) and it looked like we wouldn’t get any time to relax at all.

I’m pleased to say that it turned out a little better than I hoped, although, sadly not for a very good reason. We bowed out of going to the hospice on Saturday since my sister in law, her husband, and their two kids were there to visit, and I was exhausted. Then, on Sunday, against our better judgment, Nora went home from the hospice. She’s going to be home with 24 hour nursing care, but even so, the only people who think this is a good idea are Nora and my sister in law. The process of picking her up and bringing her home when she is clearly too weak and confused to be out of a medical facility was incredibly stressful. And so then when we got to the house, John and his sister had a truly horrific fight. My sister in law crossed a line yesterday, and I’m not sure she can repair the damage she’s done. She knows it, too.

The upshot is, John and I left his mom’s house yesterday at 11:30 or so and have spent the last day and half totally free of any obligation to go near his sister. Since she’s staying with his mom right now, that also meant we got some time for just us, guilt-free. First time in what feels like forever. We took Seamus for a hike in the woods. We hung out and talked about random stuff. We ate Thai food. There may have been some snuggling. I indulged in a little retail therapy, and bought myself that Dyson vacuum cleaner off my list. Holy crap that thing is awesome! My living room carpet is at least one shade lighter now. It’s like using a vacuum cleaner powered a jet engine.

I also read two books (Sara Paretsky’s Fire Sale and Mark Haddon’s A Spot of Bother, both quite enjoyable) and made some decent progress on a third – Jane Eyre. Can you believe I’ve never read Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights? I recently decided it was time to read them. Jane Eyre is actually a pretty interesting story, although sometimes Charlotte Brontë’s writing style is a little on the florid side. All of the books from that time period are like that, but boy am I glad that our use of language has changed. Can you imagine if I wrote this blog like that? My first sentence would go something like this: “Truly, gentle reader, when I contemplated the coming few days, which in the normal course of events would have been cause for celebration, I did not find myself filled with the prospect of joy.” Or something like that, except I probably should have tried to work in a classical reference of some sort.

Against all odds, we actually had a pretty decent weekend. How was yours?