The Days After

I'm beginning to recover just a bit from all the holidays. We really did have a very successful NYNY party. It was well attended, even though we had competition from the stake. All of our people came except for two couples who's wives were both sick. It is so awful to be sick for Christmas and I felt sorry for both of them.

Our question for circle time was " What was one of the nicest things your spouse ever did for you, besides marrying you? It started out in a light hearted manner with my telling about how, when it began to be painful for me to do laundry, that Dick just started to do it all for me. In addition to that, he started doing all my floors, keeping them quite clean, I must say.

As we went around the circle the feeling seemed to change when one of our husbands lost it when talking about his sweet wife, who has been very ill with a brain problem that leaves her severely impaired. He finally had to put her in a nursing home, but he goes to see her at least twice a day. He brought her to the party and she seemed to enjoy it, even though she just stared into space with no expression at all on her face. She can't talk either, although I'm told that occasionally she will say a word or two, which leaves her husband convinced that she understands everything that is going on around her. This is a man who was schooled never to cry as a child and all of a sudden the tears started to come and he really lost it. As a result all of us started to cry and as the circle time kept going around, the husbands AND wives were pretty much crying as they told their stories.

When it came to one of the wives who is the only non member in our group, she said she just had to say that in her whole life she has never been in a group of so many people where she felt so much love. It was amazing to her that the expressions of love and good deeds could leave her so affected. She has terminal cancer and just isn't expected to live for long at all. She told about what her husband did for her by quiting his job and taking care of her full time, and doing such a great job of it too.

Needless to say, it was a very emotional evening as after we had completed our circle, more people had more to say that was very personal. It did seem to draw us all so close...........Dick said afterward that our question next year had to require a funny answer so that we would all be laughing!! I will do my best to think that one up.

Everyone said it was just the neatest experience though and they all seemed to have a great time. The food, as usual, was exceptional so it was very much worth all the effort we put into it to make it a great success.

Dick hasn't let me do a darned thing since the party. He got up early the next day and cleaned up all the mess as someone had spilled a glass of Martinelli's sparkling apple juice (what we used to toast the NYNY in) all over my table and floor. It was REALLY sticky and a job to clean up. When I did get up I found everything is pristine condition. That's my husband for you. What a guy!!

BTW he is getting a bit better but still is suffering from a very sore neck and shoulders. He has gone to three different chiropractors trying to find one that could help and he finally found one on the third try. He went today and got a really big crack on his neck, which is what he really felt he needed. It will be sore for awhile, I'm thinking. I rubbed it once with biofreeze and should have been doing it all along. I think I will do it again when he comes home from his meeting. His face looks a little bit like a raccoon now, with both eyes being rimmed by the black but the color is lightening. He wouldn't let me post another picture so you'll just have to picture it in your mind. In another couple of weeks he should look pretty normal.

I'm so upset that we didn't take one single picture at Christmas. There may be a couple on his I-phone but I don't know how to access them. He put some that he took on New Years Eve on the computer, but I don't know how to get to them from here, so I may wait for him to post one or two when he comes home before publishing this. I will be glad when we both stop hurting. As long as I had to keep going, I managed, but when I stopped, everything started hurting.......go figure.I do hope that all of you had a very fun New Years Eve and that you will all have a great New Year.

All ready for the guests to arrive.