Winding Down a Wild Week

Our trip to Charleston was lovely and now I am attempting to recover from the trip + a hectic week.  We returned home on Monday evening. The children and I got up at 5:25 Tuesday to take my sister to the hospital for gallbladder surgery, which was actually cancelled six hours after we arrived (when she was in pre-OP...in the gown....with an IV...etc.).  There's a long backstory involving cardiologist miscommunication (due to one abnormal EKG, and another clear one), but her surgeon apologetically came to find us in the cafeteria to tell us that the cardiologist had prohibited the surgery. We spent the rest of the day running errands--remember, I had just returned home from a trip!--and then I decompressed with a hilly walk in the evening.

Wednesday I did laundry and worked for a few hours in the yard--trying to get my sanity back (and transplant all my muscari).  Wednesday I also wrote my great-aunt's obituary, at my uncle's request, because she died on Tuesday.  Thursday we drove to the mountain forty-five minutes south of here for a nature walk/lunch with a couple of other families, and I had yoga and my Charlotte Mason group meeting last night. (I left the meeting at 9:50 and it was still going strong!) Finally, today we had big plans (chiropractor + science class + art lesson) which were completely thwarted because Finn had the most intense migraine I have ever seen him have.  Typically if he wakes with one, it is resolved by lunchtime; this one lasted until 4:45.  He was literally in bed, sick to his stomach, all day long.  I read lots of books to Annie, kissed my sister goodbye (she had her stress test this morning, then returned to her hometown), read even more books with Annie, and planned our last quarter for the school year. 

My inner introvert has been wilting with no time alone, so my husband is graciously taking the children to his parents' house tomorrow so they can play and (most importantly!) watch golf and I can spend some time cleaning, tidying, and organizing the house and rejuvenating, especially because Sunday will be a busy day (church plus the funeral). 

Here is a bit of happy news: my work on the pastoral search commitee is finished!  We have a new pastor! He and his wife signed the contract on the house they are purchasing last week and were introduced to the congregation while we were in Charleston. I am so thrilled!  But it's a bittersweet thrill: the pastor at our church has been the only pastor of my life.  He has been there over thirty years.  I don't even know what it will be like to attend church with another pastor, but I believe that our pastor has earned his retirement (many times over) and I liked our new pastor and his wife from the moment I met them!

Next up: a few gems from the Charleston trip...food and locations!