We ask God in prayers each night to guide us through the following day. We've prayed for the events we're anticipating to come, but we also want to be ready to give up that schedule if He's got a better one planned for us. ;) Friday, that was put into action.
I had given Chas an ultimatum about a homework issue. If something wasn't done, he wasn't allowed to go to "Casual Friday" (when a group of friends meets at the park, walks to Safeway to load up on junk, and hangs out together until they all come to our house). The homework problem wasn't solved, so I instead dropped off one of his friends at home instead of the park. :( Again, it's not fun to follow through on consequences sometimes, but it's got to be done. I, too, missed out on the fun of hearing boys playing outside and laughing.
As we pulled into the driveway, Chas wasn't ready to succumb to being home, so he asked if there were any errands I needed to run. This question from him always cracks me up! I started pulling right back out of the driveway and replied, "YES!" It was then I set my GPS to Ed's house.
He lives in a modest home in a nice neighborhood, and his front door was open when we walked up to his house. Instead of peering through the screen, we hung back on the porch and rang the doorbell. D answered the door, smiled SO sweetly and let us in announcing, "You're going to make his day!" There was a woman in the kitchen sitting down with someone else and a man a little younger than I walking around. It was strange that only D spoke to us and acknowledged our presence, but we were there for Ed anyway.
Ed was sitting in a chair in front of a GIANT TV standing on the floor (We learned his grandson, Vince- the man about my age, had just brought it over, but the stand hadn't yet arrived.) eating a jelly filled sweet and drinking coffee. Ahhh... to be 90 and have a sugary snack at 4pm to get you through the lull. :) D introduced me, "Your friend from the park is here to see you." I think it threw him a bit having Anthony and Chas with me, and he couldn't place me right away. I don't blame him; it had been 11 days. D shared that he'd met several people lately while walking in the park. I pulled the stool from the piano, moved it right next to him and sat down.
I think it was maybe 7 minutes of talking and searching in his mind. I was the girl from Ohio... working out at the park... the Navy nurse. Oh.My.Goodness. When he had put all of the pieces together, his eyes started leaking. His whole face changed, and he said, "I have happy tears!" Ed was SO happy that his entire face smiled back at us.
D sat with us as he talked. After about 10-15 minutes, maybe thinking the boys were bored, she asked if they wanted to pick some fruit. So, they went outside into the back yard to pick lemons, limes, grapefruits and oranges. However, Vince went with them and picked the fruit while they held the bag open. LOL. He had somehow forgotten that the fun of picking fruit is PICKING fruit! Or, maybe he did remember and couldn't resist for himself. Then, Ed sent me out, too, to see the morning doves who'd made a nest above a floodlight and had baby chicks now. We all oohed and ahed. Then back inside, everyone else joined us, too, in the living room.
I learned the older woman was his daughter. She looked more like his older wife. :( Smoker's skin, purple feet, not in the best of health. However, she was nice and shared pictures of her daughter, Vince's sister, Natalie. Ed's face lights up when talks about Natalie. She graduated from Cal Poly in Pomona, plays piano, trains service dogs, is BEAUTIFUL, comes home as often as she can to visit (She'd just visited and left on Tuesday.), and is currently at a University in Vegas for PA school. I saw her zip-lining above trees in Mexico by her feet, traveling on a plane with a German Shepherd service dog, and graduating from college. I could see that she was full of light. No wonder Ed loved her so! Meanwhile, as Karen continued to try and find pictures on her iPad, Ed just talked and talked. He didn't stop talking and sharing. He had Vince get us a picture of Betty, and we passed it around. Indeed, she was beautiful. Ed's eyes would well up every now and then as he talked and looked back and forth between the boys and me, and he would dab them with his napkin. We stayed for about an hour, and then I moved the conversation toward an end. He walked us to the door and gave me another hug saying, "Don't take so long to come back next time." LOL.
As we walked to the FJ, Chas said, "It wasn't that bad at all. In fact, I kind of liked listening to him talk." Anthony agreed that it wasn't that bad, but he didn't say he'd want to go back. I think I'll visit Ed alone and bring the boys every other time or so. They thought Ed was very nice and obviously picked up on how much it meant to him. It's kind of like how Starks feeds his fish, and Anthony and Chas alternate taking care of the dogs. They take care of the animals they love. It involves work or a small sacrifice of time, but they know it's valuable and rewarding in the end when the animal is healthy and happy. Our time Friday could have been spent doing 100 other things or more, but we invested in Ed. And, the blessing is that we got to see the reward immediately in his smile and happy tears.
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