This morning my wife and I finished all the yard work for the year. It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 66ºF, and we probably won't see another day like this for several months so now was the time.
I started with cleaning the gutters, then moved on to strimming dead plants in flowerbeds to mulch them up. My wife cleaned up the flowers we had left out front and raked all the leaves on the front lawn into piles for me to vacuum/mulch and put in the flowerbeds. I mowed just a bit to mulch what was left but quickly ran the mower out of gas for the season, then made sure the snow blower was ready to go and started up easily. Gardening supplies were put away and snow shovels, sand and salt are now at the ready. It feels good to have it all done, but boy am I sore. Tomorrow might be worse.
This has been a pretty rough week for us, especially my wife. She had been taking care of her dad for well over a decade, and he became more and more dependent on her each year. It was very stressful for her, but she gave him a very good quality of life. Since she was laid off in March, she was going over there or doing something for him almost every day. Not to mention the phone calls, so many calls every single day whether she had just been over there or not. This was her life, and now, suddenly, that all stops. It will take quite some time to get everything wrapped up, and even longer to fully move on.
Now, happier thoughts. Homemade pan pizza dough with homemade pizza sauce. This one was pepperoni and Italian sausage. Yum!
4 comments:
I don't think that there is ever anything that can prepare you for the emptiness of when a loved one dies, even if it has been a long time coming and expected. Hope you are both managing to get through everything that needs doing at these times. Thinking of you.
Physical yard work is a good distraction isn't it? And very satisfying when it's all done. We go into our first cold week of the year (zero by night, below 6 by day) from today. Winter is truly here and it's going to be a bit of a shock!
- BW
Thanks, BW. No details, but this was sudden, and not a natural death. I'm proud of my wife handling it as well as she has. And thankfully her sisters have stepped up a bit now.
I am soooo sore today. Legs from going up and down the ladder around the house, and my arms from apparently the same thing - but not my back (worth noting). Feeling my age, though. And colder weather has moved back in.
It sounds like you got the yard work done in time and yes, we feel it more as we get older. It is a good distraction and sadly life goes on. As BW said it does leave an empty gap in one’s life when a loved one dies. Both of you take your time and despite the counselling gurus out there, there is no road map for grief. Take care.
Thank you, delcatto. Her life was taking care of her dad, so this gap is huge. Time is all there is, now.
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