It's Wednesday!

Wednesday is more exciting when it is the week of fall break.  No school until Tuesday (although I have to be there Monday).

Adam and I are going to Starr Valley to stay in our house, which is very exciting to us.  It is move in time (kind of-we don't have much furniture).  I've gathered things like toilet paper and cleaning products as we take baby steps to set up a new household.  It is very much a work in progress but I am really looking forward to spending some time in the neighborhood and spending some time with Adam in a place where we don't even have internet yet. 

Which doesn't even begin to cover how much I love that specific spot of the planet.  I was remembering when I was a little girl in primary and they did a "Who's Who in Primary" every week (complete with a picture of an owl which I thought was exceptionally clever.  One week, the person spotlighted was me and they said, "This person loves to play in a tree house in an orchard."

I marveled about how they even knew that.  (I didn't realize they had, you know, asked my mom.)

My grandparents' orchard was magical to me in every season.  Adam balked at calling it an orchard because he grew up in Washington where orchards are vast fields of orderly trees.  It is a hillside of aged fruit trees, but it's an orchard to me.

When I think of Eleanor playing in a spot where my dad once played, I get a little misty eyed, so I'll just stop.  I have got to get ready for school.

Speaking of my dad, my mom is in the hospital with hemolytic anemia, seemingly unrelated to her cancer.  She is awaiting a blood transfusion and has super rare blood.  (Yesterday I was fully prepared to just get a sub and go give her blood, but my blood doesn't work.)  Adam and I went to visit my parents last evening.  Even in the hospital, hooked up to IV and enduring yet another medical hurdle, my mom is her strong and faithful self.  She is kind to the nurses and everyone around her.  She is a little bit feisty (because she is who she is).  She has always been a beacon of faith and a producer of confidence.  I have always valued that feistiness, partly because it is often directed at protecting and lifting her children and grandchildren.

My dad is sitting steadily by her side, as always.  Their relationship makes me grateful I had the good fortune of marrying Adam.  My mom and dad have always been something to aspire to.

I talked to my dad before we came to the hospital.  I asked him if I could bring him anything.  "Are you bored? Do you need snacks?

He said, "I'm fine."

And even though he hates cities and hospitals (because who doesn't hate hospitals?), I think he is also pretty much fine.  He is where he wants to be, by my mom's side.

And that is about the best gift he could give our family.