I'm Back!

Life can be so strange sometimes. We have been planning a trip to see Hubby's family for months. Days before we left, we got a call from his brother saying he had lost his job, but everything was going to be all right. Let me back up to explain. His family has all migrated to Arkansas after the death of his father two years ago from Mesothelioma, a cancer caused from exposure to asbestos beginning during his time spent in the Navy during WWII. After his death, his mother moved closer to Hubby's sister and her husband, who teaches at a University in Arkansas. Younger brother moved his family there also. Taking care of their mother is uppermost in the minds and hearts of Hubby and his siblings. Younger brother also felt the small town atmosphere of a University town would be a wonderful place to raise his two young sons.


A day before we left, we got another call from brother's wife, saying he was not well. He was suffering from a depression brought on by the closing of the company and loss of his job.



When we arrive, we find he has been hospitalized. We were able to go visit him while there. As I said before, life can take some strange twists and turns that we would never dream.

It was so shocking to see the pain in his eyes as he sat in that hospital waiting room. To listen to him talk of his feelings of worthlessness, and inability to be the strong husband, father, and son that he felt he needed to be, was heart-wrenching.

He told us of his inability to function, and the indecision of not knowing which way to turn--not even knowing which foot to use to start walking. Knowing that it could be Hubby, or me, or one of the children that was suffering so.

Depression knows no bounds. It is no respecter of persons. For it to strike so swiftly and completely was shocking to us. I don't want you to think this post is without hope. Just as I have posted pictures of the renewal of Spring in the blossoms of Azaleas and Dogwood that we saw on our trip--or even the humble Red Clover on the roadsides of Arkansas, hope springs eternal in our hearts as we lift our brother/in-law up. That is what family is all about. When one is too tired to go on, not knowing which foot to put in front of the other, family is there to lend an arm to lean on, a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen. We all feel so strongly, that he must take this path to find true health and happiness that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.