I had the day off yesterday. So did Russell. I should mention, at this point, that we work at a Catholic university, and yesterday was a holy day- The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Roman Catholic Holy Day of Obligation, and so the University was closed.
It's rather wonderful to find yourself with a day off smack dab in the middle of the week, when everyone else is at work. Our day started out much the same... feeding and walking the dogs. We then headed out with a list of "to-do's". I had left my camera at the office, and because I wanted to take our Christmas Card picture yesterday, we headed towards the office. We first stopped of at a little eatery near campus. The food is good, and the atmosphere warm and cozy.
Once at my office, I checked email. We then review our list of what we wanted to do. The first thing on the list was to visit a very good "scouting" friend of Russell's who we've learned is dying from cancer. We've known for sometime that he's been ill, but just last week, the Dr's told him there was nothing more they could do, except to keep him comfortable. I called and spoke with his wife, and she was delighted to have us come over. The timing was good because she needed to run out to the pharmacy and could do so while we sat with Dave.
So with heavy hearts filled with trepidation, we headed to their home. I never know what to say or how to act. And I never know what to expect, when visiting someone that has just found out they are dying. When we arrived, it was comforting to see that things were much the same as they always are. The funny thing is that when my own father was dying 20+ years ago, I never understood why people were so uncomfortable when they came to visit.
We had a great visit with Dave. He was so glad to see Russell. He said that he could "be himself with Russell" and he was. Dave is a loveable guy. He can be feisty from time to time, but he's truly a good soul. He's the kind of person who'd give anyone the shirt off his back in a moment's notice. Our visit lasted 2 hours. He'd drift off to sleep from time to time, and that was fine. During one of these moments, I found myself dozing a bit, and when Dave woke up, he apologized. I started laughing and said "Hey, that's ok... we took a nap together". Dave got a kick out of that.
As we left, we promised that we'd be back soon. And we will. Time is so precious, and it's important to be there for friends, during good times and bad. And, in truth, we haven't been there enough. A true eye-opener.
Back in the car, we reviewed our list. We were due for a rather large snow-storm, so we headed to the grocery to stock up. We picked up something for dinner, and some snacks. I got the requiste couple of cheap paperback romance novels and plenty of diet pepsi. LOL! We then had a very late lunch at Taco Bell. As we were heading home, it had started to snow lightly.
We got home, unloaded the car, and proceeded to take the dogs out. It was really snowing hard at this point, and we all snuggled inside. The dogs had their dinner, I put the groceries away and started another load of laundry. I then did quite a bit of Christmas shopping online! I really like that!
The rest of the evening was quiet and peaceful. The dogs were so content to have us home.... it was lovely. The phone rang around 9 and it was my Mother. She wanted to make sure we had gotten home ok from work. The roads were a mess.... there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground. I told her that we had had the day off. It occurred to me was that the best part of the day was just being together... free from everything.
Russell made grilled cheese sandwiches around 10. We ate them in the kitchen, watching the snow fall out the kitchen window... so warm and cozy!
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