Everyone thinks that Lisa and I are crazy for coming to Alaska, but we do seem to fit right in here!! Next weekend Seward is hosting the Bear Festival, where people come from all over Alaska to jump into the ocean! Now, I think that's a little unhinged, as it as gotten down to below zero here in the last two weeks! Seward puts on all kinds of activities for that weekend, but, from what I understand, only a few people can get close enough to see those poor souls who jump into the ocean. I will not be doing that, although it might be good for the circulation!!
I have found a way other than really hot baths to get rid of that pain in my hips which was caused when I walked several miles in the heat before we left Florida. I started using a heating pad on the imflamed areas, and no more pain. Now, whenever I have to do any carrying and those areas get inflamed, a few hours with the heating pad takes the pain away. Good news for me, as Lisa still cannot walk without a walker, and therefore, can't help with any of the carrying of groceries.
We are going to Anchorage this week to finish cleaning out the storage unit. Well, I am going to clean out the storage unit, and Lisa is going to watch. She is so tired of sitting in the apartment. I told her that I will only take her if I do not have to listen to her bitch about not being able to help. She can't do anything about it, so there is no sense in making both of us miserable over it. We'll stay the night, as I broke my regular glasses, and it gets dark here too fast for us to make it there and back with me wearing my prescription sun glasses. She cannot drive either, and doing everything at my pace is another thing driving her crazy. I cannot go any faster than my energy allows, and she can't help, so she's really suffering.
She's also learning which friends are really friends, and which ones never were. A hard lesson to learn sometimes, but necessary for spiritual development.
I have been thinking of my dad a lot these last couple of months, and cannot seem to get out of my head his last few months. It is hard to look at someone whom you have always seen as strong, whittled down to a person who died without dignity. I couldn't get him out of bed to dress him and take him down to the river he loved so much. I just wasn't strong enough. While I could manage to keep him clean and dry, and without bed-sores, and I could feed him, and give him his insulin (although my stomach hurt all day dreading the time when I had to give him his shot,) I couldn't take him to the places he loved, or to see people that he cared about. It still really upsets me that, after all my dad did for the people of his church, he got very few visitors in the year he was bed-ridden. He did have one member of his church, who came over and sat with occasionally, and she even got him dressed and took him to church, just before he died. It was more than I could do, I couldn't even get him out of bed, and even if I had gotten him out of bed, I didn't have a vehicle to take him anywhere. So he had to lay there, day in and day out. I try to tell Lisa, when she gets so upset that she can't do what she wants to do, that this situation is only temporary, and that she should be grateful for that. I don't know that she is understanding that however.
One of the ladies here said maybe we came here to heal emotionally, and maybe that is true. Lisa is learning to slow down and listen to her body more, and cannot use activity to ignore or hide from pain. I will surely be thankful for the day she will be back on her feet, as I am getting tired.
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