Over the last 8+ months I have spend most of my time and energy on Marty, the girls, and work.  During this time, I have not allowed myself to have much time for me.  It has been so long since I have allowed time for me, I'm not even sure what that means, or what that looks like.

I was counselled yesterday to find emotional outlets.  I need to spend time on hobbies, with friends, recharging my batteries.  Here's the problem.  I don't know what that looks like.  It's been too long since I've taken time for myself.  I know I would feel selfish taking that time away from my girls and Marty.  Intuitively I know that I would be a better mommy and wife if I wasn't running on empty, but it's just too hard to do.

So, over the next week, I am to start (or restart) a hobby and make time for an emotional outlet with friends.  MMMM. . . . Where to begin?

On Thursday night, Marty's inner thigh was a little tender, felt like chaffing.  He got out of bed, felt a little bump, applied Vaseline and went back to bed.


Friday during the day he had no irritation at all.  Friday night we went to a piano bar for dinner and leisure listening.  After about an hour sitting on the bar stools, he complained that it was beginning to be uncomfortable to sit.  Upon getting home I looked at his inner thigh and saw what looked like the start of a small boil, or perhaps a large ingrown hair.


Saturday morning there was significantly more inflammation, perhaps to the size of a ping pong ball.  Saturday night he started running a low grade fever with chills.


Sunday morning I looked at it again and it was about the size of a grapefruit.  I decided we needed to take him into the urgent care facility.  They immediately sent us to the ER saying they weren't equipped to handle an abscess of this size,nor could they administer the type of antibiotics that Marty needed.  I immediately thought that meant Marty would be admitted for IV antibiotic.


We went to the ER (which was CRAZY busy).  About 2 hours later they lanced it, removed a bunch of nasty infection and then packed it with gauze and sent us home with a couple of prescriptions.  We were asked to followup with his primary care physician on Tuesday. I was relieved to know that we didn't have to spend the night at the hospital.


Monday morning made an appointment with Dr. Conover for Tuesday morning.  I called Marty mid-morning to see if I needed to come home at lunch.  He indicated that his dressing was oozing and he thought is should be changed.  I came home to change his dressing.  The infection had spread down his leg and was nearly the size of football.  The discharge papers from teh hospital said to call his doctor if there was additional swelling or redness.  This was definitely additional.  


Dr Conover's office asked him to come right in.  Almost immediately upon looking at the abscess, he ordered Marty to be admitted to the hospital for IV treatment and possibly surgery.  He also asked for a consult from an infectious disease specialist.  We headed home to pack a bag and headed to the hospital.  Marty was resting in his room by 3.


Thankfully the ER sent a culture to the lab on Friday, but results won't be back until today or tomorrow.  Preliminary results is Staph, but the exact strain won't be known for a bit more.  The infectious disease doctor is pretty sure what we are dealing with due to it's aggressive nature.  By the time I left last night the infection was almost to Marty's knee and he was suffering tenderness in his abdomen.  His pain and fever has not been able to be well managed.  The nurse was going to see if they could add something to is IV.  


What a CRAZY event!  Depending on what kind of staph this is, they might actually treat our entire family as it can easily live on the skin and transmit to open wounds on others.  They don't have him isolated now as he's only infectious if you touch something he's touched.  We are washing hands religiously.  I came home last night and wiped down the couches really good where he had been sitting.  I gathered all the laundry to be bleached.  We have no idea where he got it, but we know we don't want it to spread.


To make matters worse, while getting dressed to take Marty to the doctor on Sunday, I pulled a muscle in the back.  I instantly fell to the floor and couldn't get up for over 30 minutes until my back relaxed.  All because I bent over to step into a skirt.  Over the last 2 days it has relaxed significantly but is quite tender.  I'm sure as we hobbled into urgent care and the ER, they couldn't tell who was the patient :)


So, in this crazy year of 2012, this is how we roll.  We are really looking forward to a calm 2013 and we are only half way through this year.

The girls were gone Thursday-Saturday.  I worked a little more than usual due to some work demands.  This left Marty at home alone for very long days.  It's been a few weeks since he's had to do that.  He was quite lonely.  Anyone that knocked on the door, he invited in.


Friday afternoon a salesman for ATD home security systems knocked on the door.  Marty invited him in and offered him water.  The gentleman declined coming in but agreed to a bottle of water.  When Marty handed him a bottle, the gentleman noticed Marty's CTR ring and said, "Oh, your a member".  


Marty said, "A member of what?" 


"A member of the LDS church" 


"yes" 


At that point the salesman agreed to come into our home to further discuss ADT and other things.  During this discussion, Marty learned that Roy is a return missionary attending BYU-Idaho studying pre-med.  He is traveling the country this summer with ADT to pay off the student loans he has and earn money for the rest of his schooling.  Roy noticed the pictures of our daughters and asked about them.  He was very interested in knowing more about Addyson.  He asked if she would be at the singles ward on Sunday.  Marty said he wasn't sure.  Roy was here for about 2 hours on Friday :)


The girls got home from Trek right before dinner on Saturday.  They jumped in the shower to clean up while Marty and I set the table.  During dinner Marty was telling Addyson about Roy and encouraging her to attend the singles ward to meet him.  As we were still talking about Roy, there was a knock at the door.  I answered it.  A nice looking young man was at the door and said he had talked to Marty the day before.  Marty recognized his voice and hollered, "ROY!!! Join us for dinner".  Roy agreed.


We quickly set an extra place at the table.  All three girls were in their PJ's, with wet hair, glasses and no makeup and a strange young man sitting at the table with us.  We had a nice discussion with Roy over dinner.  He's been quite home sick this week.  He said the trees of Arkansas and the rain we've had the last few days has reminded him of home in Oregon.


After dinner he said he hoped to see Addyson in church on Sunday.  He is being transferred to Louisiana Monday so there will be no more dinner appointments with the ADT man.


Dinner with a stranger was strangely comfortable.  It was weird, but not awkward.  I hope dinner with an nice Arkansas family made him a little less homesick and able to finish his summer job so he can finish his college education.


Oh, and we did not buy the ADT plan.

My last post just sounded completely and totally whiny!  When a former boss of mine read it she said, "So blessed among the chaos"


What a great change to my perspective.  Those few words have run through my mind over and over again.  Thank you so much Annie for the change I needed.  


So, let's recap the blessings in the last year.

• took the trip of a lifetime with my oldest daughter to my dream location in Germany and Austria
• the Lord led us to an amazing new home
• in a down turned housing market we were able to sell our existing home before having to pay a single month of two mortgages
• we walked away with money at closing 
• had the financial means to travel to Utah with Marty to watch him and a couple of our friends finish the St. George marathon
• got to listen to my oldest daughter magnify her singing abilities while participating in the madrigal feast
• started a new job with new perspective and an awesome new boss
• had a great friend jump in to help with therapy before anyone else could (thanks Oma!)
• get to experience life all over again for the very first time
• got to see witness my husband fall in love with me all over again
• have AWESOME friends and a great support system
• Jessica quickly learned to drive, nearly on her own to allow me some additional freedom
• was able to use one of the rooms in our home for physical therapy that decreased Marty's recovery time (would not have been possible in the old home)
• Addyson was accepted to all schools she applied to.  She was accepted into the music program of her choice and earned nearly enough scholarship money to pay her tuition for 4 years.
• work for a company that is incredibly flexible with my family chaos
• technology allowed me to work from home for two month
• we have the financial means to pay 100% of the medical bills leaving us with still no debt (beyond our home)
• our savings is rapidly growing again
• Rylee auditioned for an made the highest band at the high school as a freshman
• Addyson graduated from high school with high honors
• we had a great visit with our family 

There are certain events in a person's life that causes stress.  Any one of them in a year can be hard.  Let's take a look at the past year.

• June 2011 - Chaperoned a 2 week trip to Germany and Austria with 30+ teenagers
• July 2011 - found a house to buy even though we weren't in the market to buy.
• August 2011 - prepare home to sell
• September 2011 - close on new home prior to selling old home
• October 2011- traveled to Utah to watch Marty run the St. George Marathon - finally received an offer on old home and closed 15 days later
• November 2011 - non-eventful Christmas preparation plus Madrigal preparation
• December 2012 - Birthday, start a new job, Marty has a stroke
• January 2012 - Living with the reality of a stroke
• February 2012 - College visits plus extensive rehab for Marty
• March 2012 - Settling into reality while returning back to work
• April - Relatively quiet month - phew! Took a trip to Kansas City plus made/altered 2 prom dresses.
• May - Broken arm, graduation, family visits, septic pump failure (=backyard full of sewer the weekend of graduation)

• Addyson off to college
• 20 year wedding anniversary
• Fabulous yet to be planned trip to celebrate anniversary
• Lots of love
• Lots of laughter
• Lots of prayers
• Hopefully few tears
• Lots of the Savior's love.

I'm just a little behind on blog posts. Prom was April 21 (exactly one month ago) and I am just now getting pictures up. Bad, bad mama!  Addyson went to her senior prom at Bentonville High School with her good friend Connor Cude.  Jessica went with her friend Blake Bartlett to his junior prom at Fayetteville High School.  They both had a very enjoyable time.  They looked like princesses.  After seeing so many girls wearing little more than lingerie, I am grateful for the standards set forth by our church to encourage the girls to dress more modestly.  They looked sophisticated and refined.


Jessica's group when out for pizza and bowling before prom (in their tuxes and dresses) and then road go-carts after prom (minus the tuxes and dresses).  She had a very enjoyable time.


Addyson's group only did dinner and pictures before prom but then attended the school sponsored afterprom party at Fastlanes.  After- afterprom, the entire group went to Connors house to watch movies. 


It is important to me to have a parent up for the girls when they come home.  With two very different schedules, there were two very different curfews.  Jessica had a 1:00 curfew, Addyson had a 5:00 curfew.  I set an alarm to go off at 12:45 and 4:45.  Boy was I one tired mama in the morning.


OK - enough words, let the pictures begin.

Saturday night our family split up into different directions.  Jessica & Rylee went with their uncle, nana and papa to the movie.  Addyson, Marty, granny and grandad all went out to Andy's for frozen custard.  It was an enjoyable evening by all.


As we were coming back in the house, Marty froze and said "what's that?"  "What's what?"  "All those lights"  "What lights?"  "little flashes of lights".  "Oh, lightening bugs"


If you have never seen lightening bugs, they are very cool. I wish I could have taken a pictures because there were hundreds. Marty wanted to know why they do that.  He tried to catch some, but we couldn't get them.

Last night we attended the high school honors banquet with Addyson.  They started off with dinner and then the program.  We were still eating with the program began.  They first asked us to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.  Poor Marty, he was LOST.   Everyone stood and he looked stunned.  I nudged him to stand as everyone was starting the pledge.  He said, "What the crap is this?" 


I'm sure everyone around us was puzzled at his response.  I kind of giggled, as did someone else at our table that was in the know.  You don't know all that he has forgotten, until it's too late.  I suppose we'll work on the pledge.

In order to give Marty experiences, we've been trying to take a weekend trip away once a month.  This month, Kansas City.


I am not a believer in coincidences.  I believe the Lord plans out our lives and coincidences are actually miracles.  This past weekend was one such miracle.  Shantel is my younger cousin by two years from my birth mother's family.  I would see her for a day to two each summer, but really lost touch with her over the last 20 years.  We weren't especially close growing up either.  We reconnected via facebook in the last 3 years or so.  


When I heard that the open house for the new Kansas City temple was to take place the first 3 weeks of April, I knew that this would be an experience for Marty.  He doesn't have any remembrance of the temple.  I decided this would be an easy way to re-introduce him to the temple.  I looked at the calendar and the weekend of April 13-14 was the only available weekend, so I booked tickets for the afternoon of the 14th.


After booking tickets I found out that Shantel had been invited to attend the open house the evening of the 13th with the Smith family.  She is a part of the church's historical society and has become quite the expert on Emma Smith.  She was invited to escort the descendants of the family through the temple.  The Lord was able to make a long needed reunion happen in Kansas city.


She drove with her husband 8 hours and we drove the 4 hours there.  We got to the hotel within about 10 minutes of each other.  Our rooms ended up side by side.  I felt like a teenager getting ready for a slumber party!  She headed off to be with the Smith family and we agreed to meet up for dinner afterwards.  


We sat at Red Lobster for hours, talking, laughing and catching up.  I had never met her husband and she had never met mine.  We were like old friends.  We were so engrossed in conversation that we didn't realize we had stayed well after the restaurant had closed.  The staff was so polite and didn't even say anything to us as they cleaned all the way around us.  When we finally realized how late it had gotten, we apologized to the manager.


As we were leaving the restaurant to head to the hotel, Marty started to say good bye to them.  I said I had full confidence we'd see them in the morning and I wasn't going to say goodbye.  Well, through various circumstances, we didn't see each other again after the parking lot of Red Lobster.  I am so sad we didn't think to get pictures taken.  


When we were driving home last night, Marty commented multiple times about how much he enjoyed our visit.  Marty is not usually comfortable around people he doesn't know well.  He loved them.  He said he wished it were possible to do that every weekend. Shantel and I are kindred spirits.  We are so much alike it's almost scary.  I feel like I have a new friend in a cousin.  I am grateful that through small miracles, we were able to be in Kansas City the same weekend.

Tonight I am thankful to be able to come home and hug my husband.  I am thankful to be able to snuggle up with him.  Someone asked me tonight if I miss talking to "the old Marty".  I tearfully admitted that I do.  However I have a new Marty that I get to talk to, snuggle up to and spend time with.  I get to experience new adventures.  


Tonight I attended the viewing of a dear friend who at 33 years of age has gone back to serve valiantly with his Heavenly Father.  He leaves behind an amazing wife, 2 year old daughter and 2 month old son.  Carrie is so strong.  I admire her.  She has so much courage & poise.  Duben will be missed by many and was loved by many more.  


Sometimes Heavenly Father has an amazing way of putting everything into perspective.  Tonight, my perspective is just a little more clear.  I am thankful for the family that I have.  I am thankful for the binding powers of the temple that seal our family together for time and all eternity.  I am thankful for an amazing support system.  I am thankful for another day of hugs, kisses, hand holding and snuggling.

Lately I have been feeling very alone.  I can't explain to myself or anyone else why I feel this way.  I suppose I believe I am the only person that has ever gone through what I am going through.  Most days things are awesome, but some days I just throw a pity party with myself as the only invited guest.


Today I was reminded of a suprise package I received in the mail from a long lost (or so I thought) friend.  THrough the magic of facebook we were reunited nearly 18 years after we had last seen each other.  Rebecca was my first married friend.  She was friends with my husband when we first met.  Her and her husband were great friends with Marty and I when we were in school in Laramie.


On March 6th, a package arrived in the mail from Rebecca.  Inside were two pictures.






Along with these two pictures was this story from her trip to a women's conference at BYU. (I hope Rebecca doesn't mind me sharing):


The class that I wanted to go to was filled so I ended up at the BYU bookstore to see what and who was there. I went up the stairs to the artists and right at the top of the stairs were those two prints...which I had never seen before. I knew what the one was of Joseph-pretty obvious, but not the one of Emma. No one was really up there but the artists themselves, so I started talking to Liz Lemmon Swindle, the artist of those prints. She laughed when I told her that I knew what the Joseph print was and why. She then told me the story. . . She was asked by the state of Missouri to create something for the celebration of the state and to make people aware of what the whole exterminate the Mormon law was...so she fasted and prayed, knowing that she wanted to do something about Joseph and Liberty Jail. She told me that she dreamt one night about what Emma was going through...on her own for there was no one to ask. That struck me, that we are lucky because we have others to turn to. Liz Lemmon Swindle signed and gave me those prints to help me. And they have, mostly to remind me that we just don't know the whole picture and we are not alone. You are not alone. We love you and I know that sometimes things just suck and you want to ask why...but remember that we all have somewhere to turn.


Isn't that beautiful?  Something else struck me today.  I suppose it's due to the Easter season we just came through.  



Christ must have felt very alone in the garden of Gethsemane.  For me to think that I am the only one that knows what I am going feeling and the challenges I am facing is very selfish of me.  So many others in the world face trials and challenges so much greater than I.  I also have the Savior to turn to in my time of need.  I am humbly grateful for the relationship I have with my Savior.


D&C 121: 7-8

I sent Rylee into the attic tonight in search for Easter baskets.  She finds this one:

Last night as we were getting ready for bed Marty asked me if I had picked up his medicine.  CRAP!  I totally forgot.  He said, don't worry, I went and picked it up.  WHAT!?!?  


Yesterday afternoon he was bored and decided he'd try to drive.  He started by going up and down our street that has several circles on it for easy turn arounds until he knew how the car reacted.  Then he headed off to Walgreens.  I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not.


Today when I came  home for lunch, the van was parked awkwardly in the garage.  I knew he'd driven again.  I asked him about it.  He decided he wanted to go to Walmart to buy his mother a birthday card (I reminded him last night his mom's birthday is next Monday).  He got to Walmart and realized he didn't know how to park, so he just left.  He missed the turn to come home.  Soon he realized he was at the turn off into Bentonville.  He thought he was in a turn only lane, so he exited off 540.  He drove to Braum's for a freeze.  After going through the drive thru, he didn't really want to turn left into oncoming traffic so he turned right and went through town.  He then realized he didn't know where he was going so he turned on the GPS and told it to take him home.  It took him downtown Bentonville and back up to 540 near my work.  Once he got home he wasn't sure how to park in the garage so that the door would shut and I could park too.  He was just a wee bit crooked.


He says that driving severely stresses him out!  There are so many things to think about.  He is worried that other drivers will pull out in front of him and he won't react in time. He then said he can't imagine he's any worse than either of his daughters.  That's not saying much, but it is saying, he's gaining back his independence.

Well, I suppose I am slipping back into my old blogging habits.  For a while I was blogging daily, sometimes multiple times a day.  Now, I just can't seem to blog more than 1 or 2 times a week.  I have intended to blog this exact post since Friday of last week.  Somehow I have always found better things (okay, maybe not better, but at least more fun) to do.


Friday marked 90 days since Marty's stroke.  The majority of a stroke patients recovery happens in the first 90 days.  Marty was impacted 3 ways.  Let's check his progress.

1. Physically - Marty had marked weakness in his right arm and hand.  At times it was difficult for him to hold a pencil.  His reflexes were slowed.  Even I could beat him at arm wrestling.  Now he is back 100%.  
2. Verbally - at first, Marty was not able to speak a single word. thankfully he never lost his ability to write so he had the ability to communicate though laborious.  Slowly over time, Marty has regained 95% or so of his verbal skills.  He still stutters and finds it difficult to find the right words at times.  A huge thank you to Oma and Amy who helped guide him down the path to recovery.
3. Cognitive - this was one we didn't fully recognize at first.  Overtime it became apparent.  There were times Marty would fake things that he really didn't understand.  Marty lost all his longterm memories, reasoning skills, reading ability, comprehension, logic, etc.  This has proven to be the most frustrating for me.  So, what are things he has forgotten and re-learned?
• how to eat
• how to shower, brush teeth, other basic hygiene
• read
• clean
• do laundry
• cook (still working through some kinks)

• Comprehend what he reads
• Drive
• strengthen testimony
• strengthen relationships with others
• manage money

The last 11 days have been spring break for our girls.  They had Thursday, Friday plus the entire next week off.  We decided that since they would be home, I would work full time during that time and have them care for their dad (if he needed anything)


We discovered a few things during that time.  Mostly, teenagers are needy and probably not the best choice to leave with dad if he were to be needy :)  One day on his request, they left him at the mall so that he could have some peace and quite.  We do love our teenagers, but they are LOUD!


As the week wound down, Marty decided he wanted to try staying at home by himself all day when the girls went back to school.  I have typically been working 1/2 day from home and 1/2 day from the office.  So, today I went to the office.


I checked in on Marty periodically throughout the day.  He was doing great!  He finished laundry, swept the floor and cleaned the kitchen.  AWESOME!  He also made dinner.


Cooking requires multi-tasking.  Marty is NOT a multi- tasker. So, what did he choose for her first dinner to cook solo?  Salmon, pasta, vegetables and rolls.  Not bad.

• Salmon - directions said to pour a generous amount of olive oil in the bottom of the pan.  Is an inch of oil generous?  Otherwise it was delicious!
• Pasta -  He had picked out a boxed shells and cheese mix.  Like I said, multi-tasking is not a strong point of Marty's.   He wasn't sure how to cook pasta and salmon at the same time, so he cooked the pasta first.  By the time the Salmon was done, the pasta was cold, but still yummy.
• Vegetables - he completely forgot about the vegetables until we were sitting down to dinner.  They were still in the freezer.  We just skipped them.  We'll have them another time.
• Rolls - we had a package of frozen rolls in a pan that you just throw in the oven.  We should probably buy more of these.  He made them earlier in the afternoon.  Serving size was perfect.

Since I had built a beautiful wreath holder for my front porch, I went searching for a wreath.  HOLY COW WREATHS ARE EXPENSIVE!!!!  Again, I turn to Pinterest for inspiration.


This is the wreath that I found that I liked best:
 

But, could I actually recreate it?


Off to Hobby Lobby I went.  Seriously, what did we ever do before Hobby Lobby (and Pinterest?)


Floral was 1/2 off so I bought 4 $4 bunches.  I had a 40% off coupon for the wreath base.  I also found all the envelope seals for Addyson's graduation announcements on clearance.  Total spent was just under $17!  


So, how did it turn out?

Not much to report on. Overall we are doing pretty good. We are finding our new normal. I discover everyday things that Marty doesn't remember. We learn new things together.


We had a minor meltdown last week.  We pushed through it.  Marty has decided he is jealous of time that I spend away from him.  Whether it's work, primary, shopping, or other tasks, he misses me and wants to be by my side.  That's not always feasible.  I am grateful that we are both committed to our relationship and to our children.  That makes pushing through the meltdowns much easier.  


We had a very productive weekend.  Several projects were clicked off with Marty as my assistant.  He is wanting to be involved in everything I do.  He watched me cut, sand, paint and assemble a cool wreath holder for the front door.  (that's worthy of a blog post of it's own).  He helped me clean off the front porch including washing and sweeping the porch.  He helped me make bread, cinnamon croissants and nutella croissants.  We loved spending time together.


This week is spring break.  That means that I am spending all day in the office while the girls are with their dad.  Addyson and Marty had a date today.  I don't know all that they did but I know it involved lunch at Mimi's.  That used to be a favorite of Marty's and now it's just okay.  Overall, I don't think Marty likes to eat out.  I suppose I'd better learn to be a better cook.


We are rapidly approaching 90 days since Marty's stroke.  Crazy that it's been this long.  Physically he is back to normal.  Speech wise he's about 90%.  Memory is probably 25% at best.  I don't know that memory will every really come back.  The rest of his recovery will be about re-learning.  Hopefully within a year he will be able to fully function on his own.  For now, we are pushing for the necessities and pray for the peripheral tasks to come later.


I don't know that I will ever be able to thank everyone or even come close to expressing the gratitude that has been in my heart through this process.  I see people all around me with trials much more than mine that are giving aid to our family.  I am so excited to be able to start serving others as well.  What a beautiful charity circle the Lord has created.

Most of Marty's family lives out west. He has only been able to see two of his sister's since his stroke, Laurie who drove here from Houston while he was still in the hospital and Susie who met us in Kansas during our K-State visit.  He hasn't been able to see any of his brother's other than via Skype or Facetime.


Last week Marty received a text from his brother Andy that they were going to be in Missouri this week for spring break.  Andy's wife is from Springfield, about two hours away.  We decided to meet them in Joplin (about half way) for dinner on Tuesday.  I have never met their son Zac and all of them were new to Marty.  Unfortunately it was a short visit as we couldn't meet until after school/work and we had to get back home in time to get to bed for school/work.


The entire visit was bitter-sweet.  It was fun for the girls and I to visit with Andy & Debbie.  To Marty it was visiting with a stranger.  Andy told many stories about their childhood and growing up.  None were familiar.  Marty tried to be cordial and polite during the visit.  


On the way home he broke down.  He said he feels like he has stepped into someone else's life.  He occasionally has small glimpses of memories, but often times just enough to really confuse him.  For him right now, that is the most frustrating thing he is dealing with.  He knows he had a life for 40 years, but doesn't know anything about it.  People are all strangers.  Stories of his life are all fairy tales.  He isn't looking forward to building new memories.  He wants all his old memories back.  He wants to tell the stories.


Now, to top things off, he has a terrible cold.  You can tell to look at him he doesn't feel good.  He has so much pressure built up in his head.  This is accompanied by coughing and sneezing which are both quite painful.  We keep trying different medications but can't seem to find one that is giving him relief.  I suggested we take him to the doctor to see if he has an infection.  He doesn't want to go.  He's very anti-doctor right now.  He saw too many doctors in too short of a period of time.  Now he only wants to see them for the absolute necessities and he doesn't view this as that.


Last night he said he wishes he could just have one good week.  One week without a cold, flu, headache, fatigue, etc.  Just one week to enjoy life.  I pray relief comes soon for him.  He is wearing down.  


This is one of my favorite Michael McLean songs.  The message is so true right now.