Relief

Our patient has done marvelously well today. It is not easy to have one eye patched. Try watching TV or reading email with just one eye. But as the temperature climbed into the upper 80’s inside our house this afternoon, I suggested we escape to the coast for the rest of the day. At first he didn’t want to go, but then the heat won. All of a sudden, he was claustrophobic…and could not stand to be inside (90◦) or outside (104◦). We hurriedly invited mom and dad to join us, threw the dog in and we left for the coast. We enjoyed watching the temperature drop as we drove…and could see the fog bank up ahead. We arrived at Otis and noticed there were only 2 cars at the Café. The fog had just drifted in, it was 64 degrees and safe to leave Sadie in the van, so we went in and ate dinner. We hit the lull just right – soon the parking lot and tables were all full, as is the norm at this small, popular hole-in-the-wall. Great dinner and great marionberry pie. Fortunately, Robert went to the restroom just before she brought dessert, so I slid into the booth and that meant he was on my right when he got back – harder for him to watch me eat the great pie ala mode. The new advantage of the patched left eye!
On we went into Lincoln City, foggy and 59 degrees! Yea! We took Sadie for a short walk on the beach and watched the waves, while Robert sat in the car with the window down. Ahhhhh. Refreshment…relief. Exactly what we all needed. To get out from under the relentless heat. To experience a change. To be reminded that God alone knows when we can not take the trial or tension anymore, and he brings respite at exactly the right time.
Whoops! A wall of heat, 92 degrees of heat, hit us as we open our door back home. Ah, but the break, the refreshment, the respite enables us to endure once again.

~Jeanette