It’s Sunday night and we’ve survived Week One of our Six Week Retreat of Healing.
James has been settling-in at Granddad and Grandma Suzy’s this week, commuting to Los Gatos for his daily radiation treatments, and doing his best to balance staying busy and not wearing himself out. He had a couple days where he wasn’t feeling that hot, but he’s eating well and just has a bit of a rosy neck.
Our week got off to a rough start, but then went pretty quickly. Nothing like James being gone for the “check engine” light to immediately appear on my dash, and the little one to mention some problem with his unmentionables…
Then on Monday night I’m trying to watch a little boob tube when I hear “scratch scratch scratch.”
“Jacob, I’m not going to say it again. Get. Back. In. Your. Bed.”
I turn to catch him lurking behind the couch and there’s no one there. Perplexed, I get up and scan the area. There’s the noise again. I peek in the boys’ cracked door and Jake is quietly drawing with his flashlight, under the covers.
Eeeeew. I hear it again. It sounds big. It’s trying to get out. Little toenails. Big toenails? I race up the stairs to my room and check my closet. I can hear it, but fortunately, no sign of fur or teeth or toenails.
I can’t watch TV anymore. I go to bed that night with earplugs and pray nothing runs across the covers.
Thank goodness we have Nonna and Papa as our evening helpers, and Papa knows an exterminator.
James came home Friday night for the weekend. We were so unbelievably happy to see him. Of course the rash was cured, the engine light was off, the walls were quiet…
And all was as it should be.