I’m a much simpler, less demanding, uncomplicated woman than I used to be. I’m highly flexible, if not terribly patient. When I first came to live at the Ponderosa, one of the first things I noticed was how difficult it was to wash dishes with the faucet that was on the kitchen sink. It was exceedingly low, and it had one of those water filter attachments. It was terribly cumbersome and I just hated it.
That was over three years ago. There have been many times I’ve asked if we couldn’t PLEASE get a new faucet. Mr. FixIt assured me he had a great one…out in the building…that he’d been meaning to put on there. But, there’s always something else that needs doing or someplace else that’s more fun than being home so it’s never been a huge priority. The only time it really gets to me is when I’m doing something big, like canning or cooking for a crowd. I knew it would get done one of these days.
Last week, my sweetheart found the replacement faucet he was going to use, only to discover several of the parts had gone missing over the years. We went to Lowe’s and they had the entire display torn up, but we scrounged around and I found one I liked. Mr. FixIt wanted to get me one of those foofy faucets with the sprayer that pulls out of the end and the touch control, but I told him…really, I’m not that complicated. It doesn’t have to be fancy…just tall!
We got the new faucet home and the next morning, he got into the box and wouldn’t you know it…there were pieces missing out of that one, too! Argh! Ok, I went online, picked the exact one I wanted, and he had to order it from Charleston…but it arrived on Tuesday with all the pieces. I was busy Wednesday, so yesterday morning after breakfast, Mr. FixIt turned off the TV and picked up the faucet and his tools and went to work.
It has been decades since any work has been done on the plumbing under that sink. The shut-off valves were frozen, so we had to turn the main water supply off. Then, it took both of us under the kitchen sink…him in one cabinet, me in the other…to get the connections loosened and off so he could go to town and get two new shutoff valves. Once that was done, putting everything back together was fairly easy. I had to stand up top and hold everything in place while he went underneath and tightened the connections. And, before we knew it…mama had a new faucet! It’s the little things now.
Since I finished the website transfer, my next item on the list was banking. For those of you who have been reading me from the beginning, you know that every single year, I leave balancing my checkbook on Quicken till the very last minute before doing taxes. Then I end up pulling my hair out for three days trying to download software updates and entering a whole year’s worth of downloaded transactions from the bank into Quicken. Not this year! I got everything downloaded yesterday and balanced to the penny, I might add!
It feels good to check things off the list. The breast ultrasound came back normal. What they were looking at is actually smaller after three months and most assuredly benign. I worked on my Ancestry a little bit last night. That was something I truly enjoyed doing when Mr. Virgo was living. I worked on it while he watched TV. I spent a couple of hours on it last night while my sweetheart watched his shows and it was such a nice treat. It’s honestly the first time I’ve been able to sit down and work on it since Mr. Virgo died…and it didn’t bother me a bit.
Wounds heal after time. Scars remain, but even their pain recedes with the right “medicine.” It was a busy and productive day…and a fun, relaxing evening. I’ve lived the last several years wondering when the next horrifying thing was going to happen. Yesterday, I asked a friend of mine… “Is this what normal feels like?” It’s been so long since I could breathe and let my guard down…but I’m loving this feeling of peace and contentment.
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“I pray that the Lord, who gives peace, will always bless you with peace. May the Lord be with all of you.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16 CEV