Union Mandated Break

So, for now, my garden is "done". [Maybe one more veggie or light set...]

I planted all the summer flowers and pulled up the winter bulbs to store away 'til Oct. I have new pepper varieties, new tomatoes, strawberries, herbs.... I have a little solar light turtle, and glass water bulbs to go in some containers. There is new bright colours ALL OVER the back garden. I also got new solar lights on the umbrella, so at night it looks like stars! I got rid of the trash (except the bikes, I want to donate those) and put in new lights around where the wild mint is growing. I'll put pics up after Wash sees it on the off chance he's checking my blog from his Hospice library.

I already cleaned the kitchen and fridge and I'm purposely not cleaning the living room or office. The bedroom is about the same. I'm doing MY laundry so it's done.

I have breakfast leftover, and my friend is taking brunch to Wash in a half hour.

I slept about 7 hours last night, but I'll have a chance for a nap before we get Wash this afternoon.

Time for one more Harry Potter, I think.

I had a good chance to get some rest, to get some things done, to clean, to laugh, to treat myself.

I had my nails done with one of my best girl-friends. I got to have a LONG phone conversation with an old friend. I got to sleep on the whole bed.

I missed Wash, to be sure. A lot. Perhaps not as much as Leto... that cat pretty much has stayed 4 days waiting at the front door for Wash to come home.

I will need more time again, this I know. I will need more rest.

I needed this break though. I needed the time to stay sane, to come back out of depression and Sneaky-Hate-Spiral.

I perhaps don't feel "happy" per se, but I no longer feel vast emptiness. I can see Hope again. I can see myself alive and as an independent person after Wash dies, for I think the first time.

I also feel stronger to be kinder and patient. I needed that.

This was a good thing.

Gentleman Caller

Wash is settled in at the Hospice Home for the next little bit. He got a nap in and told me his first meal there was a burrito and rice. He seems upbeat. I feel a lot better, but still miss him in a way that calls me back to his first few days in the hospital and when I was dragged back home to rest.

So it's just me home now, with the kitties and a 5 gallon bottle of water mis-delivered to me today.

I lived alone from 17-22. Never had a roommate as an adult. Wash was the first person I lived with outside my family. It feels odd, and I can remember so many details from that time, when it was just me (and then Aelphie).

I'm also just having it sink in that it can be about ME for right now. There are others to worry and care for Wash. To help him. To calm him. To make him happy, right now. The now can be about me, for the first time in far far too long as a human.

I'm going to pick some clothes tomorrow, new clothes and not from a donation store.

I have no obligations for Sunday, for the first time in as long as I can recall. Years.

I will wake for me; not for or because of someone else. (Unless the kitties get REAL hungry and loud!)

I can have silence if I want.

My fridge has no meat in it for the first time in a long long long time. I'm beyond happy.

There's a part of me that misses him and thinks of him every second, what he might be doing, thinking, needing- if he is missing me too?

I know rationally he will be fine, and he can contact me if something is amiss.

With time and distractions I think that part will quiet down on it's own, not with my work.

I will have time for me, where it is ok and safe to be "selfish". At least until Monday.

It's been 7 hours since I've seen or touched him. I need to sleep, to relax, to calm down, to emote.

I have my family, friends, and kitties to help.

"Everything will work out in the end; if it has not worked out, it's not the End." - Best Marigold Hotel

The in-between

All things staying the same, Wash will go into a Hospice Respite home/facility Fri (tomorrow) morning through Monday afternoon, planned.

I am too numb, scared, tired, relieved, and nervous to process more than that.

My mother and I toured the facility today, it was very nice and should meet his needs, if not all his desires.

I have a list, but I cannot pack his things yet. I'm not ready. A few more hours won't matter.

Rationally, I know this is the right thing to do for us both, however much it emotionally hurts to be away.

Alarm

Who's got 2.5 thumbs and 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night?

This gal!

Wash was out for 10 hours. The new pills seem to be helping.

Busy day, we have a "day team" Hospice Evaluation today, hopefully it will show Wash and I both need more help.

A few friend visits scheduled, maybe even a Warhammer 40K game for Wash.

I'm hoping for a good day.

Gathered up a big storm

I managed to make a few new Walking Dead BINGO cards to play on tonight with our friends. I have so much fun trying to put my Aspie brain to work and figure out the trope patterns and the plot points. I've had mostly great feedback and outside some geek specific shows I made for me & Wash to play (The Invisible Man, Coupling, Torchwood, OZ, The Wire) I'm thinking of doing some for more current shows, like Law & Order: UK , continuing on for ses 5 of Mad Men, Downton Abbey.

I did this while Wash played with the Hospice Volunteer who came over today- as requested, "The geekiest one you can find!" said Wash. Well, when Will's* eyes lit up as he saw our TARDIS cookie jar and recognized Leto's name "As in Atredes?"

So, he spent about two hours over learning some more Warhammer and Wash taught him Munchkin (Steve Jackson game) so we three can play next Sunday. I think it will be fun even if it is not "me" time, it's time we can spend doing something fun, as it plays much better with more people than 2.

I spend a lot of my time thinking now. Going over thoughts and sometimes running as fast as I can away from them. How lucky to have had all this time, but how angry I can still feel that I won't get my "lifetime" with my husband, how we won't have all the things we want so badly, the smallest and simplest things. It hurts to spend so much of my time worrying about money, worrying about how I'm going to pay these bills, how long I can push others off, how badly my own credit score can really get...?

I ache for the children we will never have. I hurt that Wash will not get to see even his nephew grow up.

I hurt watching him cry and try to move past his dream of being a licensed Architect. How he stares at buildings sometimes, not able to speak a word but the pain is brilliant in his eyes.

I ache with the remembrance of pains he has long since forgotten, but not forgiven. How does one forgive when they do not remember they have been crossed?

He was looking for a specific Warhammer codex today for Will, before he remembered he had loaned it to a friend who literally just left him (and us) when he got sick. Who did some real shitty things to a friend who just had brain surgery and found out he was dying. All those memories, things he had forgotten for two years came back.

Thankfully for Will, he was able to keep Wash distracted enough to move past it or maybe with his short term issues, he just forgot again. I can hope.

I want moments of happiness. I want a chance to savor and remember what I know will be too short, too sad. I want something special, something more than just seeing the decline. I'm thankful every hour I get to spend with him, that he is alive, but I want more than just mere .... "well, he's alive...". I want to be thankful he is living and enjoying the life he has. I want more time for that, I want more chances for that.

Ah, crying now. That's my cue for the moment to stop writing. I am trying my hardest to keep the stress and drama away from Wash, and as I'm writing this in the afternoon not 2am when he's asleep, I have to be careful how he sees me. Sometimes he cannot understand the reasons why I am in pain and he just wants to do something to make me feel better. I try and keep him from having to feel like he has to take care of me. He should be focusing on himself.

We dated for 3 months before we got engaged. We were engaged for about 9 months before we eloped in secret. I had from the end of March through about May before his personality had changed so much he was hardly recognizable as the same personality. Realistically, I had one year to "know" my husband, my best friend, and the person I swore my life to.

I had about 6 weeks of being a "newlywed".... except since our family did not know we had eloped, most of our friends did not either. So, it was a secret and silent marriage.

By the time everyone knew we were married, all anyone could focus on- and should have- was Wash and the cancer, and the word "terminal".

I wanted to elope. We wanted to elope. We wanted something small, something that was all ours, that we "owned". I remember every lovely moment of it; even the scary parts and the first laughs we had as "Mr & Mrs."

But, we wanted (before the Cancer) something large for our families and friends to share and celebrate too. We just never got there. It was supposed to happen for a "anniversary".

I ponder these thoughts as March 14th approaches; our 3rd wedding anniversary.

My defining years as a wife have also been as a caregiver. I have never known another way.

I am sad about that though. I wish the 4 years I have been given to spend my time with him would have been less of "nursing" and more of "being his partner". I wonder if in a different universe 20 years from now "Pratt-King" would have meant the same powerhouse as "Charles and Ray Eames"? I can still hope for that future there, I suppose.

I just truly wish we as a couple, as a husband and wife, had something great to look forward to, something to celebrate.

*Not his real name

Wash's parents were supposed to come in and spend this week visiting him /spending time with Wash / helping give me some Respite time.

They cannot come.

Kind of waited very last minute to tell us.

Rationally I can completely understand it.

Emotionally? Like my husband I am beyond crushed. "Disappointed" is a light term. He wanted and needed this time with them.

We don't know how healthy or mentally aware he will be the next time they decide they can come.

I had to clear my entire schedule this week, now I am scrambling to fill it in.

Yes, I was looking forward to a little Respite too while they had a chance to bond.

Wash is just sitting on the bed hunched over and cuddling his teddy-bear, Hoban.

Fuck bad news days like today.

Life has been SO GORRAM unfair to him, I hate days like this.