Today would have been our 48th wedding anniversary.
I had been living without hot water downstairs for a little over three weeks, and this morning a very kind person came by and fixed it for me. It turned out to be a matter of replacing a part, not, as an impatient plumber had tried to convince me, a reason to buy a whole new freaking tankless water heater. Okay, the part had to be replaced twice because the first one from the manufacturer was faulty. But still, it worked out in the end, and very cost-effectively, too.
This afternoon, I went to see my favorite cardiologist for a three-month follow-up after an outpatient procedure. So far, so good. Hot water heater and heart, both in working order.
That’s how I celebrated our anniversary. ❤️
July came and went in the blink of an eye. It was not without its share of melodrama, beginning with the sad news from Italy that a sweet cousin had lost his battle with cancer. On the home front, there was a flood in the utility room, a power outage, a malfunctioning house alarm system, a doorbell that stopped working, the dogwood tree in the front yard suddenly died, and, of course, the aforementioned hot water heater saga. Oddly enough, this month I also developed arthritis in both thumbs, making twisting, gripping, holding, pressing and turning things surprisingly painful. A pair of compression gloves recommended by the Arthritis Foundation ease the pain somewhat.
But all of that pales in comparison to a family situation that began on my birthday and has reverberated throughout July and beyond. We are all still mourning the ripple effects of it, each in our own way.
Meanwhile, in the garage, my never-ending nemesis project, there are still more boxes to sort, more things to give away, things to fix, and things that simply need to be somewhere else. I suppose that’s true of life, too. I tend to deal with what is right in front of me, one thing at a time, one day at a time, and am learning to trust the process and to be satisfied with the progress I have made.
And so, on what would have been our 48th anniversary, I’m grateful for hot water, a beating heart, kind people who show up when they’re needed, a nice house, family, even when family life is messy, and the memories that remain. I’m most grateful for the love of my life who made 45 of those 48 years wonderful and so worth remembering.