Banged Up

My left shoulder is totally shot. The cartilage has been gone for years and the two bones have badly eroded from friction. It hurts a lot and my arm movements are severely restricted.

Consequently, I couldn’t make the trip to Arizona for my grandson Grant’s law school graduation last weekend. I was disappointed, but Dennis had to go without me. The wonderful consolation prize was a weekend visit from my brother Holmes and sister-in-law Candace. They came to help me with things my shoulder won’t permit me to do.

Here they are having a conversation with their daughter, Holden. They had just learned some interesting news.

Holmes is an avid morel mushroom aficionado. He hunts them daily during their brief season. I used to hunt them myself, but haven’t been able to walk the woods terrain for several years. Bless his heart, he brought morels to share. These are the small ones.

He even cooked them for brunch on Saturday. These he dipped in beaten egg, then flour. Here they are cooking in olive oil and butter.

We ate, we talked, we napped, we played Scrabble. Candace cleaned up the kitchen and helped with laundry. Holmes looked after the chickens, lifted and carried things for me and cooked our meals.

The best part of their visit was laughter and love. Laughter won’t heal my shoulder, but it certainly helps heal my spirit and soothe my worry. As for love, who can thrive without it? I would have had a miserable weekend without Holmes and Candace.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer