On this Thanksgiving Holiday weekend we have made it a habit to stay up late (1:00 to 2:00 am) visiting with my daughters and my son and daughter-in-law who are in town for the holiday weekend. What fun it's been playing "Grandma & Grandpa" to our 3 year old grandson. Jana took Friday off work just to make the holiday more festive, which means the luxury of staying up late and sleeping in equally late.
Even so, holiday weekend or not, our ward had the responsibility of cleaning the church today (we have the fourth Saturday of each month to clean the church and make it ready for Sunday meetings) at 8:00 am. All by itself, 8:00 am isn't early, except when placed in the context of it being Saturday in addition to the mix of holiday indulgence.
After a 5 hour night I rolled out of bed to get ready to go clean the Cheerios off the chapel benches. After dressing I walked over to Jana's side of the bed and she was out cold, blissfully enjoying her cozy slumber. I didn't really want to wake her, wishing I was still cocooned on the other side of the bed, but I gently patted her hip and she aroused semi-consciously.
"Sweetheart, I"m getting ready to head to the church to clean."
"Uh. OK." she mumbled, not moving.
I headed to the kitchen to grab a banana, then outside to get the car warmed up. I had decided to not trouble her again, figuring that if she fell back asleep, she deserved it.
Back in the kitchen I stood, eating my banana when Jana came walking in. "I'm ready."
Neither of us had done any more personal preparation than to drag combs through our hair and, given my unshaved, unshowered state, I was grateful her eyes were having a hard time focusing.
We headed for the car and drove off to tackle the awaiting vacuums, the 14 miles of halls and the crushed Cheerio dust.
Without complaint or even a word about how short the night had been or how warm the bed was, Jana was there: blurry-eyed, dressed and selflessly supportive. A simple but loving thing. How grateful I am for her.
(Parenthetically, my first counselor gave me two tickets to Applebees for a High School Band fundraiser breakfast so we had breakfast after cleaning the church before coming home and starting another special day of playing Grandma and Grandpa.)
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Kevin I have always appreciated how you warm up the car for your family. Good for the car, good for the family, good for the soul! Keep writing, i love it!
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