"Playing pool in the snow"

It is the weekend and none of us have any special plans, which for once is nice. Having taken Mom shopping Friday night and grabbing a few groceries ourselves, we are all set for whatever weather comes our way. The weather channel calls for snow (up to two inches of accumulation). What that generally means is our small town shuts down. Zack "mentions" that something fun is happening with his class mates on Saturday that he has been invited to. Friday night he was all excited about it and couldn't wait to go, all of a sudden Saturday morning, he is telling us he doesn't want to go. He says he has lost communication with his (school) friends and only a hand full really care about him and have bothered to keep in touch. This is his harsh reality. He gets excited and then worries something will happen to disappoint him. It gets so frustrating, one minute he is up, the next he is down. We have learned to keep calm and try and get him to talk, but this time it takes about an hour for him to realize what he is really feeling. 

As we are discussing what he is feeling, we look outside and it is snowing, so we determine that everything has been cancelled. It isn't until later in the day that I realize my level of anxiety is high. I want so badly for him to have as normal a life as possible, but he has to want the same. Sometimes, as parents, we "think" we know what our children want, but their needs are not our needs. We must learn to be still and listen to them. Yes, there are some things that we know they need, but we must take ourselves out of the equation. The snow doesn't really amount to much, so I decide to head downtown to Moms booth. Eclectic Cottage is having their one year anniversary and I figured it would be a good idea to pop in and say hello. Zack and Donald went with Drake to trade his boat for a motorcycle. Later in the afternoon, they were invited to the bowling alley and play some pool with a mutual friend. Frank stayed home and was carving at a large tree trunk in the snow. It was actually funny to watch him, he was having a great time. 

snow fall downtown Brevard

The closer I got to town the heavier the snow fell. It was beautiful! The roads were clear so I felt safe driving, which to my friends up North and in areas where winters are heavy, probably are laughing right about now. I was able to confirm with Zack that the people he was to meet were not there. I go in to see Brooke and her staff. She had a lovely spread laid out for customers and offered me a bowl of chili and drink. Since I had already decided to grab lunch while uptown, I kindly declined. Mom's booth still looked neat and clean, surprisingly there were a lot of people roaming around, it's almost as if the weather has brought everyone out to play. I check out a couple of shops and head out to lunch.

After a couple of hours downtown, I head back home. The snow had stopped and I simply wanted to go and relax. I wasn't feeling that great and once I arrived home, within thirty minutes I was feeling very dizzy. I had noticed, while eating lunch I put my ear buds in to listen to a show (my favorite past time when eating alone) and felt a sharp pain. My gut tells me I have some sort of ear infection going on, which would cause the dizziness. I call Nancy who offers to adjust me, but Frank (who later apologizes) didn't want to drive there, we also found out the roads higher up were in bad shape, so I didn't want to take a chance anyway. I took an aspirin and laid on the sofa to rest. Whenever I had to get up, Zack, Donald or Frank would take my arm and help me keep my balance. Now I have a pretty good idea of what Mom goes through when her Vertigo kicks in. Not pleasant to say the least.  By the end of the evening I was feeling much better. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, watching TV and playing Words with friends. 

Sunday was pretty much the same with the exception of me going anywhere. I stayed in my pj's most of the day. Zack and Donald were in rare form, both running around the house talking in funny voices and being typical goof balls. It is nice to see the lighter side of Zack. Frank waits until it warms up and then goes fishing with Matt for several hours. 

Zack is feeling better. His leg is healing and he asks to go play pool at the bowling alley again. His plans for the rest of next week are to work some with Frank and Tuesday we go for the Vincristine, which is his next "short" chemo treatment. He is excited to work so he can collect money to buy more parts to fix up his truck.  It was a nice low key weekend for us all and by all appearances, next week promises more of the same, but then again, we never really know for sure!