Where To Start...

 It was the fifth of December when my man fell on the porch. He got up and made his way to the couch. Monday he had a swollen ankle and could not put any weight on his left foot. Tuesday we drove to Urgent Care, in Traverse City, where he went through the doors and I waited, outside, in my truck for three hours. When he came out of the doors he had a boot up to his thigh and a pair of crutches. Thursday was the appointment with the Great Lakes Orthopedic center. This time I dropped him at the doors and went across to Oleson's Food Store to do some grocery shopping. No sooner had I stepped into the store and wheeled my cart down the isle Steve calls and says he is ready to be picked up! A five minuet look by the doctor and four weeks on the sofa with no weight on the left foot. I have always wondered about caregivers and how they take care of themselves when they have a full time patient. Now I know. Through snow days and sun days, Christmas dinner and New Years Eve, Steve has been a model patient. Joking and laughing, I don't know how he kept his spirits  up, but he did! I need to get back to work I told him! He said I have a full time job taking care of the husband! He was right, and it was full time! We heat with wood and so I had to bring the contractors wheelbarrow full of wood into the basement and dump it next to the woodstove. Every other day I emptied the ashes. Made the coffee and oatmeal in the morning. Washed the dishes and tidy the house. Steve on the sofa all day and all night that first week. We just finished week four. My pecs, abs and neck muscles are firming up beautifully. Steve drove the Jeep to Traverse City to pick me up from dropping the truck off to be repaired, deer damage, he felt pretty darn good getting out of the house! The next day he drove up to his shop to take a look around, he hadn't been up there this whole time! We will know on Thursday how much longer we need, to heel my baby up. The silver lining? He sees that we need to be in the sunshine during the winter months. We are getting to a point in our lives that plowing, shoveling and heating with wood is too much work. Much easier to put on jeans and a sweatshirt to go for a walk in the sunshine!! So now we are faced with questions of our future. Sell the house and move to North Carolina, and keep ten acres with a cabin for summer. Or keep the house and buy a mobile home in Florida for the winter. One thing we learned is we need to get out of dodge in the colder months. I'm leaning for a cabin on the back ten and a small  fulltime home in Highlands, North Carolina. That way, in the winter, we can take a four day weekend and drive down to St Augustine for some warm weather. In the spring we can take the two track back to the cabin and live in Northern Michigan for the summertime!

That's how 2021 ended for us! Happy New Year, for sure!!