I Have My Christmas Present

 I have my Christmas present. He sits by my side and talks with me. We dance together each day, several times a day. He is my Rich. 

For those of you still visiting here, you know that my husband, Rich, had a stroke in mid-July. In addition to the stroke, he has been dealing with early stages of slowly-progressing Parkinson's disease, too, for the past couple of years. 

So the rest of July and most of August was spent - a week at the hospital (trying to see if the stroke would get any worse, they said!), and then almost a month in rehab before I could bring him home. I was there every day, all day from morning till after dinner in the evening (also a way to avoid rush-hour traffic!) watching and learning how to help with his physical therapy (since I knew almost nothing about what to do). 

I did find out that it really IS true: God never gives us anything to do that is impossible. We are all made strong enough to deal with anything in our path.  And I found out the hard way, that if we think we can do it all ourselves, He will give us a little Tap On The Shoulder, reminding us that it's OK to ask for help.  In my case, I pulled a back muscle as I was in "learning mode", and asked for a caregiver to help. Rich was very grateful, as I think he got tired of listening to my moaning and groaning in pain and acting like I was near death. 

Rich had the stroke about a week after we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary. The little ladybug picture I posted earlier - that was a design I stitched while Rich was in rehab (where I almost found a couple of new people to teach, too!!). Someone asked me, "Ladybug??  -- I thought it was an Alien."  To which I replied, "It reminded me of one of the shower or swimming caps that had flowers all over them."  --way back in The Olden Days.
        But the Brazilian embroidery which I love has been like an anchor in a storm, keeping me in balance. And even though I am now busier each day than I ever thought I could be, I spend time each evening working on my projects, sometimes only for an hour or two.

Well, I can't complain. Life is beautiful. I have my Rich; I have my Christmas present, and a present each day with him by my side and improving.  We dance together often during the day -- as I help him regain his walking balance.  We talk often, and we laugh a lot. He has asked me not to sing...  

Now that we are getting into a routine, I am finding moments here and there when I can work on this blog.  And I've been jotting notes on my Facebook page (please 'like' me there so you won't miss anything!).  And, as I promised so long ago, my next project is to share the little Olden Flowers - Brazilian embroidery's original flowers which are pretty much public domain. I just used different leaves and backgrounds and will give you patterns and instructions and sources if you'd like to make your own little art quilt, or even use the flower designs for crazy quilts or journal pages or fabric postcards -- anything creative you can think of.

Thank you for listening. As I wrote earlier, I already have my Christmas present. I have my Rich.  My life is rich, Rich is my life, and life is beautiful.

Rosalie