This summer was what not what I had planned.

While that’s not necessarily a huge shocker, it did go much differently than I could have imagined.  In my last post (which was, sadly, a long time ago), I mentioned that the summer was filled with people.  That part did not change, but the time left at the end of the summer busyness to kick back a little with the kids at home and my Love took a bit of a hit.

While my northern boy and his family were here, I got a concerned message from my aunt about my mom.  My mom lives in another province, almost two thousand kilometres away. I called my techie boy (who lives just an hour from her, but was thankfully close by) and he went to check on her.  He found her quite ill, but not willing to get checked out at the hospital.  We called in reinforcements–my cousin, who is a nurse.  My mom would not change her mind, stating that she just wanted a good night’s sleep.  It was agreed, with the condition that my cousin would come by in the morning to reevaluate.  If there was no improvement, my mom agreed to go to the hospital.  Long story short (well at least shorter), my mom fell in the night and she was taken to hospital when my cousin got there.

It turned out that the fall was a blessing in disguise, as it got her to hospital.  Once she was admitted, they found not only a fractured pelvis, but her electrolytes were dangerously out of whack, a very serious condition.  I flew out to be with her, and ended up staying for twenty-four days, twenty-one of which were spent in hospital.

I’m so thankful that I was able to do that.  It wasn’t in my bullet journal for things to accomplish that summer, but it was important to both of us to be together. My dad passed away twelve years ago and my only brother nine years ago (see here).  Mom has two sisters left and they live close by and are so very good to her.  I couldn’t have moved away otherwise.  I also rely on my techie boy and cb girl to fill in the gap in my absence, which they are happily willing to do.  This, however, was not a pinch-hit kinda scenario.

I could have gone to see her through the worst of it, then returned home.  Home to check the countless items off my to-do-before-end-of-summer-and-beginning-of-a-new-homeschool-year list.  But it was of concern to me to see her through the next step.  Of much greater significance than my planner.  Those things, for the most part, got done or will eventually get done.

I didn’t plan for that extended trip to Ontario.  It wasn’t the most pleasant of circumstances that took me there.  But, here’s the thing:  I got a whole lot of extra things that were not in my planner.  I got to spend precious time with my mom.  I got to see many family members and old friends that I haven’t seen in a good while.  I got extra time with some of my children, children-in-love and grandlittles.  God is good, is He not?  He took this difficult situation and gave me several beautiful gifts.