Health Concerns

Dearest Rachel –

Normally, when I wake up of a morning, the house (at least, the portion within earshot) is quiet as a tomb. Even the fact that Logan gets up early enough to start his workday doesn’t register with me. Maybe it’s because his upstairs room that he confines himself to during working hours is far enough from the master bedroom that his knocking about can’t be heard (that, and there are walls, floors and rooms between us, as well). Regardless, most of the time I don’t give the silence a second thought, as it’s the most normal thing in the world. Sometimes, it gives me time alone with other thoughts – in which case, I’m grateful for it – but other times, it’s almost oppressive in its stillness, reminding me of how empty the place is without you.

None of this was an issue this morning; quite the opposite, in fact. While I suppose this would otherwise have been a “not thinking about it” kind of morning, that lack of thought was disturbed by the sound of shallow coughing from the other side of the house. Unlike Logan’s room, there are no walls separating the family room where Daniel sleeps – or at least tries to – from the master bedroom; there’s only the bedroom door which, once I was up about about my morning routine, was open and no longer a factor in the equation. Normally, Daniel would be sleeping until around ten (as he still stays up into the wee hours like you used to do), but it would seem that the cold he’s been dealing with has woken him up today.

It doesn’t come as a complete surprise; just yesterday, while I was at the ‘office’ working on walking Kerstin through certain arrangements she needs to make in order to travel with us and the church group to Israel, I got a text from him about dinner. He’d been dealing with a runny nose for a day or so, and he was finally conceding the race. Not that he was feeling particularly poorly at the moment, but he was aware of his grandparents’ tenuous health, and didn’t want to subject them to whatever he was dealing with by showing up for dinner that evening. Once off the phone with Kerstin, I made a point to head upstairs and relay the message to the folks about this; as sorry as they were that he’d decided against coming by, they were actually quite appreciative of his consideration.

Granted, it made last night’s dinner a little awkward. When I broke the news to them, I didn’t see anything on the counter or the stove being prepared, so I thought the whole even could be called off, and we could just get back to normal next week. However, it turned out that Mom had already prepared the evening’s entrée, and it was merely sitting in the refrigerator, waiting to be put in the oven at the appropriate time; it couldn’t simply be delayed for a whole week once assembled. So I showed up and hung out with them for a little more than an hour, and brought home three helpings of enchiladas (one more than I ate, but then, I has been given a salad and a couple small ears of corn, neither of which appeal to him) for Daniel. I thought I might be hanging out with Daniel given the upset in plans, but he and Logan were already ensconced in the family room, so I just heated his meal in the air fryer and left the boys to their devices as I usually do.

I didn’t hear much coughing from the family room last evening, but it may have been due to whatever they were watching drowning it all out. That, and the fact that I nearly nodded off watching stuff in the bedroom, at which point, I just crawled into bed to listen to some white noise on a black screen – and didn’t wake up until three or so in the morning, at which point, I turned over and zoned out for another three hours for good measure.

But once I was up, I could hear the coughing and sniffling. He insists that he feels better than he sounds – and he doesn’t have that rasp to his voice that I would get when I would be struck with a cold, so he doesn’t sound all that bad when he’s talking – but since he doesn’t talk much (and even less so when he’s feeling poorly like right now), the coughing and sniffling don’t give his assertion much credence. Which is a shame, considering the invites we have for tomorrow (and the preparations we need to back today beforehand). Although, maybe, getting him out in the fresh air could do him some good, both later today and tomorrow. We’ll just have to see.

In the meantime, honey, I’d appreciate it if you could keep an eye on the two of us as we deal with this, and wish us luck. I’m pretty sure we’re going to need it.