Where the Streets Have No Name

I just saw the trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  First, what rock have I been under that I missed this novel?  Second, I cannot wait to see how this story unfolds. 

A lot of things are making me think about my papa lately, and this movie definitely did.  It's just starting to really sink in that he's not going to be there the next time I go home for a visit, and that I won't be able to call him after Big Blue Madness to talk about the new freshman class of Cats.  But my goodness, didn't we have a full life of love with him? When so many people have their time with loved ones cut short, I certainly have nothing to complain about. 

I'm wishing that I knew more about papa, that I knew more about what he thought about the world around him. It's hard to imagine how much the world changed over the course of his life, but I'm not sure I ever  really knew his perception of it all.  Of course, that was also just papa.  Nothing truly got to him, bothered him, got him riled up or upset.  Couldn't we all use a dose of his temperment and peacefulness! 

I'm so grateful that his cancer was not long-suffering.  I'm trying to forget the difficult memories of his sickness, and cling to the last good day I had with him. 

I left work a little early to take a quick evening trip to Somerset to visit.  It was a few days after his brain surgery and he was doing really good.  When I arrived, everyone was out of his room and the curtains were closed.  I was worried... but he was just getting ready to go for his evening lap around the hospital floor.  That's right--this man who had just had brain surgery days before was up and walking around!

His cheeks were pink and his face was warm with his usual smile when he came out of his room with the nurse.  "Well Amos, what are you doing here?" he asked.  "I'll be back in a minute," he said.

A second nurse came to grab his arm, but my mom suggested that I walk with him.

"Come on papa, let's go to the prom," I said, hooking my elbow with his. 

"Now, it's been a while since I've done any dancing," he replied.

We started the lap around the hospital floor and he took off like he was walking for real exercise and not just for post-op therapy! 

"My Amos is teaching at Georgetown," he told the nurse.  Well, he told her twice actually... but that was just the brain tumor.  Nothing was going to stop how proud he was of his girls and nothing made me happier to hear him say.

He flirted with all the nurses as we walked by, and told me several times how wonderful they all were. I wish he could have stayed on that floor the whole time he was sick.  He felt safe there and they were SO good to him.  I think they liked being around him even more than he liked them!

After our little walk, I hung out in his room while he took a nap--or faked taking a nap, that is.  Mom whispered that the whole day, he would NOT shut up.  He'd close his eyes, and we'd go on talking, only to catch him smiling or chuckling at something we said.  Sometimes he'd scare the daylights out of us by suddenly chiming into a conversation when we thought he was long asleep.  I left that day when he was finally dosing off, but that smile was still on his face.  I don't know if he was really asleep or not.

He was wearing that same smile the day we buried him.

It's a tough time of year because this is when papa would normally started getting fired up for basketball season.  It's been really hard on my mom, but I'm trying really hard to imagine the questions papa has already peppered Adolf Rupp, Bill Keightley, and Cawood Ledford with up in heaven.  Something tells me him and Whiter have front row season tickets to all the games this year. 

And while papaw was the most humble Christian man I will ever know, I certainly hope the Good Lord cheers for the Cats.  Papa would certainly hate to cheer against God if he's Tennessee fan...

Homework...

I'm long overdue on an update with the new house!

Lots of work has been going on... mostly in the paint department.  Here's some quick before and afters:

The upstairs bathroom is beautiful... and all white.  So, a little coat of paint brightened things up. Hard to tell because the photos are a little dar but you get the general idea. (P.S.--painting the bathroom was NOT fun!)

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the den (or as Sean would have it, the man cave).  We had no furniture, but needed to create a TV room and office area, so a few purchases were made!  The room was also a bit dingy as the walls, tirm, and ceiling were various shades of very deep, yellowish cream.  It made the room very dark.

So, first things first, I painted the ceiling (again, NOT fun!) and all the trim a crisp white. It really changed the whole atmosphere of the room!

You can also see the fresh, bright trim in this picture of our new couch and ottoman!  Sean wasa determined to get a set of crazy red leather furniture, but I won that fight  (without pitching a fit in the store. Same cannot be said for the day we tried to buy curtains). 

I also bought a new desk... sort of.  It came in about 7,000 pieces.

It was so complicated that Sean actually read through the directions!

After three hours... the finished product:

Last but not least: the kitchen.  I lived with the baby blue kitchen for a month, but this weekend I decided that enough was enough. The color is just not me, and it's driving me crazy.  So begins the process of painting the kitchen an Eddie Bauer paint shade called "pine needles."

So far so good, but there's a long way to go!

The list of projects is SO long, but I'm enjoying every second of making this house home!