There we were...weekend planned, shopping done, chicken thawed, beds made and tent up. Waiting for phone call to say, 'we're on the way and should arrive at ....." as usual. Waiting. The phone rang. Not daughter number 2, as I'd expectd. It was daughter number 3. "Good, it'll be a nice way to pass the time...but why is she calling at this hour of the morning? She should be working." I thought.
It wasn't long before I found out. In tears, she blubbered that her father had been admitted to the hospital with breathing problems. After I tried to comfort, and told her that worrying wouldn't help him OR her, our conversation was interrupted by a call she was receiving. "Call ya back, Mom!"
So now I found myself waiting more, for two phone calls from two daughters. While writing this, I realize that the phone rang continually all day long, and I cannot accurately relate who called when or called back when or in which order the calls came in. (You may want to get out your score cards at this point.) Suffice it to say that all four daughters called numerous times with individual updates and individual upsets. Daughters number three and four were making plans to fly to Florida, at the suggestion of their step mother. Daughter number one was scheduled to go north on Sunday to in-laws, where father in law is recuperating from a foot amputation. Daughter number two is cancelling our weekend plans and is waiting until she receives details on flights of daughters 3 and 4 before she decides how she will go to Florida and when. Daughter number 1 doesn't know whether to go forward with her original plans or to go south and be with her own father.
How many times today did I speak the words, "Try not to worry about your Dad. It won't help him OR you." I could have saved my breath, as no one who's worried listens to such advice anyway. When I wasn't on the phone with one daughter, I was speaking to another. When there was a short interval having just spoken to each one and hanging up, I quickly called our church prayer chain.
The phone rang again, almost as soon as I'd given the coordinator the prayer request. When that call was interrupted on the other end, I instructed that daughter to call on my cell. We had to go to the grocery store.
In the long run, Daughter number one is waiting until tomorrow and more information before she determines whether she'll go south or north for her vacation with one father or one father in law. Daughter number two left her husband home (a mutual choice) with the little girls. She took to the road in her car for the seven hour drive. Daughter three had to farm out her two daughters for the weekend, while she and number four would fly to Orlando in the early evening. Daughter number two would be there to pick them up at the airport when they arrived.
Whew...I'm tired after all those calls and plans. I've still got one more call to make or get this evening. When D.# 2 gets to the airport, she'll call me....if she doesn't, before I'm ready to go to bed, I should call her.
So, the chicken planned for 3 good eaters and 3 bird-like eaters, for dinner was grilled with summer squash and zucchini, and the large loaf of soft Italian type bread was crisped. We've eaten it, the two of us, with great appetites! The extra food bought for the weekend has been packed into the freezer and pantry. The tent sits in the sunporch and will not be occupied by our tiny little campers. It will wait.
I, too, will be waiting...for our next plan and visit together, but first I must wait for a phone call, for news of my little chicks safe arrival in Florida, for news of their father's condition, and for sleep, which surely will not elude me after this busy day.
