On Time

Time. We talk about a long time, a short time. What is a long time? A month? A year? Fifty years? A short-time could be a week, two weeks, a month. Time is dependent upon the situation we are in, what we are waiting on, plans for a vacation, attending a family reunion, or a wedding.

My husband and I celebrated our Golden Wedding anniversary in October of last year. It was difficult to believe we had been married 50 years. But looking at our five children, their spouses and our grandchildren, it was easy to see where 50 years had gone. Seeing two nephews who had been children and one who had been a teenager when we married added to the memories of passing time.

Time has brought with it ups and downs. Some of the downs didn’t last long, some have. Cancer has invaded our lives. Along with it has come pills, radiation, and chemotherapy. I was the first one it struck. In February my husband was diagnosed with cancer.

Being diagnosed with cancer was hard enough to hear. We’ve had to make a lot of decisions but the hardest was the one our family had to make a week ago -- to put my husband in the local nursing home.

A few days after returning from a hospital in Billings, our oldest daughter arrived to take care of both of us but mainly my husband. Our sons and their wives took care of us until then. All of them have done a splendid job in their care of us. But it became increasingly difficult to provide my husband’s care.

I am unable to lift him from his recliner into his wheelchair and back again. And it’s very difficult to give him a shower. Last week lab tests showed he had an infection. And so the decision was made to put him in the nursing home.

When you’ve spent over 50 years with a person it’s hard to be separated from them. You keep looking to see if they are in the recliner next to you. You miss so many simple things -- a goodnight kiss, hearing “have a good rest,” “that was a good supper,” or just holding hands.

Every once in a while we would talk about a trip we would like to take. But now it’s too late. Don’t put off that trip or vacation or family or class reunion. Because you really have no idea about how much time you have to do those things or many others.