Newport

I can hardly believe it.   My wife and I are managing to ditch the care of her old, sick parents for the weekend.  Managed to dump care off to her older brother Thomas.  Thomas agreed to go to their house for a couple of hours a day — and his wife will also go for a couple of non-overlapping hours — so between the two of them they will cover four or five hours a day — enough for pills and mealtimes and making sure the temperature in the house is OK and proper clothing is worn and there isn’t any human filth anywhere, to put it in a nice way.

So we’ll drive there after breakfast and some light packing.  We’ll hopefully manage to have a decent weekend away from the relentless elder care.

Jennie woke up this morning all cuddly and then frisky which was a relief — I was worried last night that all of the stress would kill her libido.  After some of that we just lay in bed quiet and then she tells me she loves me and falls into a light sleep for a few minutes and I feel, momentarily, happy again, really happy, for the first time all week.  I think about the lights we’ll see tonight in Newport, white and gleaming in the early night sky, beaming from trees and lampposts and storefronts, reflecting off the ocean water, shining in Jennie’s eyes, and I actually want to start my day instead of just hiding in bed.

But then Jennie wakes up and starts talking about her mom and how difficult her day was yesterday at the hospital and before I know it she’s crying again and I hold her.  She says she’s sorry for crying so much and I tell her it’s ok, this is impossible for anyone to handle, it’s too much.  She shakes next to me and I don’t know what to do to make her feel better other than tell her I love her.  I also say we don’t have to go on this trip.

No,  I want to go. In fact I think we need to go, she says through her tears.

Awesome, I tell her.  We’ll go and have some good meals and people watch and buy some dumb stuff and enjoy being out and about in the world again.

Can we pretend that my parents don’t exist for the weekend?

Sweetie, absolutely.  I think that’s half of the point.

Can we also have more sex?  She giggles while saying this, a wicked smile underneath wet cheeks, and I’m surprised at how beautiful she can look despite everything she’s going through.

I say I don’t see anyone stopping us.  We both laugh and I feel suddenly certain everything is going to be okay.