Just call me

After a long week at work, I had big plans for this weekend. I knew that I would not see P this weekend, because I saw him last weekend, so my plans were to go on a long run, do a ton of work to get ahead, and then cook, bake, clean, relax, and watch some football.

Yesterday, I was booking a flight for P to come home in a few weeks, when my phone ran. It was my great aunt. She never calls me--or anyone for that matter. When I picked up, she asked what I was doing this weekend, and finally after about 15 minutes of beating around the bush, she told me she fell, hurt her knee, and was going to be on bed rest for 48 hours.
She is a stubborn old battle axe, and would not ask for help. So I told her I would leave within the hour to come and take care of her this weekend.
I packed up my stuff, and 2 hours later I was here. In a town that I spent all my summers in growing up. A town and home that I love, with a woman who became my surrogate grandmother after mine passed away. A woman who packed up her home and took care of my grandmother for 2 years while she fought cancer. With a woman who took care of her younger sister for 5 years while she fought illness after illness.
Now, suddenly, the woman who did everything for everyone else needed help, and who did she call? She called me.
I don't think I would have been able to live with myself if I had not rushed up here as quickly as possible. In all the years I have come up here, I have not had to lift a finger for anything, because she always did everything for me.
And now here I am, and I get to do something for her.
Heroic? No.....not at all.
This is the least I could do for someone who has loved me unconditionally for a lifetime.

I think this is one of the lessons I have learned through marriage. I have learned that it is an honor and a pleasure to take care of others. It is a joy to take care of those who are in need.
Every time P gets sick, I get a slight glimmer of joy in that I can do something for him, that I can take care of him.
So my weekend plans have changed, but it is a joy to be here caring for someone I love so much.