It's in the marriage vows... Part 4

Well, Gentle Reader, once again I must apologize; I truly intended to be back to finish this story long before now!

So, let's review, just in case anyone has joined us late in the story.

In Part One, we learned that TW's old injury had come back to haunt us.

In Part Two, we learned that TW IS NOT A GOOD PATIENT, that he should NOT be allowed to use Google unattended, and we meet Dr Specialist.

In Part Three, we have The Surgery, The Big Mac Attack, the bandages, and another reminder that TW IS NOT A GOOD PATIENT.

And now we can begin Part Four...

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TW and I are waiting for Dr Specialist in his offices. Today is Button Removal Day. I have already announced that I WILL NOT be watching this little procedure; I'm fine cowering in my chair in the corner, thank you very much.

It only takes a few seconds, and with an admiring "Wow!" from TW, the button is removed. Underneath, on the pad of his finger is a little hole - it looks like he was stabbed with an oversized needle. The surgical sites on the back of his finger, and also the one on his wrist are both healing beautifully, just thin pink lines.The finger is still quite swollen, and Dr. Specialist says it will be for a while. But in three days time, TW will be able to take a shower without a bag on his hand.

In six weeks time, TW will start PT for his hand and finger.

In the meantime, we had Christmas to get through.

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When we remodeled the house, we added a second pantry. We also added the generator. I'm not talking about one of those little guys on wheels that you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot. We had TWO of those portable generators running during The Great Ice Storm in '07, and while we did make it through, TW and I knew well before the power came back on that we were going to get a whole-house "solution".

Our generator produces 45KW. You read that right - 45KW, which translates to about 375 AMPS of power, which TW assures me is A LOT. The salesman told me that three generators like the one we have can power an entire Wal-Mart Supercenter. We could turn on EVERYTHING in our house - including all of the appliances, and TW's welder AND his big air compressor in the garage and we could STILL have plenty of "capacity". We will by golly have electricity, no matter what!

So, when the weather man starting talking about a "Christmas storm", and the possibility of an actual blizzard, I went grocery shopping to fill both pantries, the fridge and the freezer. The generator was ready. My Christmas shopping had been done for a while - because Mom continues to decline, I did nearly all of my shopping on the Interwebs for Christmas this year. The gifts were wrapped, and under the tree. All the ingredients for our Christmas Dinner were at hand. TW had the week of Christmas off, and in fact was on vacation until the second week of January, which is another reason this is my favorite time of year because my hubby and my daughter are both home, and so I have all the people who are dearest to me here. We would be safe and warm, with plenty of food and no worry about electricity and our presents to enjoy.

The storm hit Christmas Eve. It was a real blizzard - the snow drifted and piled up all night and into Christmas morning. When it was done, it was beautiful.

Our front porch, during the Christmas Eve blizzard 2009

Christmas Eve, TW fretted and worried and stewed. As my cousin Dee says "He about wore his clothes out from the inside" he was so agitated. I finally had to tell him to go ahead and open his big present. The one I bought way back in November, just before his surgery. The one that had been sitting next to the tree since early December. Inside was this:

The Toro Power Shovel

It's not the biggest or the best, but the Toro Power Shovel did the trick. You see, TW was worried about being able to shovel us out. He knew that with his hand still healing, he couldn't shovel all that snow. He refused to allow Twinks or I to do it, for fear we would be injured or frozen or some other dreadful thing. So, he got a spiffy new toy, and he didn't have to worry about the snow.

Merry Christmas TW.

But the surprises didn't end there. TW and Twinks, you see, had decided that this was the year they would make one of my dreams come true. A lifelong dream, one that I thought I might never accomplish. They got me this:

Nikon D3000 DSLR

(That's the camera that took the picture of our porch, above. Blame the photographer, not the equipment.)

I have wanted to own a Nikon nearly my whole life. Not just because of "Kodachrome" (try getting that out of your head now... "I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph...") but because Nikon has always produced wonderful cameras with amazing optics. They didn't just get me the camera with the standard lens, either. They also got me the long AF zoom lens, and a Nikon bag for all of it. That zoom lens lets me take pictures like this, without breaking a sweat:

neighbor's cat on our common fence, Jan 2010

So things all sort of came full-circle in a weird way. TW will be fine - and although we still have physical therapy to endure, we'll make it through. We always do.

While I was thinking of TW, and buying him the electric snowthrower, he was thinking of me, and making my dream come true by getting me the camera and the zoom lens.

And while the blizzard raged on Christmas Eve, we were all together, snug and safe and warm in our house. And we didn't even need the generator!

I hope your Christmas was every bit as special as ours was.

Happy New Year!