I finally left the hospital yesterday evening for a weekend back home. Dad will be spending today and tomorrow with mom at the hospital (say a prayer). It's a funny feeling, walking back out into the hot, sunshine and leaving the rigors of the ill behind me. Living at the hospital is sort of like living in a vacuum. I feel just a tad disconnected with life!
It only took a few minutes, however, to catch up with the unrelenting Texas heat wave. Very little relief seen in that department in the past two weeks. As I rolled out of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area north, the dry, parched pastures told the story. Today, we mark 61 days of triple digit heat for the summer. 40 of those days were consecutive. We had a brief shower several weeks ago that knocked the temp to 98 for a high, and then we were right back up over 100. I like to think we're used to this heat, but, boy, this summer has been brutal.
I took the drive home slow and absorbed the impact. This drought is taking a toll.
As I turned down the gravel lane to our place, I held my breath to see the pond. And it wasn't pretty. A stagnant green scum was all that was left. The walking bridge is up high and dry. And the cracks are big enough to fall in! Just Picasso designs in the dirt. This is the anatomy of a drought.
And yet, in the midst of such a scorched landscape, I came upon this beauty:
Blooming purple tendrils in a barren field.
A gift.
Tenacity and passion come together under a blazing Texas sun. This flower is doing what it does best, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it. Kind of like mom walking down this cancer wasteland. Regardless of her circumstances, she still has the tenacity, the strength of will and the desire to be a thing of beauty where she is.
And that she is and will always be to us.
Beautiful.
Inside and Out!
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