The basement is spotless and the stations are perfectly arranged. On one side of the room, a table to beautify nails. On the other, three plastic basins complete with soft coloured stones to perfect your feet. Plus a cosy arrangement of chairs, pillows and blankets to round out the spa setting. As I take it all in, I am awash in a wonderful feeling that our adult daughter, Tori, still takes pleasure in living with her parents and is comfortable enough to invite her friends for a girls evening and an old fashioned sleep-over. After the winter we endured, the timing couldn’t be better.
The day before this spa night at “Chez Pippin”, Ben is not quite right though I can’t put my finger on it. Over the years, he has helped me to develop a sixth sense that is directly connected to his state of being, a kind of “spider sense”, if you know what I mean. Well, it is certainly tingling today.
All Plans Cancelled
A few minutes after getting him into his stander to play his computer games, I hear an odd sound, like someone is jerking his stander back and forth. I enter the room only to find him consumed by an all out seizure, something he hadn’t had in many years.
After the seizure subsides and I get him back into his wheelchair, I bring him into the kitchen but he still isn’t right. He is not really coherent and his face is quite troubled. That spidey sense is in overdrive telling me this evening is not going to go well.
Several seizures later, we are enroute to the ER to figure out what is going on. Needless to say, the spa night will have to be postponed. After arriving home at 7am the next day, after spending 8 hours in the ER and more than 24 hours without sleep, no one is in any shape or mood to have any fun.
That was March.
Timing is Perfect
Fast forward five months to August and Tori has decided to plan that spa night that didn’t happen before. This time, our world is all together different. The summer humidity is in full swing, a far cry from the brutal winter we all endured. Ben is in week number 2 of transitioning completely to a new anti-convulsant med (no seizures in 67 days), and we are seeing glimpses of the “old Ben” – energetic, active, talkative and high on life. And my spider sense is all quiet.
As I wander into the basement and witness a very similar spa setup to the one back in March, a feeling of peace returns. This does not happen often in my world but when it does I drink as much of it in as I can. There is no tension, or anxiety or stress in the air at all.
The doorbell rings and the first of Tori’s guests arrive. A few minutes later, more friends. Each of them greets Ben with a warm, “Hey Ben, what’s goin on?” and he grins and says something funny on his talker. Tonight is a time for fun. A time to laugh. A time to enjoy. A time to live.
The timing is perfect. Clearly, this was the plan all along. It wasn’t my plan. But once again I’m reminded that God’s plan and His will is perfect!
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