A Sunday Afternoon with the Stuarts

Turn at the Glade Road stoplight... continue on a mile and a half to where the trees part and the Tom's Creek Basin reveals itself - take a left on Linwood Lane. Make your way slowly down the road, bear right, and park just past the driveway along the trees - careful not to get the wheels stuck in the ditch.

I have driven this route a hundred times in the last year and a half - maybe two hundred times. Today is no different than any other day. I am here to see the Stuarts.

The garage door is open. It's almost always open. It has been over a year since the last time I rang the front doorbell - Bob says the front door is for guests, the garage entrance is for family. I make my way past the van, into the laundry room and he greets me as I open the door into the kitchen. Emily is asleep, taking her mid-morning nap. It's about noon and we'll have lunch soon, but first we spend a few minutes in the living room where Emily lies on the couch, sharing events of the past few days and deciding what sounds best for lunch. Emily decides she would like to sleep a little longer so Bob and I make our way to the kitchen.

"Why don't we have some sort of appetizer to hold us over until lunch?" he says. I suggest ice cream cake, leftover from Emily's 90th Birthday, and he agrees. "I swear, Karen, that we share the same genes. Ice cream cake is the perfect choice." We both have a sweet tooth. We must share genes. As usual, I end up in a spiritual conversation with Bob about whether or not God is reached through Christ alone or through any means. We disagree on that. We talk about church and state and the separation of the two. We agree on that. We heat up leftover beef brisket and rice and pour Emily's buttermilk into her mug. We wake Emily up again.

This time she is ready for lunch. First Bob and I help her use the restroom, then make our way to the kitchen. I make sure her oxygen cannula is properly set into her nostrils and put on her meal apron then push in her chair. We talk about the weather, my new boyfriend, their upcoming family trip to mountain lake. We talk about Emily's book and who she might like to give it to for Christmas. We talk about their other caretakers and how fortunate they feel to be so well taken care of. We talk about anxiety, the stress of having company, the pond out back that needs to be cleaned out and the recent election.

Eventually I excuse myself to get some work done - the original reason I came. I sit at the computer in Bob's study and type up the changes he made to his Citizens First proposal. I type up an e-mail he has written out in another word document. I print both in size 22 font, bold. They are ready for him when he finishes lunch. We discuss the changes and I send out the e-mail, attaching the proposal to it. On Tuesday morning we will go through the replies, consider the advice on changes to be made, and then finalize the proposal. Mary calls, Bob and Emily's daughter. Bob answers the phone in the study and then goes to the kitchen to give Emily the cordless phone. He returns to the study and the three together discuss the upcoming Mountain Lake weekend. I set the time on Bob's watch to daylight-savings time. I change the clock on his desk too.

When the work is done Bob and I join Emily again at the kitchen table. She is still slowly finishing her lunch, after almost 2 hours and a few 5-minute naps sitting up. Bob mentions some deep, theological topic on the origins of anxiety. Emily says, "Bob, I am not much in the mood for a philosophical discussion today. I can barely keep my eyes open." We laugh, and decide it is time for Emily to rest. Off comes the apron, out comes the chair. We make our way back to the living room and I kiss her on the forehead as she falls asleep again. I say goodbye to Bob with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "See you Tuesday!"