On the Fourth of July

I woke up when my alarm went off at 9:00 a.m., but stayed in bed until my daughter called me at 9:30 a.m., to check on me.  She knew that I had gone to bed on Tuesday night, feeling sad and upset as I had just found out that a friend of mine seems to have reached the end of her battle with cancer.  The doctors have given her just days, if not hours, more to live.  We met at the dance studio where our daughters took dance classes and later, we took a couple of dance classes together.  She was diagnosed before I was and hers had spread and progressed to stage 4 cancer.  She has been in and out of hospital over the past 4 years.  Even so, the news that she has reached the end came as a shock to me.  It left me feeling as if I had been kicked in the stomach and the wind knocked out of me.  I think it was especially hard for me to take in because I had received my recent mammogram results in Tuesday's mail and it said the results were normal.  I was crying and I didn't know who I was crying for - my friend, her two daughters and son (all younger than my daughter), or myself and my daughter!  Her daughter posted an update, late last night, saying her mom was still fighting and she was still hoping for a miracle.


After I had reassured my daughter that I was OK, I got out of bed, put up the flag in celebration of Independence Day, had a cup of coffee, chatted on the phone with two of my aunts who called, replied to blog comments, read and commented on a few other blogs, and made myself a To Do list.  I wasn't very motivated to do anything, but I cajoled myself into doing just one small thing and then, another item from the list, and soon, I had:
- topped up the sugar jar
- stripped and remade daughter's bed with new bed sheets
- done a load of laundry
- cleaned daughter's bathroom
- scrubbed my toilet
- tidied the dining table
- put away the leftover scraps of fabric from sewing the apron
- washed the dishes and scrubbed the sink
- wiped down the kitchen counters and stove top


Then, it was time to go to the airport to pick up daughter!  She has come down to attend the Anime Expo for the next four days!  I treated her to her favorite Chinese food for a late lunch (picked it up to go) and, after lunch, she took a nap.  I finished sewing the straps on her apron - I had waited until she could try it on to get the length of the shoulder straps before I sewed them to the waist band at the back.  Then, I watered the back garden and cooked fish, broccoli, and pasta for dinner.  Daughter baked the chicken drumsticks with an apricot jam/soy sauce glaze, because, by then, I was feeling tired and didn't feel up to making a curry with them. 


After dinner, we went outside and watched the fireworks!  Fireworks are supposed to be illegal within our City limits, unless it's an organized, permitted, fireworks display, but, one would never know it, by the amount of fireworks that were lit in my neighborhood!  It went on for hours, too!  Neighbor T called because her dog was having a hard time with the fireworks and she was feeling nervous and worried about the risk of fire due to the fireworks.  Even Dancer wasn't happy with some of the very loud fireworks as the noise spooked him. 


Still later, I changed the sheets I use as covers on the family room sofas and daughter sprayed the sofas with flea spray as she thought she spotted something which jumped!  But I flea combed Dancer and I didn't find anything.  Anyway, I put white sheets on the sofas so it'll be easier to spot any fleas or flea droppings, etc.  I will wash the sheets I took off the sofas with some bleach, later, today.  And vacuum, as that was the one thing that was on yesterday's to do list that I didn't do. 


Yesterday, I was grateful for:
- My daughter arrived home, safely
- Phone calls from my aunts
- My friend is still fighting
- My mammogram results are normal
- Being able to watch the fireworks with my daughter


This morning, daughter and I were up at 6:00 a.m.!  She came downtown with me and walked a couple of blocks from where I parked the car to a downtown hotel from which a free shuttle bus would take her to the convention center where the Anime Expo is being held.  She will take the shuttle back to the hotel in the night and I will pick her up, because I do not want her to travel home in the subway that late at night (around 10:30 p.m.)


How was your Wednesday?  If you are in the U.S., how did you celebrate Independence Day?