Every artery was blocked! He would have to have open heart surgery.

During this time, I had a bit of anxiety. On the day that Leonard was to go in for his heart catheter, the weather was horrid. White out conditions. Being that our friend had lost his life on slippery roads, I was a bit fearful, but we made it fine.

Also, on this day, our well decided to completely quit. We still had no plan to pay for the well, but my concern as with Leonard and not with the water. He, had no anxiety in regard to the surgery. He just told them to fix it so that he could hunt in the fall.

I, on the other hand, after losing several people so closely was wondering if this was a trend. As it turns out, he made it through surgery better than expected with a quadruple bypass.

While he was recovering in the hospital, he could not deal with the worry or the particulars about what we would do about the water.

During the time of Leonard’s hospital stay, it snowed and snowed every day! The first day, my sister-in-law paid to have someone plow for us and as the snow continued to pile, my brother plowed everyday and brought water for me to drink and bathe with. There wasn’t enough water to flush the toilet with, so I started a three week journey of melting snow. An all day process along with filling out form after form to maybe get a loan or something quickly to get another well drilled. This process is anything but quick.

One of the days that I came home from the hospital, the splash guard under my car had come down on one side and it was filled with snow and while I was at the hospital, one of our new picture windows in the house cracked. I sat and cried a minute, for I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. When, I sat back took a breath and found that the splash guard has some slits in it and I could put C-clamps on them and use bungie cords to hold that shield up temporarily. Thankfully, our windows are under warranty. I was feeling a bit MacGiver-ish at this point. We are going to wait until spring to replace the clamps in the splash guard as it seems to be pretty secure.

While my brother was plowing, he had been using Leonard’s truck to plow. One of those days, he had to feed his chickens, so he took Leonard’s truck to his house to feed chickens and get us more water. While there, he turned off the truck now it won’t restart. It seems it is much deeper than what we had previously believed. So, there it sits, at his house.

Even with all of these unfortunate events…I am very thankful for the love and prayers of friends and family. I am extremely thankful for a new well and being able to shower and drink and good water! I am thankful for the kindness and love shown by those who came to the hospital, those who made meals, prayed, thoughts, cards, calls, texts…the overwhelming support. I am extremely grateful, for the sacrifice of my brother and sister-in-law who came daily to bring water and plow and even though I could do it myself, brought pellets in the house for me. I am thankful for my daughter taking care of Lucky for me and for her and my grandson also bringing in pellets.

Even though it is MUCH easier to give than receive. There is a humbleness and gratitude in receiving. That reminds us that we are all in this together.