Sylvia's Journal

Telephone #4 has a new banner line on its orange screen: Sita&Jim has been replaced by TessaSteve. This phone was our connection with capable care during the night when we were not able to provide that to ourselves or each other. There are some stories involving this phone that now makes us laugh but they weren’t funny at the time, when we were so utterly helpless.

And so yesterday felt like the changing of the guard; while Tessa and Steve were driving eastwards on the New York Thruway and then the Mass Pike, Sita and Jim moved out of the barn/studio and headed west on the same Pike. They may have crossed path without realizing it as I suspect each couple was preoccupied with what comes next.

We were sad when the U-Haul truck drove away at about 6 PM, in the rain that had been threatening most of the afternoon and finally fell when the doors were closed. Sita followed in her car with cats Mooshi and Cortez meowing pitifully, squished snugly and brotherly in their one-cat animal carrier. The studio where they lived for an entire year is empty except for much cat hair (enough to knit a hair shirt Sita believes) and a few larger pieces of furniture. Tessa and Steve get to move these early this morning before the cleaners come.

The entire Sunday was taken up by Sita and Jim’s clearing out. We started the day slowly and late with a brunch in Salem on our way to pick up the truck. We celebrated their accomplishment (from incapacitated parents to more or less normal ones who can live on their own) with Essex clam cakes and other brunch delicacies and, of course, a bloody Mary. We toasted to their care and commitment that made it possible for us to concentrate on our recovery. We got to experience something that most parents experience much later, usually towards the end of their lives. We had this dress rehearsal with our children that left nothing to be desired or perfected as it was entirely perfect.

The only good thing about Sita and Jim’s departure is that the studio/barn will be freed of cat smells and cat hair. We hope that by the end of the day it will not be smelling anymore of indoor cats and the content of their litter boxes. We assume that the professional (and costly) cleaning crew today does a good job. The cats will be replaced by puppy Chicha, who will do her business outside. We only need to train her to do this further away from the front door and give the dead patches of grass a chance to recover from her previous stay.

Being on my feet all day required an ankle cold pack, followed by a hot bath. With my leg propped up, just as in the olden days, we had dinner that included home grown squash which appeared spontaneously in our garden. We watched part of the Simpson’s movie until I had enough; an entire movie was a little too much of a good thing. Tessa, a die-hard Simpson fan would probably disagree.

Before and in between the moving activities I prepared the morning session for the BU students today. This is their final week. Just like the last week of school before summer vacation they get to watch a movie; I watched it yesterday. The movie is also called Yesterday, a docudrama that paints the tragedy of HIV/AIDS as it hits a young woman in a small South African village. I am trying to figure out how to fit the movie into the larger curriculum and also how many boxes of Kleenex to bring. It is a very sad movie about a whole bunch of societal breakdowns. The only redeeming part is the friendship of a teacher with a big heart and the innocence of a young girl. I think I will ask the students how the movie fits in with their lives.

This morning Axel and I will be driving in to Boston together, where I will drop him off at Spaulding for more therapy. He has been released from the occupational therapy but not from speech (brain) therapy. Steve and Tessa, who arrived after I went to sleep, will supervise the cleaning crew and then begin to build their new, and temporary nest, so that they can sort out what the next phase of their life together has in store for them.