The Moon Also Rises

Last night was the precursor of the Pink Full Moon of April. The three nights actually start tomorrow, but given this morning’s moon, the next few nights should be spectacular.

We are also celestially blessed by the Lyrid meteor shower during this lunar peaking.

Now, Hemingway chose the title for his first successful novel, The Sun Also Rises, from chapter one, verse five, of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, to express the meaningless and dissatisfaction that his Lost Generation was feeling during their wayward expat drift across Europe.

My adaptation of Hem’s title is my clumsy attempt to capture the exact opposite. Life, everyday, has meaning. Often in the little things, like family. Children, Grandchildren.

I mentioned earlier in the week how one of my visiting granddaughters, Savanna, had been brought low by a locally grown stomach virus, which kept her from participating with her sisters in the snow festivities on Saturday. Blue was a last minute sub.

Well, by Saturday afternoon, the dehydration that accompanied the stomach virus had reached the point that Georgie and Lisa took Savvy into the the doctors, who sent her to the ER, who then admitted her overnight in the hospital. Didn’t see that coming.

You see, Savvy’s vomiting and diarrhea resulted in an urchin’s understandable refusal to eat anything, so on top of her dehydration, her glucose numbers took a hit, so they had to infuse her with fluids and sugar to get her numbers back up.

Luke then tapped Lisa out from hospital duty, and he and Georgie took the night watch. Luckily, after a night of medical intervention, Savvy was back to her old artistic self.

However, back at Casa Clair, like their snowmen to the sudden warmth, Savvy’s two siblings succumbed to varying degrees to the same stomach virus.

And for the next 12 hour period I felt like Camus’ Dr. Rieux as I helplessly did my best to stem the tide at the vomitorium. Luckily, I was provided some comfort and guidance by Lisa’s excellent nursing supervision, as we divided the two – me Scarlett and Lisa Stella – and did our best to make sure the grandkids survived to the morning.

That meant me sleeping on the couch next to Scarlett’s temporary bed – my recliner – while Lisa slept with Stella in one of the bedrooms.

When I say sleep, I meant short periods of napping between Scarlett’s 17 – she counted them as the night wore on – disgorgements in a 8 hour period.

I had the easy assignment, as Scarlett understands what is happening and is reasonably self-sufficient, so my role was just clean-up. Fresh towels and following her to the bathroom to ensure she made it back and forth. Stella exploded al la Reagan from the Exorcist all over the bedding – red Gatorade and a belly full of various fresh berries for effect – so Lisa had to deal with that and a 3 year old child who could not quite understand what was happening to her. As I said, I had it easy.

Now, it’s been over 3 decades since I’ve had to handle an overnight sick-watch. Lisa, as part of her professional life, has seen quite a few during that time. Doesn’t make it easier. We were both knackered.

Finally, the sun also rose, so we all made it. But the rugrats had turned the corner. And that is where Lisa and I were reminded of the meaning to our existence. Family steps up when the shit hits the fan, and everywhere else if you are not quick.

However, given that Luke, Georgie and Savvy didn’t return from the hospital until late afternoon, we had to continue medical ministering to our slowly recovering legacy during the day. No rest for the wicked.

And I had to squeeze in my Casa Claire Chores as a work-around.

Let me tell you just how good my bed felt when I hit the sheets last night.

This is my long-winded way of explaining why there was no blog yesterday morning. My apologies to the fine, five readers who may have noticed. Will try not to let that happen again.

Well, my kitties need cuddling, and my rounds need to be made.

And it is Monday, which could really suck if I let it.

But I won’t. And neither should you.

Get that second cuppa into you and get out there and find some meaning in your life. It’s there. Just look.

And whatever else we get up to, let us make today a great one.