Darren LeBlanc

I have this remote. It’s a universal remote that I purchased a few years back to control our VCR. We use the VCR as a tuner so all the channel changing gets done with this long grayish silvery remote. Well, every time we use this remote it breaks. I’m not exaggerating. Literally, every time we decide to change channels we have to use this remote…and every time it breaks. Somehow after every few stations it shorts out and I am forced to pop the back off and pull out one of the batteries. After replacing the battery, it works. This has been going on for quite some time now (over a year), so it should be understandable that I have become quite proficient with pulling the back off and thumb-nailing one of the batteries just a millimeter out of place, then clicking it back in place and hurriedly sliding the thin plastic cover back into its locking position. Remember, I do this every few stations…so probably 3 or 4 times every time I change the channel on the TV. But today, I was taken aback when I realized that I don’t even notice. This ridiculous yet necessary process has become ingrained in my mind. It’s like second nature. It has become totally normal. It’s amazing what you get used to.

Today, I carried my wife from her bed to the couch and back, twice. I dressed her in the morning and before bed. Two trips up stairs to the bathroom and one trip outside to the porch sums up Misty’s itinerary. I setup a lighting umbrella from my photography toolbox to block the sun from Misty so she could sit out there on the porch (she can’t be in the sun and I don’t have any big umbrellas). I weeded a garden for a few minutes. My mother-in-law showed up at my house at 10am to make breakfast for my girls. I didn’t go to work. I held my best friend’s new baby on Misty’s lap so she could see her. My mom picked up Olivia for 2 hours so I could make dinner and sit with Misty. I made coconut shrimp for Misty for dinner, but she got sick and was not able to eat. I emailed and got a response from my neuro-oncologist (there are only 100 of these doctors in the country). At one point, I quickly pulled out a Bible and read the book of psalms when Misty started feeling depressed. I brushed my wife’s teeth but forgot to brush mine till bedtime. I spent a significant amount of time worrying about how to get calories into my 27 yr old wife and was elated when she weighed in at a meager 95.8 lbs.  Probably not your normal day…but it has become totally normal to me. It’s amazing what you get used to.

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” – The Apostle Paul, Philippians 4