A Tough Day

A Tough Day 

Today's post is going to stray from my usual posts about my dog. I was going to write a little something about why I didn't keep with my promise to post my review and I found that for my own sanity I needed to vent a little. I can't talk about my day out loud because the words don't come out properly and I get too sad to keep my thoughts together, so here we go.

  I left the house at 9 this morning to house sit for a neighbour. I hadn't gotten even a minute of sleep during the night because I have severe insomnia, at that point I had been awake for over 24 hours. I usually look after their dog but today was different, my client's sweet husband passed away after a long struggle with cancer. He died a few days ago and today was the funeral. People sometimes read in the paper that there is a funeral and take it to mean the house will be empty and easy to break into so they hired me.

 If I were to try to explain the wife's character all you would need to know is the way she greeted me. I asked her how she was doing and she said "oh, don't worry about me, how are  you feeling today" when I told her I was fine and asked again how she was she said "you better not be lying to me". Honestly what other person cares about how someone else is feeling during the worst day of their life.

 I found it very difficult to be in their house because the atmosphere felt so wrong and empty with out him around. His wife who is always happy was trying to keep up a fake smile to stop herself from breaking down, it was painful to watch. I asked her if she needed a hug and she said she would love one but if she hugged me she would break down and wouldn't be able to pull herself together for the funeral. I wasn't quite sure what to say so I was happy when she started giving me little tasks to help her out. She needed help getting the stitching opened on her jacket pockets because her hands were shaking so much she could hardly hold the scissors. After I had finished she took me around the house to show me all the flowers she had received, I have never seen so many flowers in my life. It was amazing to see how many lives he had touched, a few of the bouquets were from couples he had married before he had retired as a reverend. She read the cards to me and I could see the tears welling up in her eyes but she still kept up that smile. As they were leaving I kept drawing a blank on what to say, the first things that came to mind were "have a good time" and "good luck" so I ended up just saying good bye. After they left I just kind of sat there for a while doing nothing other than thinking. Eventually the feeling of emptiness in the house got to me so I turned on the TV. I was only half watching The Princess Bride when there was a little knock at the door. It was my client's three year old daughter. She rushed right into the house not even caring that she didn't know me and went up to her grandfather's chair, looked at me and said "where's G-Bob? He is always in his chair".I kind of died inside when she said that.  I didn't want to say anything wrong so I didn't want to answer thank goodness her father walked through the door with her 16 month old sister and answered it for me. Playing with the girls was a good break, the house felt happy again and they were real sweet hearts. The three year old was actually incredibly intelligent, she was drawing flowers and when I asked her what kind of flowers they were she answered "Bellis Pereniss" (the scientific name for daisies) then she said "do you know what that means?" thank goodness my mom is a gardening buff so I did know what she was talking about. I said "yes you are drawing dasies" and she replied "you're right, good for you" SERIOUSLY SHE IS THREE! On the way out she was concerned that I would be in the house alone so she asked "Do you know the number for 9-1-1?" What a cutie!

 When the girls left I was feeling much more comfortable than I had felt in the morning and I was actually able to have a 20 min nap. I woke up to people knocking on the door, my client brought some of her her friends and family back to the house so my duties were over. I was about to leave when she came up to me and said "I'll take that hug now" I gave her a big, warm, long hug and I could feel her crying. She got her self together and walked me to the door, we said our goodbyes and I went home.
I was so happy to be home with my family, days like today make you really grateful and aware of life. I eventually crashed on the couch and slept for 6 hours, the whole time I dreamed of my client's husband and what a lovely man he was.