Ever have one of those weeks? I had one this week. I feel guilty saying it out loud. None of it was bad for me, I even got a beautiful new-to-me car this week. And yet…. it was a really hard week.
Monday started off beautiful. Not only has all the snow melted, but the sun came out, it warmed up to 70, and tulips sprung up in my yard. I love tulips! The icing on the cake was a surprise visit from one of my favorite cousins and her husband. Complete with amazingly delicious vlaai’s fresh from their bakery in Holland. Vlaai is a regional type of pie, that’s not really pie. If you are ever in Holland, in the Southern area around Maastricht, try it!
By bedtime I could tell Dave, my husband was in pain. He has Tietze Syndrome, a very painful inflammation & swelling of the cartilage in between the ribs. Symptoms mimic a heart attack, and are therefore not only painful but very scary. By morning, with pain radiating down his arm & into his neck, we knew it was hospital time. It was our first time in “our” new hospital since our move. It did not go smooth. None of the emergency staff had heard of Tietze Syndrome, and none spoke English. While my German is pretty good for daily life, in a medical situation I struggle. To make matters even worse our patient liaison services have been reduced and we were on our own.
Dave was finally admitted, with the correct treatment, but struggles continued with the hospital staff implementing it. Thankfully Wednesday morning we finally had a patient liaison and everything went smooth from there. With communication issues solved, the proper treatment fully implemented, Dave was well on the way to recovery. To see his color return, his smile return, was a huge relief.
I have been without a car since James died (Goodbye Sweet James). While my village is small and my legs work well, it is a struggle to do all the grocery shopping and child shuffling without a car. We stumbled upon a PCS’ing fellow soldier (PCS – permanent change of station) anxious to sell her car several weeks ago. This past Thursday Dave was going to negotiate the sale. With Dave in the hospital, that fell to me. Not only have I never bought/sold a vehicle, I haven’t done it in Germany, with the army, with double the paperwork.
Thursday morning I got the kids off to school, except Dane who was really not liking Daddy in the hospital, got to hospital in time for morning rounds and breakfast with Dave, then to the banks for money, and to the car-buying appointment with five minutes to spare. It did not go well. I had forgotten to transfer insurance papers to the registration office. Thankfully a wonderfully kind employee, helped me straighten things out, and bought me an extra day to complete all the paperwork. Even better? Dave called and his doctor was releasing him Thursday evening!
After three hours, I finally went outside to meet our new-to-us car: a beautiful, blue 2000 Volkswagen multivan. I have always wanted a blue car. Sarah, the previous owner, was sad to say goodbye. She asked for last picture of Veronica with my kids, for her kids, so they could see Veronica was going to a new family that loves her. Our joy knew no bounds when it sunk in that we had bought a car from another family that names their car! For the first time all week I had a big smile on my face. A smile that got even bigger when Dave got in Veronica two hours later to finally go home.
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