... these are the good old days

Every so often, I look at my daughter and her cousin, and realize that for them, these will be the good old days. It actually does help me to know that there will be a time when they will be older, looking back fondly on these times.
They will laugh about the roving cells of terrorist chickens, the groundhogs, and the way we always ooh and aah over the baby horses up the road. Maybe they'll laugh about all the times Molly fell in the pond, or the time she drove into the row of blue spruces. Certainly some of Rob's fireworks displays will qualify.
They already make fun of my sister and me, calling us "the mothers" and laughing about the way we do things. They'll remember the days of us scrambling to get out soap orders and issues of the magazine. The very idea of anyone wanting us to speak for their groups is completely hysterical to them, so that will be part of it too. They will also look back on this time with their uncle John very fondly, I suppose. At least I think so. It started with the repeated bouts of encephalopathy - oh how the kids enjoy that! Last time he was hospitalized for that (confusion and hallucinations), the kids would have stayed the whole time if we'd let them!
So as I worry about how this affects the kids, it helps me to know that someday they will consider these times to be the good old days.
We are in the tail end (we hope!) of waiting for a liver for our brother. He spent a couple of days in the hospital and came home last night. It gave us the impetus to get ourselves in gear and find coverage for all of the events that are coming up in the next 6 weeks. In this business, the next 2 months are what it's all about! The doctor drew us a picture yesterday and showed us what might be up and coming for John. A little outpatient procedure that might really help for the time being, it is called a TIPS procedure - Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt - where they go in through the jugular and down into the liver to install a shunt to relieve pressure. This would result in less fluid build-up in his stomach.
I am sharing this with you because sometimes I am not around. Some of you will worry about me, and so I want you to know what's going on. As long as we approach this together as a family, we are all ok. We should all always remember that these are the good old days.

Now on a lighter note, spring is breathing down our necks, here. On the way out to the hospital the other day I noticed that the anise hyssop was sending up beautiful purple leaves, and that the luscious chickweed growing next to it is blooming. I want to get outside and pull up some of the deeply rooted (!!!) white bladderwort. Maybe I can do a little before the sun goes down.