Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
A few nights ago, my left foot began strongly itching at 3 a.m. It itched so bad that I couldn’t get back to sleep. I had to have lotion applied to it in order to stop the itching. Since it’s difficult for me to reach my feet in order to apply lotion to them, I had to wake up my husband.
He got up, applied lotion to both my feet and lower legs and then we both went back to sleep.
Later that day, I was thinking about how my husband woke up at 3 a.m., got up and put lotion on my feet without a complaint. All he said was, “I hope that helps.”
My next thought was how people who are planning to be married, may not realize what the vows we take really mean, especially when it comes to “in sickness and in health.”
When my grandfather became seriously ill, Dad brought him to our house when Grandpa was discharged from the hospital. Since we only had a two-bedroom house at the time, my brother’s bed was in my parent’s room and I had the other bedroom. I told Mom I would give up my room for Grandpa.
Grandpa had problems with his bodily functions. When the bed linens became soiled, Dad would gently pick up Grandpa and hold him while Mom and I changed the bedding. Grandpa also had difficulty walking, so when it was mealtime, Dad would take Grandpa’s food to him and sit with him while he ate.
I doubt my parents thought about having to care for my mother’s father at some point when they married. But Dad helped Mom with her Dad’s care until he passed away.
When my brother was born, Dad made arrangements for a neighbor to take care of me until the next day. Then he came and got me and took me home to meet my brother. Dad also did all the cooking and housecleaning while Mom recovered from my brother’s birth.
My mother became seriously ill with a gastric ulcer and helpatitis. She couldn’t be admitted to the hospital because they had no way to quarantine her. At the time I was 11 years old and my brother was eight years old. Dad talked with some of his and Mom’s friends, and several ladies came to take care of Mom and us until he got home from work. Then Dad took over the care of all of us.
As I healed from the birth of each of our children, my husband helped with my recovery and everything that needed done around the house and care of the other children. Even though the children were older when I had several surgeries, it was my husband who was there to help with whatever needed doing, whether it was to do housework or things as simple as bring me a cool drink or a plate of food.
When we marry, we really don’t understand what our vows mean. We don’t realize what vows refer to. We can’t foresee all the little things we may have to do throughout our marriage. It’s one thing to say “in sickness and in health,” but it’s another when it comes right down to living those words. Taking care of each other in health is easy, it’s not that easy when it comes to sickness.
No matter whether the illness our spouse has is a nasty head cold, or the flu, or recovering from surgery or treatments. What matters is that we remember we made a promise to care for each other in all instances.
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