Amazing Grace, and The Wretch she saved...

Cathy's sister, Grace left late yesterday afternoon after spending a week running our household.
She sacrificed Thanksgiving with her family (she has twin ten year-old boys) to be with ours.

I imagine she had several thoughts running through her head as she sped north back to Greenville:
1. Do those people just grow laundry everynight?
2. Chris sure does make that shhhhing sounds a lot...
3. I knew exactly what I was doing looking at him askance that first day he mistook me for Cathy. I didn't know it at the time, but he seemed a bit odd, and now, after a week under the same roof, my earliest instincts about him have finally been justified.

Grace deserves a lot of credit for putting up with all of us so charitably.
I can be a little idiosyncratic and rigid, which, when combined with my mania for consistency, and my need for control when stressed can make me a combination of Himmler and Sam Kinison on a caffeine high after having spilled coffee in my lap.

Grace has earned several more stars in her crown.

Cathy took her first outside walk with us yesterday. We walked to the Westchester playground and sat in the cilly wind while the kids played on the playground. It's a mostly level walk, but the way back was slightly uphill.
Slightly uphill is my characterization.
Have you ever seen video of people near the top of Mount Everest where they take a step, pause, breathe about three breaths and then take another step?
It wasn't quite that bad, and Cathy made it all the way back like a champ.
She getting better and stronger every day in every way.