Today was a pretty good day. Yesterday we were able to get the yard all mowed and trimmed as well as putting down some mulch in the flowerbeds. I also got the kitchen and bathroom cleaned with a quick pickup and vacuum through the rest of the house. That meant that when the girls left this morning for five weeks, my husband and I were free to do whatever.

That whatever ended up being a swim with my mother. The water was too cool for my husband but he enjoyed sitting in the shade of an umbrella alternately watching us and the 50 lb. puppy my mother was sitting for. We followed this up with dinner out. Simple - for us, a treat.

It was so lovely when we returned home that my husband wanted to sit on our new patio for a while instead of going inside. There we talked. Talking for us is not as easy as it once was but can be especially difficult when dealing with a TV and two teens around. Again a treat.

My once big talker is now a captive audience to my many ramblings. This time it was about some thoughts that had been going through my head about respite care. When my oldest children were babes I could not afford baby sitters so co-opped with other mothers; taking care of their children then having them watch mine. Surely there are other people in our area who also need a break from care giving at times who would like to form a co-op

My husband showed surprising interest in this idea. It came out that having heard so many tales of people here, he is rather interested in meeting other stroke survivors. I shared with him some of the stories I have heard about when those with aphasia get together. The whole idea seemed to please and amuse him. We then discussed what else he could do with other survivors and since we were in high humor I suggested maybe he could find an arm wrestling buddy. Well, you should have heard him laugh! He took the idea and ran coming up with a regular competition. In our imagination we ended up planning a whole hemiplegic arm wrestling team!

Lest anyone thing we are cruel or insensitive to hemiplegics, realize that we deal with the serious frustration of that condition every day. Sometimes the best way for us to cope is by having a sense of humor and laughing at our problems and difficulties. So we laughed and shrugged off some of the stress that has been on us for a few minutes.

After all, why not? As he pointed out, it would be more fun that therapy exercises! Anyone else for the right-handed team?