Miser Family Update: Most Valuable Friend edition

Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Family household.  In fact, this week might have been the deciding factor in my new "Most Valuable Friend" award.

It's been a week of a lot of friends -- for example, we started the week with our Care Group from church coming over for lunch and fellowship.  And even though we have a lot of space in our dining room and living room, we have more than enough church buddies to make the space feel plenty crowded.  We're doubly fortunate there!

And then the rain started.  And we discovered that the flat tar roof above our addition, which we'd fixed several years ago, was no longer fixed.    So we have new water damage on the ceiling, the very ceiling that a bunch of contractors we'd hired were supposed to come paint Monday morning!   Needless to say, we've postponed the painting, although they made excellent progress on about 17 other projects that we'd accumulated over these past two decades.  We finally have a bedroom door!  And the banister on our stair rail no longer wobbles!  Whoop!   (Even as I write this, I know that many families are watching their homes fall to pieces in the Carolinas.  I count my blessings, and grieve for others). 

And then, on Monday, after my husband did yoga, which led to back pain so bad he could hardly walk up and down our stairs on Tuesday (even with the new improved banister).  And my own on-again/off-again tingly arm started tingling even more, which pushed me toward an anxiety that I thought I'd fought off a bunch of years ago. . . . .

. . . Enter the Most Valuable Friend.  I run several times a week with my buddy, June, who happens to be a physical therapist.  In the same way my dad can diagnose a busted furnace pump motor via telephone, my buddy June listened to me whine about someone else's back, and about tingly arms.  She showed me a little stretch (pat myself on the shoulder with elbow in the air and turn my head away), and talked to me about changing my pillow arrangements in a bed she'd never seen, and she suggested something called "TENS" (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, for the geeks) for my husband.

And as life continued to be rich and full -- my husband headed to Boston for the IgNobel awards, and I taught classes with more-and-more students -- I got this text message from my guy, who was on his way from Boston to London (I forget what he's doing in London, but I think it involves watching car races on TV):

Good Morning ️ My Love . I am on the plane ️ and in no discomfort. I skipped the pain pills this am and have the TENS device close in case I need it. See you soon!

And, although my arm isn't completely tingle-free, it's SOOOOO much better, which helps with the anxiety, which is definitely much decreased.   So June wins the MVF trophy, for sure.

As if that wasn't enough excitement, we heard that J-son found a boxing gym only a few miles from where he's staying -- and not just any gym, but one run by a missionary who is also a military veteran affiliated with our state's drug/alcohol abuse program.  If this is not a bit of unexpected blessing, I don't know what is! 

N-son made me a smile for dinner on Thursday. 
Isn't that sweet?

But there's more!!!  Because I also heard that I-daughter entered some of her knitting in a "Gradient Sock Competition", and --- for all those of you who have dedicated your lives to GSC's and know how cut-throat they can be --- she got second place!   yes!

So I'm surrounded by awesome friend and awesome family, and I have a bedroom door.  That's the best possible kind of news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.   May you and yours be similarly prosperous.