Persevering

Persevering is to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement. The cloudy, rainy weather we have had all weekend through today has most of us glum, however Tom sees it as an opportunity. He manages to get things done. That is persevering.

Pushing though pain in his leg and foot (which he says feels like it has been slashed open while a fire ant colony is voraciously biting), he has accomplished many things in the last few days.

The RV Show started on Saturday, and Tom planned to arrive first thing when it opened. Lectric eBike is there, and they have the ebike we are most interested in owning. While they only had one bike of that model here, and it is the demo bike for the show, Tom persevered and they took his name and number, making him first on the list to purchase it at the end of the show, if it does not get overly damaged.

On Sunday the lack of sunshine caught up with our power supply. He was observant, noting that we would need to run the generator for more power. While it was running, he made spiced cupcakes of the pecan-coconut-oatmeal variety, then baking a frozen pizza for supper while it was still preheated. The convection oven also served a second duty as a heat source as it cooled.

Today was the wettest of the days, but Tom was on top of things. First off, he called our bank and straightened out a couple issues with our accounts. Then he called Kimbrough’s in Alabama to get more information on our slide repair to help us figure out the alternatives, and options of where we might stay with two dogs and a cat while they or another facility have repairs under way.

He took several hours today to figure out Lynn’s power situation and refrigerator. Her AC/DC power distribution center is malfunctioning and will need to be replaced. He measured for that, and possible areas to put lithium batteries, a DC to DC charger and solar charge controllers, should she chose that option. Lynn had come back to our place to get the most critical parts ordered, and with those things taken care of, he told Lynn to find something to watch on TV. It was amusing to watch 4 or 5 episodes of Cheers, including the finale... We lamented that they don’t write sitcoms like they used to.

Throughout the day, he took charge, making plans to get things done if they couldn’t be done right then. He was rationalizing and orchestrating timeframes and priorities, including dumping the tanks, appointment scheduling, and suggesting what to make for dinner. He does all this while trying to work on my mood and agonizing with his chronic pain.

When I see all that he accomplishes, I am humbled and inspired by his perseverance. It makes me want to be better about helping and getting things completed. He says that staying busy helps keep his mind off the pain. I aim to be more thoughtful and appreciative of his attentiveness and accomplishments. Cock-a-hoop is a new word I learned today while searching for a new word for glad. It means extremely and obviously pleased, especially about a triumph or success. I am so cock-a-hoop Tom is determined, watches out for us, and tries to make me feel better.

The sun had also persevered yesterday. It took all day, but it came out from the clouds, and just in time for a radiant sunset.

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