Mimi's Wishing Well

After picking him up from summer childcare, Conrad and I stopped to visit Mom. Conrad has a very important job at Mom's house. He puts Spike on the kitchen floor and feeds him worms. (Spike is the Bearded Dragon.) It is one job that Mom dreads, not because she is disgusted by the lizard's table manners. But, it is just one more chore that she doesn't want to think about. Today Spike was especially hungry and eagerly gobbled up six worms.

Mom and I sat and talked for a bit about this and that. Caught up in our conversation, we didn't realize that Conrad fell asleep while on lizard duty -- right in the middle of the linoleum floor! But, wait...where was Spike? He was missing! 

The missing lizard was more than a little upsetting to Mom. I tried to reassure her that we would find him. After all, he is a big, slow, not-so-bright reptile. In less than five minutes we found Spike hiding between a shelf and the wall. I picked him up and put him back in his cage. Then I decided it was time to wake the sleeping child and head home. 

Conrad is not an easy child to wake. In fact, when he was younger, if he fell asleep on the way to the grocery store, I would lay him on the bottom rack of the cart and he would sleep the entire time. But, I managed to rustle him up. The first words out of his mouth, while his eyes were still slits were, "Will someone put Spike away?" 

Perhaps this doesn't sound quite so funny now. But, at the time it was very amusing. Mom had just been telling me how much she appreciates Conrad's help with Spike and how he does such a good job. Then, of course, Conrad fell asleep and the lizard wandered off. Mom freaked and during the whole incident Conrad slept soundly—only to awaken with his first thought being his responsibility.

Tonight, as I was running this story over and over in my head with a chuckle, I realized something. Five months ago, almost to the day, was the worst day of our lives. It was the day that Mom was diagnosed with cancer. I honestly thought that I would never smile again. I was sure that the good days were over. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Yes, the past months have been tough. But, we have had many, many good times. We have laughed and loved and lived. And we will continue to do so.