Can I Breathe Yet?

In my last post I mentioned that I had some really cute pictures of CC and Luigi that I took when I walked in to check on CC in the morning. This is what I found.....
Luigi really thinks he is a person!!

They love each other....

Thursday after my study we took the kitties outside to play in the fresh air. They loved it!!

We had a hard time getting Charlie inside. He used to be an outside cat before he was cat-napped. Now he can only go outside if one of us is outside with him. I think I could really hurt someone if they tried to take him again. It nearly killed both of us the first time!

Toby was trying to get me while I was snapping photos of him....

Friday I didn't go to school because Lena had been feeling ill all day Thursday. I was worrying about her and kind of deciding if I should go or stay. Then Papa Bear got sick. He has been so unbelievably stressed lately. He was having heart palpitations, cold sweats, jitters, shortness of breath and could not get himself in go in the car or inside. He felt it was too confined. He asked me to take him to the ER around 7 am but couldn't get in the car. So he asked me to walk. We walked and walked and walked around the neighborhood. We walked and talked at least an hour and a half. Finally he felt like he could make it in the house. It took a few attempts, but he made it. He slept for a couple of hours then woke up feeling bad again. He asked me to get him to the ER because he felt like something was very wrong. We went and all the test came back excellent. He was having a major anxiety attack. They sent him home with some anti-anxiety medicine and he's been taking it easy for the next few days. I will more than happy to share what all this anxiety has been about...we just need a few more days to get everything concrete.

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Sweet Ms. Lassen, our bead lady, called last week to tell me our necklaces and bracelets were ready that she made for us. It has taken this long for me to actually get there. While there I did manage to sneak a picture of her. CC made Praline Apple Bread for her, so we sat and talked for a long time. It was so much fun! She is 83 years old and has stories that will knock your socks off!

I asked her for the background on this beautiful needlepoint she had hanging above the back of the fireplace. She told me it was given to her by her husband's godfather. He was a very wealthy man who bought a palace in Morocco. She said he had a habit of giving away anything you said you liked, so she had to make sure she complimented things that were too large to carry back by plane.
So he had these beautiful Queen Ann chairs and they had beautiful needle points on the back of each one. It turns out his mother did each work and he had them put on the back of the chairs. She thought they were beautiful and complimented him knowing he couldn't send chairs home with her. Instead, he sent her home with the last needlepoint his mother ever made. She framed it and here it is.

She said her husband's godfather bought this palace in the early 50's from a wealthy man in Morocco who had the palace commissioned for his young wife. She passed away before the palace was finished, so the godfather bought it and grandly finished it. She said the tile work was so exquisite and beautiful and what happened to the workers who designed and created the tiles.....well, she drew her finger across her throat and said the godfather was terrified they would take his designs and replicate them elsewhere. I thought things like that only happened in movies!

Her home is so beautiful. The area we were sitting in today is part of what used to be porch. In the 60's, they spend a total of $83 to purchase 13 windows and enough wood to enclose the area. What she has created is beautiful!! This picture is looking in one of the original windows into the living room.

She has books everywhere. In every room, everywhere. Some rooms have them stacked on shelves up to the ceiling! It is truly amazing. This is the area she enclosed with thirteen windows.

She is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. She is so wise and has the best advise. I love her so much and I am so happy that I met her through my husband's work. Mom came along with us today and we had so much fun talking with her. She was telling us about her husband's last day on earth. He had cancer and knew the end was right around the corner. She said they went through and talked about every place they lived, everywhere they were stationed, special restaurants they ate at, friends they made along the way, everything, from the beginning right up to that night. She prayed he would end peacefully in his sleep and he did. She said when she awoke in the morning and saw him she thought he looked like Lazarus must have. She thanked God. And she said because of that walk down memory lane she will never feel like there is something she wished she would have told him. They told each other everything the night before he left. Her story brings me to tears each time. And she tells me not to be sad. They had a wonderful life full of love and it ended peacefully. She is so wonderful and so amazing!

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Mom has the girls tonight and I have been up doing my cytology essays. I had to take a break to do this post. I really want to try to post more regularly, I just don't have time. I do read everyone's posts on my phone when I get time. I try to comment just to let you know I was there..... So now, it's back to protein synthesis of a cell for me. I hope everyone's weekend has been wonderful!!