A Sigh Of Relief

In celebration of Oysterfest, Caleb picked up an oyster, a rag and a pocket knife and began the process, so deeply ingrained in his brain, of digging into to the hinge, twisting and prying open that stubborn shell. Once opened, he wiped his knife clean, admired the treasure hidden inside and and tipped it back. Seeing that made us all pretty happy.
Another thing happened yesterday that made me laugh. I could only laugh because I know as a brother, Caleb would certainly have laughed at me. He was looking a little red in the face and seemed a little off, so mom asked to get a temp reading on Caleb. The nurse arrived and began to explain what was going to happen. She said she was going to take a "core temperature", meaning that the thermometer won't be reading a temp taken from his mouth. The nurse told Caleb what to expect, but apparently he wasn't paying attention. I grabbed his hand just to offer some brotherly support- as this can be an uncomfortable process- and told him just to relax. "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAA" Caleb's eyes opened right up and shot straight to me- " theres a finger in my butt". I couldn't help it- I just cracked up and told him, again, what was going on. "oh" he says, " its just a thermometer? Well, I'm not getting any of those floating viruses from the hospital." I said--thats right, you are healthy and strong and you're not getting sick anymore. Once finished, Caleb let out a big breath and relaxed a bit and then continued talking with us, making us all laugh like he always does and reassuring us that what we have been fearing all along is now something we can let go, that we can all exhale that big breath that we've been holding in for three months now and feel some relief, as if that nurse has finally just finished taking all of our "core temperatures". Kai