On Sunday Kate went to the church library while I went to my SS class. After class I went to pick her up for the worship service. When we began to walk to the sanctuary, I could tell Kate was down and not so interested in going to church. I asked if she would like to skip today and go directly to lunch. She said, “Yes” and breathed a sigh of relief.
On the way to lunch, I told her I would not get her into a discussion but I wanted her to know that I saw her frustration and recognized that she doesn’t like to talk about her problem(s) but that I also felt I had to say I want to help her. She acknowledged that I was right and said, “I am feeling more frustration.” We didn’t discuss anything more, but I did ask her if she felt we were at the time to tell the children. She gave a strong no.
Yesterday afternoon I dropped by the church to pick up a DVD from one of our church staff. I saw several people and one of our associate pastors, invited me into her office. She offered to help me in any way if I wanted anything. This was the second time she has offered which confirmed that our senior pastor had told her about Kate. I suspect this means that all of the pastors are aware of the situation. We had a good, though brief, conversation about the situation. I told her I was struggling with whether or not to tell the children and that I thought we were getting to that point even if Kate does not.
After I got home, Kate received a phone call from her hairdresser who said she had left a message that she could take Kate for a 3:30 appointment. Kate had not checked messages; so she didn’t know. It was 3:40; so I offered to take her to the appointment. After picking her up, she volunteered that she thought she had reached a new level. I told her I agreed. She noted that it was not a dramatic, but a gradual change that has occurred. I agreed with that.
I have been increasingly worried about her driving. After picking her up, I had to leave for a meeting at a law firm at 5:30. She told me she planned to go to a Mexican restaurant near our house for dinner and leave at the same time I did. I told her I would feel better if she went to Panera. It’s even closer. She suggested she would be all right.
When I got out of my meeting, I looked at my phone and saw that I had a couple of voicemails, one of which was from Kate. I quickly listened to it. She told me she was back home and all right. Then she conveyed information that let me know she had been in an accident. It turns out that she was presuming that I had listened to an earlier message from a number I did not recognize. That was a call from the police officer who was at the scene, gave her a ticket for running a red light, and took her home.
