We sit in the middle of construction to make the house accessible, adaptive to accommodate the ever-encroaching ALS that has taken up residence in Tom’s body. The Veteran’s Administration is paying for it. They pay for it because veterans get ALS at twice that of non-veterans. No one knows why or if they know they are not saying. There is no cure and it is uniformly fatal. The VA tries to compensate for this tragedy by awarding benefits including a housing grant. The housing grant takes a solid eighteen months from initiating the award to putting a shovel in the ground. We are grateful to have it. We will be even more grateful when all of the contractors are gone.
Plumbers yesterday. Electricians today. VA Inspector Monday. Drywall after that and on and on for at least another month if not more. Moving that much closer. The thing is all of this is a constant reminder of where this is all going. Challenging realities. Big disease, little shoulders.
There is only one way to deal with these little shoulders. Faith. Some days I have to dig deep and sometimes it is just right there, the cue “I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. Philippians 4:13, and that’s how I know my shoulders will hold up even on my weakest days.
