Life is what happens when you're making other plans

I'm sitting next to Vicky in a sunny room. She's in a lovely easy chair. The sun is shining in the broad South windows. It's quiet except for the faint sound of a radio in the other room playing artists like Beck and Smashing Pumpkins and Gnarls Barkley. Here's a picture:

She's sleeping because she was mostly awake and restless last night. Not nervous. Just ready. It's been a month since she found out about her tumor, and she been almost jumping up and down to get started with her treatment. This morning she got up, got ready...

put on her coat...

said goodbye to Lexi...

and now here she is. In the car on the way here, Mom called. She asked Vicky how she was doing. Vicky said fine. 

And then she said, "Actually, I'm just so ready to get started."

After a moment talking, Vicky said, "Life is what happens when you've made other plans."

Vicky has sure made other plans. We were in the middle of remodeling the front part of the house when the diagnosis came in. Didn't stop Vicky -- she just kept cranking -- knocking out walls, building a beautiful mantle...

Notice the flooring right next to the fireplace. We had a problem with that flooring. Previously, it had been a tile hearth. Vicky tore out the tile, but underneath was solid but very rough concrete. We didn't know how we could securely install hardwood floor right over the concrete. Glue it? Float it?

I sat there wishing we could chip out the concrete and put a wood subfloor there, but it was clear that the concrete went a foot or more down into the ground. It would never work, I declared. 

Vicky walked over and took up a hammer and chisel and started hammering. She discovered that the upper concrete had been poured over the lower footing, and there were only about 2 inches of concrete that needed to be chipped away. So over the next day, while I was at work, she did just that. 

And that's all it took. We installed subfloor in the space she opened up, and now you can see the beautiful floor that resulted. 

Vicky has plans? You had better believe it. Concrete get in the way? Watch out, concrete.

So now here she is for her first treatment. Right now her plans are to master a new knitting stitch she's been interested in - the star stitch. 

Tomorrow, she may spend some time in bed, depending on how she handles the medications. But the next day, or the next, or maybe the next, you'll see her rummaging around in the garage for a sander for the mantle, or the finish nailer for the french door trim, or a particular piece of moulding for the new cabinets she's building for the dining room. 

This woman has plans.