Chicken Soup for the Couple's soul by Jack Canfield

Author:Jack Canfield [Canfield, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

I barely looked at the house before I made an offer, then went to his office and signed some papers. If Joan were happy here, who knew what miracles could occur?

Driving home, I wondered what Joan would think of my buying a house without her ever seeing it. It was so unlike me to do something like this. I walked into the bedroom, unable to conceal the huge smile on my face.

She smiled back. "What are you so happy about?"

"I did something crazy today. Maybe something wonderful."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"I bought a house. On a lake. Do you think I'm crazy?"

The smile on her face was worth everything. "I don't believe it! Are you telling me the truth?"

We talked all night about the house. Nancy and Ellen were beside themselves with joy. When I turned out the lights, I wondered, Does she know why I did it so quickly? But even if she did suspect, her mind was now consumed with living in the country on a place so perfectly named as Blue Heron Lake.

I began to have the reverse of nightmares. My dreams were happy of a healthy Joan, of meeting her for the first time at summer camp in the Pocono Mountains, of the laughter we shared sitting in Washington Square Park with our older daughter, Ellen, still in a baby carriage. I awoke feeling wonderful until I turned and saw Joan sleeping beside me, and the awakening became the nightmare.

She rarely let on to her own feelings. She never asked questions, and I soon learned to stop asking, "How are you feeling?" She still couldn't get around without a cane, and I could see she didn't want me to help her.

Still, when she was walking down the stairs, my hand was always an inch away from her arm.

At the next appointment with the oncologist, I was not prepared for what he said.

"Well, Mrs. Simon, everything looks good. The tumor is going into remission."

An enormous smile of relief crossed Joan's face. I could barely believe my ears. What was happening here? Was the cancer gone?

I no longer knew what to believe except that today the sun was shining and that Joan and I were going to leave for her first visit to the house in Bedford. When we arrived, she was beaming with excitement. "I'll show you the house in a minute," I said. "First comes the lake."

Joan stood on the dock, looking at the boathouse and the water. I could see by her expression that it took her back to when she was her happiest: growing up in the Poconos, taking a rowboat out at night and swimming in the dark, cool waters.

"I'm going to get rid of this cane," she said. "I'm going to swim in the lake.

And I'm going to catch the biggest fish and cook it for dinner."

And that's exactly what she did.

By summer Joan was out in a boat fishing with Ellen and Nancy, teaching them what she learned as a girl.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.