Jim took a shower after supper on Friday as usual and not long after I heard the spray come one, I felt the thump as much as I heard it.

I grabbed my phone and ran into the bathroom to find Jim sheepishly looking up at me, on his knees, leaning on the shower chair he should have been sitting on.

He was okay and the only damage was to his pride.

When I went in to bandage his foot after he finished and was getting dressed again, I asked him if he was sore. He had to be reminded he’d fallen. It had only been 20 minutes since he’d been kneeling on the tub.

Yesterday (Sunday) as we were sitting drinking our morning coffee together, we had four complete conversations about the bruise on his knee.

• Jim: I have this bruise and have no idea where it came from
• Me: You fell in the tub on Friday
• Jim: Did I? I don’t remember that. I’m not saying it didn’t happen but I don’t remember it.
• Me: Well, there’s a big bruise on your knee to prove it.

Two minutes later we repeated the above conversation. In fact, I recorded the last two go-rounds before I successfully distracted him with another topic.

The near miss came the following morning. We’d just come in from getting groceries and I wasn’t fast enough coming back downstairs to grab the last of the larger canvas grocery bags. (I usually leave one of the smaller ones for him to bring upstairs and I carry the rest) Luckily, I walked up the stairs two steps behind him.

He swung the bag he was carrying back a little too far and lost his balance.

The bag hit me and stopped it’s trajectory but he still fell back to the step below where I was able to catch him while he was still upright.

Being the gentleman, he always wants me to precede him. Thank God I made sure I was behind him.

The electrician will be here on Sunday to do the pre-wiring and hopefully the  contractor will be here the following week to get our ground level occupiable so I can move us downstairs.

Jim’s ability to balance seems to be failing fast.