When the truck was unloaded, I took Joe to the emergency room at the hospital, and after an exam, they admitted him into the hospital as a patient. The doctors told me that Joe had a lower disc in his spine that had somehow slipped inward instead of slipping outward like they do and was pressing on a nerve causing tremendous pain. He would need an operation. The operation didn’t help much, and Joe stayed in bed. For over two years, I stayed home, running up and down the stairs, caring for Joe, decorating, and cleaning the house, and making sure Amanda got to school, or tending to her if she wasn’t in school.” Her life became depressing. Decorating was Jean’s only salvation. With Joe upstairs, the forty-year-old Jean could rearrange and add little touches to pass the time, and she felt she was doing things that increased the value of the house. She painted and bought little items to brighten the home. The physical and mental exercise she got while painting helped alleviate the stress that was building in her from Joe’s physical condition, but Jean wasn’t happy. Joe was semi-paralyzed, and Amanda was in the eighth grade and pulling away from her parents like any typical eighth grader. Jean began to visit the donut shop for happiness.