We are home from our trip south. It was an emotional time – in many ways. We started out on the 10 hour drive around 4:30 Friday afternoon. The drive was pretty uneventful. TBW was able to secure the last available hotel in Greensboro over the phone and the couple in the lobby was peeved to say the least – since she walked in after they were in line… They had to take the smoking room. Yuck I say. Yeah for us.
We got to my sister’s house around 2:30 in the afternoon. We chatted for a while and then my sister and I went to my Mom’s house to get prepared for the upcoming days. We cried and held each other – and just missed her. You see things laying around that you just put places as you are doing things – never knowing you aren’t going to come back to them. Things with her writing on it, when her writing – a telltale sign of her growing weakness - was getting very illegible during the last weeks. We went through the rooms – pointed out the things we each wanted. Looked through a couple of things – took a deep breath and went back to the house.
Played some corn hole, drank some beer and had pizza on the porch. Enjoyed the company of each other and the kids coming in and out to visit throughout the evening. They didn’t give us much of their time – but what they did was good.
Sunday, it was time to pack up. We started with her medicine. We gathered three bags of it to take to the pharmacist to get rid of. How she kept track of it I’ll never know. Most, she wrote in a little calendar – it was weird to see when the writing stopped. We talked about how she swore someone was trying to kill her. That someone was her caretaker – and she was trying to get her to take her medicine. She even said she only wanted bottled water at one point. It makes me sad to think of being that scared. We got a lot packed. A lot of memories. TBW did the hardest job and that was to sort through her clothes and bag them up. D3 helped her – D1 and D2 couldn’t do it. Not sure if that was laziness or grief… I’ll assume the latter. Sunday night we had a family dinner at the Mexican place. Believe it or not – no margaritas were had… Sunday night, as TBW read in the bedroom. D2 watched TV near me – and I sorted through piles of paperwork. When I looked up it was after midnight. I was drained.
Monday, we continued on with the packing. The relo cubes came around 3. What a way to go – I would recommend them over uhaul any day! They dropped them right in the driveway – easy access and easy load and pickup. We stopped around 4 and had dinner at my sister’s. Steak on the grill. They eat their meals differently. They just grab and growl and the TV was up so loud I thought I was the grandma in the situation. My sister just looked like – sorry… That evening, we came back to my Mom’s early. D2 and I did some hanging and TBW was on her second book. It was relaxing.
Tuesday, The sis and I headed to the SCBMV… What a well run place. They have some ladies in the middle of the place – where you go to explain what you need – she gives you the proper paperwork (of which I already had printed out – thank you very much) and tells you after you go fill it out – come back and they give you a number. Your number is then called and you go to the window they tell you. No waiting in lines for hours like here – only to realize you are missing something or it can’t be done. Very impressed. We now own a 1992 olds 98 and a mobile home! Whoot whoot. We laughed on the way out – because no one asked to even see a death certificate or will… Now, try to cancel the telephone and you need all those papers and a piece of her scalp! The kids had called – they wanted to go to the Hard Rock park – we said they could if they all went and no whining or fighting. They lasted until 4:00… Of course, it was time to load the pods. No kids, no husband – just the mighty three women. Bring it on!!! We did it all in 2 hours. You go girls. We bungee’d everything we could. Hopefully not much will shift during the ride J. D2, TBW and I went to dinner and the others ate at home. We met them at my nephew’s baseball game. They won in extra innings. Good game. We were tired!
Weds morning, we headed to the beach. If my beer intake over the next three days wasn’t so much – I am sure the sweating I did packing the cubes and car would have made me a little lighter. I guess we’ll worry about that later gator! We pulled in because they told us to come early and enjoy the pool. Got to the pool – ka boom – thunder… Back to the garage where our cars were. The kids laid on their beach towels, listened to ipods and played DS. Sis and I had a couple beers while sitting in our chairs. TBW held fort at the front desk… Hoping to get them moving along. Our room was wonderful – two bedrooms – one for the adults – one for the kids. Dinner at the Japanese steakhouse. I’ll have to tell that funny story in another post. D2 definitely doesn’t know when she is being flirted with…
Thursday morning was sunny. We headed to the pool. The kids came down as they woke up… The last one straggling in around noon. We floated in the lazy river… Drank a lot of beer… and swam in the pool. The kids had pizza and went to play putt putt… the adults went to drunkin jack’s. We did just that. TBW was the driver – she is a gem – as always. The Bloody Mary’s were great.
Friday we spent at the beach. Eventually the pool… Didn’t want the week to end. We went for burgers for dinner and could have used more down time before the drive home.
All in all – it could have been a lot more stressful than what it was. D1 and D2 are staying another week. We are back at work. That is the way life rolls.
We got to my sister’s house around 2:30 in the afternoon. We chatted for a while and then my sister and I went to my Mom’s house to get prepared for the upcoming days. We cried and held each other – and just missed her. You see things laying around that you just put places as you are doing things – never knowing you aren’t going to come back to them. Things with her writing on it, when her writing – a telltale sign of her growing weakness - was getting very illegible during the last weeks. We went through the rooms – pointed out the things we each wanted. Looked through a couple of things – took a deep breath and went back to the house.
Played some corn hole, drank some beer and had pizza on the porch. Enjoyed the company of each other and the kids coming in and out to visit throughout the evening. They didn’t give us much of their time – but what they did was good.
Sunday, it was time to pack up. We started with her medicine. We gathered three bags of it to take to the pharmacist to get rid of. How she kept track of it I’ll never know. Most, she wrote in a little calendar – it was weird to see when the writing stopped. We talked about how she swore someone was trying to kill her. That someone was her caretaker – and she was trying to get her to take her medicine. She even said she only wanted bottled water at one point. It makes me sad to think of being that scared. We got a lot packed. A lot of memories. TBW did the hardest job and that was to sort through her clothes and bag them up. D3 helped her – D1 and D2 couldn’t do it. Not sure if that was laziness or grief… I’ll assume the latter. Sunday night we had a family dinner at the Mexican place. Believe it or not – no margaritas were had… Sunday night, as TBW read in the bedroom. D2 watched TV near me – and I sorted through piles of paperwork. When I looked up it was after midnight. I was drained.
Monday, we continued on with the packing. The relo cubes came around 3. What a way to go – I would recommend them over uhaul any day! They dropped them right in the driveway – easy access and easy load and pickup. We stopped around 4 and had dinner at my sister’s. Steak on the grill. They eat their meals differently. They just grab and growl and the TV was up so loud I thought I was the grandma in the situation. My sister just looked like – sorry… That evening, we came back to my Mom’s early. D2 and I did some hanging and TBW was on her second book. It was relaxing.
Tuesday, The sis and I headed to the SCBMV… What a well run place. They have some ladies in the middle of the place – where you go to explain what you need – she gives you the proper paperwork (of which I already had printed out – thank you very much) and tells you after you go fill it out – come back and they give you a number. Your number is then called and you go to the window they tell you. No waiting in lines for hours like here – only to realize you are missing something or it can’t be done. Very impressed. We now own a 1992 olds 98 and a mobile home! Whoot whoot. We laughed on the way out – because no one asked to even see a death certificate or will… Now, try to cancel the telephone and you need all those papers and a piece of her scalp! The kids had called – they wanted to go to the Hard Rock park – we said they could if they all went and no whining or fighting. They lasted until 4:00… Of course, it was time to load the pods. No kids, no husband – just the mighty three women. Bring it on!!! We did it all in 2 hours. You go girls. We bungee’d everything we could. Hopefully not much will shift during the ride J. D2, TBW and I went to dinner and the others ate at home. We met them at my nephew’s baseball game. They won in extra innings. Good game. We were tired!
Weds morning, we headed to the beach. If my beer intake over the next three days wasn’t so much – I am sure the sweating I did packing the cubes and car would have made me a little lighter. I guess we’ll worry about that later gator! We pulled in because they told us to come early and enjoy the pool. Got to the pool – ka boom – thunder… Back to the garage where our cars were. The kids laid on their beach towels, listened to ipods and played DS. Sis and I had a couple beers while sitting in our chairs. TBW held fort at the front desk… Hoping to get them moving along. Our room was wonderful – two bedrooms – one for the adults – one for the kids. Dinner at the Japanese steakhouse. I’ll have to tell that funny story in another post. D2 definitely doesn’t know when she is being flirted with…
Thursday morning was sunny. We headed to the pool. The kids came down as they woke up… The last one straggling in around noon. We floated in the lazy river… Drank a lot of beer… and swam in the pool. The kids had pizza and went to play putt putt… the adults went to drunkin jack’s. We did just that. TBW was the driver – she is a gem – as always. The Bloody Mary’s were great.
Friday we spent at the beach. Eventually the pool… Didn’t want the week to end. We went for burgers for dinner and could have used more down time before the drive home.
All in all – it could have been a lot more stressful than what it was. D1 and D2 are staying another week. We are back at work. That is the way life rolls.
1 comment:
Glad everything seemed to go smoothly. Welcome back.
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