Daily Chronicle 2022 - Take 2

Rough month. Mom was in a rehab facility after breaking her knee. She got out, the same day , my dad fainted and got sent to the ER. Mom messed her knee up worse and spent the last three weeks in the hospital, coming home this past Wednesday. I got a call today, dads back in the hospital and will get a pacemaker tomorrow. Im taking off work after tomorrow to go take care of them as best i can for the next few days. I feel so terrible for whats going on.

Thanks Urb. They are both 73 and have been up to this point, doing ok. Everyone has an expiration date though unfortunately. Im a little scared but trying to be positive.

Thank you Pete. I appreciate that. Just wish i could fix everything. My plans are to help out, make them some good, healthy but delicious food and maybe catch up on some holiday movies on Netflix or something.

Coming so soon on the heels of your daughter's scare, it must be extra-stressful. Hopefully this is just a bump and you've got some good years ahead, yet.

Thank you John. Ill try

I can say from personal experience that PMS saved the life of a friend whose aorta delaminated from the chest to the groin. He should have died but  refused to. Long story short, I, also knew he would recover. I mean I KNEW he would recover. His story ended up being investigated by a Vatican Tribuna, convened locally, as a modern miracle. I appeared before them to testify. It had to do with canonization of a local saint who his mother and the Parish priest prayed to for his recovery. The reason I bring this up is the level of PMA exhibited by all was a power. I cannot explain it. I can describe it. PMA has saved many disaster bedeviled people and their accounts are in books. 

Wow, Scott!

I would say that you have been divinely put in place to minister unto your family members.

The right man for the job!

Nothing happened with the apartment again, today. I do at least know somebody was there looking at it. They left the door unlocked. 

The ice finally melted off the pond Tuesday, had to turn on the AC last night.

Picked up dad from the hospital this afternoon. Food shopped for Mom, made dinner with my son and aunt and waiting for my folks to emerge from a nap to have dinner.

Warning: Book coming.

So I just spent the last 15 minutes catching up. I confess I skimmed a lot. I've been gone a week and there was a lot. For my part, we made it to Oregon safely. The family went to the coast to the Air BnB Mom rented for the weekend a day early to avoid the looming weather.

Sis, her wife, and I went grocery sho[ping the day we got there (Thursday I think) We took the sprinter van down the hill from the house to Safeway in Lincoln City with plans to hit the liquor store next. (in Oregon, you must go to a designated store for hard liquor). While we were inside the ice storm from Hell hit. We got out to the van watching cars slide into one another in the parking lot. Sis having more experience with large vehicles than I tried valiantly to get us out of the parking lot but instead chose to park us as far from the exits as possible to avoid the mayhem.

We sat in the Safeway parking lot all night watching idiots crash into one another trying to navigate the solid slick wet ice that had formed. During this we made a couple of forays back into the store to get supplies, both my sister and I busted our asses on the ice trying to walk on it.

At 4 am it looked like it had cleared enough so we hit the road to get back to the house 2 miles away. We stopped atop a hill that had a hairpin corner when the wheels began to slip again and sat till 6 am waiting for the ice to finish melting. Saw a nice 4x4 buck with his heard of does while we waited, then drove back to the house only to discover we'd been locked out. The home has a lock code that works for the doorknob, but my wife locked the deadbolt when she and Mom went to bed so we had to ring the bell and wake them to get inside.

During all this my sis and I caught up, we had not been together in nearly 25 years so it was good times.
My older brother arrived later that day and we had all sorts of great times over Christmas weekend including a prime rib dinner. It was FABULOUS!! We three made it a point to commit to getting together at least once per year going forward.

Literally the only bummer, Mom is terminally ill with only a very few months left. This was moms first Christmas without Dad and in all probability her last Christmas on this earth. I'm an emotional guy, so it's no surprise I'm tearing up writing this. I likely said goodbye to my mom when we left to board the airplane home. We've always been a scattered family, the hazards of being military I suppose.

To add insult to injury; I spent 12+ hours at Portland Airport because Spirit Air canceled our flight home. American had a great flight to replace it with but that one ended up being 4 hours late arriving to pick us up...

Now please don't think I am complaining. I would not have missed this holiday for anything this world can offer! My mom had all three of her children together for the first time in many years! it was the best Christmas a man can ask for. If I could have taken more time off I would still be there, but sadly life requires me to be home to care for my dogs and work to pay the bills...

Thanks for the post, Terry.

Wow! What a bunch of crazy stuff to put up with the weather! Next time attach a flamethrower on the front bumper so you can make your way back!

Sorry to hear about your mom, lost mine at 17, still get misty eyed thinking about her..

Glad that you guys are committing to get together, life is too darned short!

That was in February 2021. I don't expect to see that happen again. 🤞