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I remember when I was a kid and had spent a week or two with my aunt in Sacramento, coming over the mountains and seeing the lights of San Jose appear out of the darkness. A feeling of happiness welled up and completely filled me. I was coming home. Back to my parents, my sister, our dog and cats. I would sleep in my own bed. It was a feeling of belonging, feeling safe, loved and everything was right with the world.
How I wish life were that simple again.
We had our plans in place for my cousin Todd's wedding. Dad was feeing very tired, but he was determined to go even if he had to lie down the whole seven hours of driving. My sister and I with our husbands were going to trade off driving Dad's car and my car in a caravan to get there together. Eric and I showed up at Mom & Dad's to start the journey to find out that Dad as still in bed. He'd been up once to use the bathroom only after Mom insisted, but he'd fallen asleep on the toilet. When he came out, he couldn't stay awake long enough to get back in bed so he lay down across the foot of the bed. Bruce, my bro-in-law helped get him back into bed.
We ended up taking him to the hospital instead. They gave him fluids with nutrients since he hadn't been able to drink much for the last two days and refused to eat anything. We stayed until he improved enough to tell us to go without him. Mom said we should go. They weren't keeping him in the hospital, so he couldn't be that bad off. She was sure she could get him back home OK since he was getting better. My parents both told me to hug Todd and Judy for them. So we went to our respective homes. S & B went to trade vehicles since they weren't driving Dad's car after all, and we went home because Eric had forgotten his suit. We hit the road about 7pm. We got stuck in the Friday night exodus to ski resorts.
Sherrie and Bruce got to Yreka at 2AM. Eric and I pooped out just north of Sacramento. We didn't know the best way to get to Yreka as it turns out. We figured we had another three hours to drive. Wrong. We missed the wedding. We hurried into the church just as they were pronounced "Man and wife." Everyone was worried about us. They'd saved two special seats for us in the family section. Todd's face lit up when he saw us standing in the back.
It was a good reception and good family time except when people wanted to talk about my dad. I was trying to set that aside to allow the joy of the wedding to be unsullied by my sadness. I delivered the hugs from my parents. Todd danced with me for me, my mom and my dad. Eric and I actually danced three slow dances! It's hard to get one dance out of him normally, but Todd likes a lot of the same love songs I do, and he built the tape he played. We helped take down the decorations and delivered the stereo equipment and wedding gifts to Judy's house.
We got stuck in the homebound ski resort traffic coming home today. I just burned CDs of our photos. While I was doing that I checked in with my parents. Dad has given up. He wants to die soon because he's miserable. So Mom is calling to start hospice tomorrow. Dad wants us to go to Hawaii without him. I don't want to. None of us do.
We were all hit pretty hard by the space shuttle accident, too. Todd was apparently having some difficulty the morning of his wedding with the news about my dad and the shuttle and worrying about Eric and me. His mom had to give him a pep talk about it all.
Why can't things be simple? That's just life, I guess.
Going to bed now. Hope I can sleep.
How I wish life were that simple again.
We had our plans in place for my cousin Todd's wedding. Dad was feeing very tired, but he was determined to go even if he had to lie down the whole seven hours of driving. My sister and I with our husbands were going to trade off driving Dad's car and my car in a caravan to get there together. Eric and I showed up at Mom & Dad's to start the journey to find out that Dad as still in bed. He'd been up once to use the bathroom only after Mom insisted, but he'd fallen asleep on the toilet. When he came out, he couldn't stay awake long enough to get back in bed so he lay down across the foot of the bed. Bruce, my bro-in-law helped get him back into bed.
We ended up taking him to the hospital instead. They gave him fluids with nutrients since he hadn't been able to drink much for the last two days and refused to eat anything. We stayed until he improved enough to tell us to go without him. Mom said we should go. They weren't keeping him in the hospital, so he couldn't be that bad off. She was sure she could get him back home OK since he was getting better. My parents both told me to hug Todd and Judy for them. So we went to our respective homes. S & B went to trade vehicles since they weren't driving Dad's car after all, and we went home because Eric had forgotten his suit. We hit the road about 7pm. We got stuck in the Friday night exodus to ski resorts.
Sherrie and Bruce got to Yreka at 2AM. Eric and I pooped out just north of Sacramento. We didn't know the best way to get to Yreka as it turns out. We figured we had another three hours to drive. Wrong. We missed the wedding. We hurried into the church just as they were pronounced "Man and wife." Everyone was worried about us. They'd saved two special seats for us in the family section. Todd's face lit up when he saw us standing in the back.
It was a good reception and good family time except when people wanted to talk about my dad. I was trying to set that aside to allow the joy of the wedding to be unsullied by my sadness. I delivered the hugs from my parents. Todd danced with me for me, my mom and my dad. Eric and I actually danced three slow dances! It's hard to get one dance out of him normally, but Todd likes a lot of the same love songs I do, and he built the tape he played. We helped take down the decorations and delivered the stereo equipment and wedding gifts to Judy's house.
We got stuck in the homebound ski resort traffic coming home today. I just burned CDs of our photos. While I was doing that I checked in with my parents. Dad has given up. He wants to die soon because he's miserable. So Mom is calling to start hospice tomorrow. Dad wants us to go to Hawaii without him. I don't want to. None of us do.
We were all hit pretty hard by the space shuttle accident, too. Todd was apparently having some difficulty the morning of his wedding with the news about my dad and the shuttle and worrying about Eric and me. His mom had to give him a pep talk about it all.
Why can't things be simple? That's just life, I guess.
Going to bed now. Hope I can sleep.
