My family minus my youngest sister and brother
When I say whirlwind that’s exactly what it is with my
family – running non-stop. But there’s
nothing like family and I realized just how much I missed them all. Usually years go by between visits so it’s
always such a treat. I come back home
totally worn out, but it’s all worth it and I’d do it again in a minute.
Most of my trip was unexpected visits to the hospital and
doctors offices. This is what happens
when you have a large family and many friends.
Things happen out of the blue.
One of my sister’s best friends collapsed a few days before I arrived
and they had to life flight her to the ICU in Austin where they induced a coma for three
days so they could keep her alive and run tests to see what happened. My sister, her husband and this friend had
gone up to the hill country for a few days and the girl was fine before her
collapse. Everyone thought she may come
out with brain damage because the paramedics that arrived were rookies and had
to call in a back-up unit.
It took a full day in Austin
as we sat in the waiting room before we could see her. Her procedure had to wait because two heart
attack victims came in that took priority first and she was stable at that
time. They installed a defibrillator and
put her on seizure meds, although they had not confirmed she had a seizure
causing her heart to stop. This gal is
only fifty-years-old. Her elderly
parents were both there (both in their upper eighties). Her father was bouncing off the walls from
all the coffee he had been drinking while waiting. He knew of all the coffee machines on the
floor and they were all dry except one, he told us. It turns out she’ll be okay, but can’t drive
for six months due to Texas
law concerning seizure medication.
A few days later, we ended up in the hospital again to see
my brother-in-laws father who has COPD.
We had been eating barbecue at their house the night before and he
seemed fine, but they had to drain a liter and a half of fluid off his
lungs. They told me this is a regular
occurrence. The man is in his 90’s.
My mother at La Casona Mexican Restaurant
My mom has dementia and had doctor appointments for
evaluations to see how far this has advanced.
They are hoping to put her on meds to slow down the disease. We won’t know the results until mid-November
because she has more tests to do. On top
of all this, she took a nasty spill in the bathtub back in July. Her leg and back are still bothering her from
that incident.
That was one reason I was trying to rush this family book
along, as well as taking my trip, before I actually intended to. I’d like my mom to be able to read it while
she still can. When I gave it to her,
she said it was the best gift I could have ever given her, so that made me feel
good about finishing this ten-year project.
She told me a few days later that I was a good writer and it was hard
for her to put the book down. Okay, I
know this is my mother, but that was still a nice compliment.
When we all get together, it is non-stop talking and
laughing. I really missed my sisters so
much and had so much fun catching up. We
were never in bed before two or three in the morning and back on the go usually
by seven the following morning. All of
us figured we could sleep after I went home.
We had to make every minute count, never knowing for sure when we’ll see
each other again.
I lived out of my suitcase and shuffled between houses. That was okay with me. My ordinary life is so dull compared to the
non-stop action that goes on down there all the time.
My great-nephew Travis
It was lucky for me that my great nephew was visiting from
the base in CA at the same time so it was good seeing him, his wife and little
boy. He’s in the Marines and will be
getting out of the service early next year.
He’s been to Afghanistan
twice and we’re all happy nothing happened to him over there. He’s a sweet kid.
This is my brother-in-law Mark with his barbeque pit
One night my sister and I were up and out at the barbecue
pit helping my brother-in-law put meat on the grill at two AM. He takes his barbequing seriously. Many times, he’ll stay up all night smoking
stuff. It sure is good. Sometimes they sell extra meat to friends and
co-workers. The only problem I had was
my feet swelling up from all the salt. I
use very little at home. That has never
been a problem for me before, but it sure was this time. My sister said, “Why didn’t you tell me you
were on a low-sodium diet?” Well, I’m
not really, just don’t use much salt usually and generally try to eat very
healthy.
I went to the county
faire and parade, which I
haven’t done since I was a teenager.
That in itself is a long story so maybe I’ll save that for another post.
This is one my neices Jodi in her apt.
I was shocked to see my nieces all grown up with their own
households and some of them have little ones now. It was hard to wrap my head around that. But the children are so well-behaved so
that’s a blessing.
My neice Reesa with Rylie and Ray
Of course, I ate enough Mexican food and barbeque to last me
quite a while. They eat lots of that in Texas.
Luckily, I made my return fight when I found out ten minutes
before take-off that I was waiting leisurely at the wrong gate. And you guessed it, the correct gate was at
the other end of the airport. Isn’t that
always how it is? I was breathless and
my head swimming by the time I made it down there. Even then, I got a seat in row eight, which
was pretty good considering they don’t have assigned seats on Southwest
Airlines.
It was a wonderful trip and I took tons of pictures. I hated to see it end. I was really wishing I had stayed longer when
I got off the airport shuttle here and it was 65 with a stiff north wind
blowing. I had left a balmy 85 down
south.
To be continued.
