I’m back!

Sorry to have neglected this blog so long.  I was away visiting family out of state and am back home now.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to post before this because I had to recuperate.  (You don’t know my family).  It’s always non-stop action with no schedule, which I love, but such things can wear you out.  I was living out of a suitcase, until my sister suggested I just take things around in a shopping bag when I changed sibling’s houses.  This worked out very well, but she’s a lot smarter about this type of thing, plus she has an endless supply of cute, reusable shopping bags in all sizes.

When I got home I went to bed and slept fifteen hours.  I was exhausted and since then I’m back at work almost every day.

 This is my sweet mother

The object of my visit was to see family and my mother who is now in a nursing home.  She suffers from dementia.  I couldn’t put off my trip any longer.  It had been almost five years and a lot can happen in that span of time.  But I was prepared for the worst of scenarios when my mother saw me.  Of course she didn’t recognize me at first.  I look a lot like one of my sisters who is her caretaker.  But she did remember me after a few minutes.  She had a big smile and gave me a big hug.  Bless her heart.  She didn’t have trouble remembering me the rest of the trip.  It was very hard to kiss her on the cheek and tell her goodbye when I knew I was flying home the next day.

I think I was able to visit almost everyone during that fast two weeks.  I even got to meet my new great niece who was celebrating her first birthday party in style with a good old fashioned Texas barbecue.  No one can make barbecue like Texans.  My brother in law (and the birthday girl’s grandfather) stayed up all night cooking brisket, sausage, pork and chicken on the pit.  Naturally, there were baked beans and country potatoes and lots of other trimmings, not to mention all the homemade desserts.  Somehow I came back from that trip weighing the same amount as when I left, thank goodness.

I’ll write more about some of my visit soon.  I took 455 pictures and we had many adventures.  Of course a lot of talking and laughter happened all the time.  There’s no better medicine than that.