I'm Going to Florida!

I just confirmed that I will be going to Florida in early February with my mom and sisters.  I found a great rate for airfare (thank you Southwest Airlines!) and we're looking into getting a timeshare there too!  Woohoo!

We're going to visit my mom's step-sister, Alice.  She is really closer to the age of my oldest sister, Diane, so I've never really called her "Aunt" Alice.

We're going to the Fort Myers area, which is on the Gulf Coast in the southern part of the state.  Alice has lived there for a long time and will be our companion and tour guide.  It will just be a quick trip.  Arriving on a Thursday and leaving the following Tuesday.  Since both those days are essentially travel days, we'll really only have 4 days there.  That will be plenty for my mom, but will make me just want to come back to Florida again soon. 

Over the last few years, my sisters and I have been trying to do some kind of trip with my mom each year and we weren't able to go anywhere in 2009.  At 85, we never know how many more of these excursions she'll be able to do with us.  She has always loved to travel, and now of course, she doesn't want to go  alone.

I'm so glad that we have the chance to do this with her once in a while.  It's a gift for all of us to be able to share the uninterrupted time together. (Thanks Terry for letting me go.)

The only time I've ever been in Florida is when Terry and I went on a Caribbean cruise and flew into Fort Lauderdale to board the ship.  We were there long enough to go from the airport to the ship and back and that was it.  We've talked often about vacationing there, but just haven't made it yet.  Maybe someday soon we'll get to go together...

Mother's Day
Well, I still have a lot to backtrack on to cover the last few weeks of events.

Here are some pics from the time that we spent at Hope & Steve's on Mother's Day. Thanks for hosting guys, even though it would have been nice for Hope to have the day off too. It was so sweet of you to sacrifice your time for us.

Isn't Kassidy's haircut so cute? She's such an adorable little lady. And of course, my nieces Hope and Lisa look gorgeous too. O.k., let's not play favorites. Its a pretty nice looking family overall.

We went over mid-afternoon, shared some lunch and then played Wii bowling together. I'd love to look for a used Wii game someday so we can have one at home. The nice thing about it is that virtually any age or physical abilities can play. The range of ages on Sunday was about 5 to 85...not bad and I think everyone had a good time.

I love the shot below of the Betty Crocker cookbook with takeout containers sitting in front of it. Good news was that no mothers had to do any cooking on Mother's Day. All in all it was a good day!

I am so thankful for every day that I get to spend with my mom. At 85 we know that she may not be around too long, although she seems to be doing very well so far.

I know this is already a lot of photos, but for those (family members, mostly) that want to see more pics, you can see them here.

Prescott Weekend:

We enjoyed a nice relaxing time in Prescott this past weekend with some old and new friends. You'll see a post from Linda about the trip too.

We've known Randy & Linda for about 30 years and they are some of our most comfortable friends. We can be ourselves with them...we laugh and cry, share, encourage, process and dream with them. We enjoyed that this weekend. We've only known Marshall & Cathy for about a year, but we already know that they are a precious couple with kindred spirits. It was so much fun to have some extended time together to get to know them better. We are looking forward to more time with them all.
For any who haven't visited there, Prescott is a town with a character all it's own. The area is busting at the seams with development, but the roots go deep into Arizona history where cowboys and miners once roamed. The cowboy with his dog and the old fashioned lampposts are just a few snapshots of the personality you'll find there. The Tiffany style lamp sits in the lobby of the Hassayampa Inn, established in 1927. We relaxed on their patio and listened to the sound of the fountain (pictured above too).
On Saturday, we walked a few trails at Lynx Lake and although we didn't have a tripod, Marshall and Linda found ways to get group photos.

This amazing bed was at Van Gogh's Ear Gallery... a strange name, but an awesome place. We saw some gorgeous pieces of art! I was trying to figure out a way to get the bed to our backyard. Can't you just imagine laying out under the stars on a cool evening in the comfort of your own dreamy bed. Ahhhh...what treat that would be.

On Monday we had a chance to take Terry's mom to lunch and a movie too which was wonderful.

We really enjoyed our time up there...so many special memories.

Merry Christmas to Mom and Happy Birthday to Amy - and a great excuse for Terry and I to go to a Suns game!!!

It's so fortunate for us that so many of our family members are Phoenix Suns fans because then we get to find reasons to go to games. This year for Christmas we gave Terry's mom a personal gift certificate to either go on a weekend trip with us or to go to some kind of show or event and we would pay for it. After several months of debate, she decided that she wanted to go to a Suns game. What an awesome grandma is that, huh? It turns out that she had NEVER been to a regular season game even though she has been in the Valley since the franchise started!!! Can you believe it? We couldn't either. So we were very excited to fulfill her request. Also, since Amy's birthday was this week and she's moving to L.A. and won't have a chance to see her "Sunnies" very much any more, we asked her if she'd like to go to the game with us as her birthday present and, of course she said yes.

So, off we went to see them play. We were in for some extra treats as well! First of all they won by a huge margin. Then we got there early and were able to see Amare, Boris and Gordon Giricek warming up. And while we were wandering around before the game we walked by the stage where they tape the pre-game show and got to see some of the announcers doing the show. We also got to see my all-time favorite player, Kevin Johnson who just happened to be in town for a fund-raiser for his campaign for mayor of Sacramento. Awesome!

We all had a great time and got to see ALL the players contribute, which is amazing since they don't always get to play.

By the way, I started my "Bucket List" and one of the things that I want to do before I kick the bucket is see a Suns game from seats on the floor. Can anyone help with that?

Just realized that I never posted that my mom came home and is doing very well! Thanks all for your prayers.

I'm working on my 6 unusual things...I'm finding that I'm not that unusual.

Quick update before I leave for work...

We're hoping to get the o.k. for mom to go home today. She was up walking and sitting in a chair yesterday and eating as usual. She had a few levels in her system that were a bit out of whack, like sodium and magnesium, etc. so they wouldn't let her go yesterday. I wasn't there when the nurse or doctor talked to my sister, so not sure what those issues would mean. They were expecting to have everything back to normal by today so she can go home.

She's definitely ready to get home and back to her routines.

er
Thanks all for your thoughts and prayers.

My mom’s doing better! She had a long night last night with a bad headache and nausea (probably from the anesthesia or the pain medication) but as of mid-day, those symptoms are nearly gone and she’s been able to have a reasonable amount of food and keep it down.

She’s resting well, so now we’ll just wait for tests to come back on Monday that may help the doctors know what caused it and if any other steps are necessary to prevent it from happening again.

She’s looking forward to getting better and back home…hopefully by Monday or Tuesday.

The photo is in honor of her "road to recovery". I took it in the Rose Garden at Butchart Gardens last year. She loves roses!

It's interesting what happens when someone you care about is in the hospital. It seems like everything in the outside world just stops and the only reality is what's happening in the hospital.

For most of us, our everyday lives don't really have pressing responsibilities that can't be missed, so our normal life stops while we tend to the one we love. When I try to think about my day-to-day tasks or deadlines that may be missed, I try to put it in perspective with a question. "In the grand scheme of things, if this doesn't happen today, will anyone know or care 10 years from now?" I'd say for 99.9 % of our lives, we can easily answer, "No" to that question.

Wednesday night, my sister took my (83 year-old) mom to the emergency room because she'd been having extreme fatigue, lack of energy and some shortness of breath for a few days. She'd been feeling under the weather for a week or so, but thought it was just a virus or something. A few days ago, when she admitted that she didn't have the energy to walk down and pick up her mail, we knew there must be something wrong. She LOVES to be out and about seeing her neighbors, so it was a big deal when she couldn't do that.

My other sister and I met them at the hospital. After they ran a few tests, they decided to admit my mom. They found that she had fluid around her heart that was preventing it from pumping like it should. They had to do surgery to drain it. So, for the last few days my 2 sisters and I have been taking turns at the hospital, with a few other visitors coming in along the way.

Today mom had the surgery, which went very well. Sad thing is, she's had a headache and nausea all afternoon since the surgery, probably from the pain killer that they gave her. It's hard to just sit and not really be able to do anything to help, but I feel better somehow just having at least one of us here with her.

Hospitals bring up lots of thoughts in me. I'm constantly thinking about the patients and families that are here with much more serious issues than me. I'm also reminded of the times when I was visiting the hospital with more serious issues.

It so hard to be in a place like this without thinking of our own mortalitlurk y, but it's comforting to know that God is watching over the details of each of our lives and that nothing happens without him knowing about it and giving permission for it.

We'll continue to pray for my mom, of course, but she's a real trooper and in great shape for her age, so I have no doubts that she'll be up and around in a few days. Every member of the staff who comes in to see her says she looks great for her age! I think she does too. It will be really nice when she's back to normal and feeling better.

The realization lurks out there that at some point, she may need to live with one of us, but for now, she loves her independence and we'll let her hold on to it.

Mom's 83rd Birthday Bash!


Today we had a birthday bash for my mom's big day. Actually we just had a simple lunch with some of mom's favorite foods and a get-together for the family members that were able to make it.

My niece, Heather surprised us by coming and bringing her daughter, Faith. They live in Kansas now, but she surprised her mom with a holiday visit and showed up at our place too. She's the one with the big earrings sitting next to her big brother, Russell . You'll also notice that the two of them are in the cousins picture in the post below. How fun!

My niece, Lisa and her boyfriend, Davis (in hat) were also there. Lisa's sucking her finger in the post below. I'm sure she loves that I'm pointing that out.

We decided that since my mom's getting up in years, we wanted to try to record some of her stories while she can still remember and communicate them. Right now she's doing great and you'd never know she's in her 80's, but it's one of those things that could change any day. She even mentioned that every year she feels like she's slowing down a little more.
Anyway, we enjoyed our lunch, then had mom open gifts. Pretty simple stuff...some clothes, lotions, jelly bellies (her favorite treat), and her very FIRST cell phone. My oldest sister, Diane got it for her so she could have it when she walks to the store, etc. in case of emergencies. Yes, she still walks a few blocks to the store once in a while, which is probably some of what helps to keep her in good shape. I gave her a gift certificate for a weekend away. She's always loved to travel and doesn't like to go alone. Last year mom, me and my two sisters did our very first trip together to visit her sister in New Mexico, so maybe we'll do it again this year. I told her it had to be within driving distance of Phoenix, which still offers a lot of options.

After gifts, we turned on our video camera and started asking her questions about anything and everything...I even found out a few things that I didn't know, like when my mom and dad were separated for a year, my mom was in her 40's and dating a guy that was 27 for a few months! I never knew that until today. Obviously it didn't last because my parents got back together just before their divorce was to be final. My dad said he just couldn't go through with it and drove 2000 miles from Ohio to Phoenix to reconcile with my mom. Yay Dad! That was when we all moved out to Arizona...it was part of the deal. I wasn't thrilled with it at the time, but I'm thankful for it now.

We also heard about the kinds of houses mom lived in growing up during the depression and special stories or characteristics she remembered about each of her kids. We asked questions and let her talk for 2 hours of taping and we probably could have gone on if we had more tape. She was getting tired and was ready for a break though. Maybe we'll do more on Mother's day... I think she was really honored that we wanted to take the time to hear about her life and that several of her grandkids were there, interested and listening to everything she had to say.

After we were done, the "cousins" played a game of Apples to Apples. Davis wasn't so sure that he'd like it, but he ended up winning, so I guess he thought it was o.k.

It was a very special day for all of us. Now I need to find a way to convert the little video tape to a DVD and make copies for everyone and maybe do a little editing. I'd also like to transcribe it so that we have it in writing somewhere. Maybe that's something that Amy can do now that she's semi-retired!