My mom went on a girls' weekend recently with old friends from her Birth-To-Three group.
As I'm now thirty, they've known each other a while. I'm sure these women know things about me that would make me blush and drive me to drink. Or at least take a long bath. Mom said that for the first time, they spent more time talking about their parents than their children.
My grandparents moved to Washington this weekend, after living in Illinois for the majority of their married life. They've been married 62 years.
It wasn't an easy move. My grandmother had childhood friends she hated to leave. They were used to living independent lives. Both the sisters (Mom and Leslie) did some fast talking. Mom found them a beautiful place to live. Leslie worked some financial magic. Her son (my cousin Sean) kindly flew out for a few days to help them resettle.
One stroke later, a few days became two weeks. The move got complicated. More problems came to the surface. More needs appeared. More assistance was necessary. It wasn't easy.
12 days in rehab (not Winehouse rehab, stroke rehab), a Critical Care Flight Nurse, four first class tickets, and $9000 later, my grandparents made it. Grandpa is happy again. He's out of the hospital, sleeping next to his wife, and meals magically appear. His short term memory is shot, but he can still take care of himself with help. Grandma is getting there. She misses her friends but is showing interest in the many activities. It's the first time my brother and I have lived close to extended family. We kind of like it!
So I drove down for the weekend to show support. I'm selfish; there was lots in T-Town I wanted to do. But the right decision was to go. Patrick slept good in the car both ways. Puppies stayed at home with Kevin. Mom only freaked out once (she's been the biggest trouper and the most supportive daughter EVER), when she realized the flight was 30 minutes early, and it was landing in ten minutes. Luckily, we live close to the airport. Immediately, she was in crisis mode. "We've got to leave NOW!" as she's dashing about. I thought, we are not going there....Mom, I have a baby and I can only move so fast, you need to CHILL out. She did. Later, I apologized for jumping on her. She's been so great with this and it's been very difficult. She apologized for being all panicky, but really, she knows that I'll chose her nursing home later and she's sucking up.
It was wonderful to see them, and a great treat to see my cousin Sean. He's a bit older than us, and seemed very glamorous when we were kids. He's living in LA and working as some sort of assistant director. Worked on The Shield and CSI Miami. Full of fun stories. He was so fantastic with our grandparents (who in stress weren't always appreciative. Hard to have family all in your business). I hadn't seen him in about ten years, and hopefully with all the family on this coast we'll see him more! His mom, Leslie, lives in Singapor. She is rather glamorous and international.
Patrick did great, very smiley and sat on Grandpa's lap a lot. I'm glad they'll have more a chance to see him grow. It means more trips to Mom's. Fun for me, but gas prices make it tight. Good thing we aren't going anywhere else! :)
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