Friday, July 25, 2008

Getting old isn't for sissies


Well, the final touches are on the move my mother has made since my dad died two years ago. She sold her house in 3 days (yes, I said 3 days) and is now residing in a lovely assisted living facility that is Christian based. She has her own apartment (2 bedroom), cable, new friends and more to do than ever before (movie night is tonight). She also gets rides from the apartment to doctor appts., grocery store and events that she chooses to participate in. She told me that she wasn't going to do any of the activities, just watch her soaps but that idea faded with the news of various card players in the building. All in all it was a very hard move physically for us and emotionally for her, but we all survived and are alive to share in her joy of finding such a lovely place with lots of new friends! I don't really have a recent picture of her (she hates having it taken) so I found one from my oldest son's wedding in June of 2007. It is a favorite of mine. Since Daniel and Karen helped with the move they can share in the spotlight for this blog.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

4th of July, 2008


I took my mom, Daniel, Karen, Jordan and Patrick to look at fireworks. We go to the same site every year (the location is secret since we don't like big crowds). This yearly event tends to be bittersweet because my dad died July 3rd of 2006 and we still went over to view the fireworks because we felt he would have wanted it that way. This year as my mom and I sat in the car watching them out the front window she turned to me and said, "how could we do this the day after he died?" to which I replied "he would have wanted us to." My father lived his whole life in the fast lane. He had many "sayings". One of them was "Live every day like it's Christmas and every night like it's New Years Eve" so I can't imagine not celebrating July 4th in his honor not to mention the fact that he was a World War II veteran. I don't have any pictures of him in my collection so the picture I picked for this blog is of Karen and Daniel roasting marshmallows and eating somores at the picnic table before we headed out to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks. The picnic table they are seated at was a gift from my dad that ended up being a bone of contention between us for many years (long story). He took it back and I ended up bringing it back from his place after he died. It reminds me of how silly my argument was with my dad, how it divided us for a time, and how it has served to bring us back together after his death by seeing how much we as a family enjoy sitting, eating, and visiting around it now. Word to the wise: life is too short; forget about the small stuff.