Going to the bank

I took Mom to the bank to drop off a deposit this morning. I love drive-thru banking. Send bits of paper in a tube . . .

. . . and get an envelope of money back.

Kind of a neat system, huh?

Moving out

[Somehow this didn't get posted when I wrote it. I wrote this right after I got back from helping my mom close down her house in June 2011. She left her home two years ago in September to come live with my family.]

Going back to a house you left suddenly two years ago is like entering a time warp.

Ice cream in the freezer will start to mold sometime during that two years.

Tight windows reduce dust on furniture to nearly nothing.

Going through 50 years of accumulation is hard, even if your parent was good about getting rid of things.

Having dear old friends help is INVALUABLE. Couldn't have done it all in only 2.5 days without them.

A two-day car trip without the radio leaves lots of time for contemplation and chat.

Getting everything unpacked from the car as quickly as possible makes recovery easier.

I'm so glad it's over and so glad my brothers are handling the estate sale.

I hope my mom recovers from the ordeal

My friend Leigh writes her blog entries like this and I decided to give it a try today.

Made it!

Well, if the second flight was overbooked, it didn't affect me. Lots of other people, including ones who had bought their tickets earlier in the week, had to get their seat assignments at the gate. The flight was full though. I had chatty seatmates both times and that helped the time pass quickly. I got my rental car very easily. I'd reserved it ahead of time, but the last time I did that they were so disorganized it still took me an hour and a half. This time I politely declined all the little ploys they use to part people with their money (Would you like to upgrade to a full-size car for only $10 a day? Would you like this extra insurance that would eliminate your deductible in case something happens? Would you like to rent a GPS unit for only $9.95 a day?) and was in my car within about 6 minutes. I got turned around coming out of the airport area but after a quick call to my mom, got headed the right direction and had an easy trip north to her house.

The number of orchards and other farming activities in California is amazing. I passed one orchard I'd never seen before which was Deseret Farms of California. The trees were new and it is certainly a welfare farm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For those not familiar with those, they are farms run by the Church with a LOT of donated labor and the food produced there is processed and donated to needy people both inside and outside the Mormon Church. I'll have to ask my parents how long that orchard has been there.

I'm settling in here for a bit, not sure how long. My mom's health is not good right now and she needs a little TLC.

I think I'm an "overbooked passenger"

Ugh! I'm taking two flights today. Got a seat assignment on the first and not on the second! I'm pretty sure that means I'm an overbooked passenger and now I have to hope for a no-show. I need to do some quick looking on the airline website to see what my rights are so I'll sound intelligent if necessary. Otherwise, no need to appear intelligent. Whew!! ;-)

My mom is sick

. . . and I'm a long way away. I'm not sure what to do about it. I called her this morning to talk to her about coming here to stay with us until she is better. I found her so weak she could hardly talk although I did get a little laugh out of her at one point. I had her give me the phone number of a friend and I called there to get some help for her. The friend is going to take her to the hospital and he arranged for another friend to meet them there and keep my mom company in the hospital until things get settled.

My mom is not overly sentimental and hasn't asked me to come out. She needs someone to take care of her though. If she is in a hospital or nursing home, she is being taken care of. I think she could use some moral support though, and when she is released, unless there is a BIG improvement, I think she needs to come to my house so I can keep an eye on her. Or even if she needs assisted living or a nursing home, well, that's what dh does for a living, so I'd rather have her here in town where we can both keep our eyes on her. The problem is the long distance and the transportation to get her here.

Right now I'm waiting to hear what is happening at the hospital. I have a lot to think about and try to figure out what is the best thing for everyone.