Nesting and regrouping

YES! I'm still here. This last year has been pretty consuming in several ways that the blog just ends up getting the short end of the stick. You know that analogy of the big rocks and all.

(Ok, for those of you that don't know, there's a famous time management exercise where you have a jar, some rocks, pebbles, and sand. You try to put them all in the jar. If you put in the sand or pebble first, you won't get them all in, but if you put in the rocks first, then the pebbles, and then the sand, they will all fit. The rocks are your highest priority tasks.)

But I digress. Late summer and fall my son started school with us (we cyberschool) so there was a lot of adjustment in figuring out how to meet both of their schooling needs at the same time. Plus fall is the busy time for sessions and last year was no different. And of course the holidays, and we have 4 family birthdays to add into the mix right after Christmas through mid January. 

I always look forward to that lull in late January, early February to regroup for the year and catch up. Unfortunately, this year my maternal grandmother, whom I'm very close to, had a stroke mid January. Being from California, my immediate family lives out there. But we have a very large extended family out here in Pittsburgh and Ohio mostly. My grandmother is one of 11 children, so you can imagine how big that can get. Anyway, she is well-loved by all, even friends of relatives who've just met her once or twice find that they make a connection right away. We all have friends that haven't seen her in 20 years that STILL ask how she's doing and chuckle about the times they remember with her. 

So I gladly helped my mom out by being the point person for letting the rest of the family know what was going on. We set up a phone tree to make it a little easier and really everyone has been so helpful. 

She was in rehab working very hard to regain some strength so she could come home. 

Then 3 weeks ago or so, she took another turn for the worse so they sent her home with hospice care. I flew out the next day with my cousin (also a nurse) from Columbus and spent the next 10 days taking care of Bubba and helping my mom. She's holding on for now. She has her wits about her and still has some sense of humor. She's not in any pain, nor is she feeling hungry or thirsty. She's watching lots of old favorite movies that she loves. 

My other grandmother (Millie) is also under hospice care right now. She's 97! I wasn't as close to her growing up but visit her whenever I'm back home. I'm so grateful that I got to visit her while I was out there as well. 

My incredible husband held down the fort at home managing the kids, their schooling and his job. Other family members and friends have stepped in to help out as well, and we are so appreciative. Once I got home I was just trying to catch up. 

So I although I'm sad that this is all happening, I am also grateful.

Grateful for having such wonderful friends and family in my life.

Grateful that I was able to go spend time with Bubba and help my mom and visit Grandma Millie.

Grateful that she's not in any pain or discomfort. 

Grateful that she's at home where she's comfortable. 

Grateful that she was able to come out here and visit for 6-8 weeks at a time, 1-2 times per year and spend so much time with us and the kids. 

And I'm grateful that *I* got to be her granddaughter. 

So we're just getting back into the swing of things and taking each day as it comes. I'm sure the next couple of months will be a bit scattered for us. 

We'll still be doing Daffodil Days at Gilfillan Farm in April and I will still be doing sessions this year, just on a limited basis. I'll do my best to blog here and there, but that's another story all together. You might notice that I don't put a lot of personal information out here on the blog. What's so odd (in a funny way to anyone who knows me) is that I tend to be too open many times just in my normal conversations... like REALLY open... like many times I've started statements with "This is probably too much information, but..." and whatever is on my mind tends to come right out of my mouth. But I'm pretty quiet when it comes to blogging and facebook, etc. Weird, huh? 

Cheers, tm

p.s. here are some pictures of my Bubba...

UPDATE: Bubba passed away peacefully on April 9th, 2011. We held a Celebration of Life event the day before Mother's Day. My mom came here that week which was extra special since we haven't spent Mother's Day together since I left California to move overseas 16 years ago. 

 

 

 

Comments

[PamN]

Priceless images Tracy!