6 posts tagged “family”

Today we took out Mike's stand up paddle board and put it to good use on the Mississippi. Mike decided to attach a handle to a rope and the rope to his dad's boat. Then he let the boat pull him, kinda like water skiing. You should have seen the looks we got from people! LOL.

There was some falling in the water...but it's all in good fun :) Eventually we got my son on the board with his daddy and they went slow behind the boat.

I even got a turn on the board but wasn't brave enough to stand...just follow behind on my knees. It was a blast and I can't wait to get better so I can stand behind the boat and play in the wake.

I love living in Minnesota and playing in the Mississippi! This is one of the reasons I could never see myself leaving the midwest and going back to California. I love where I grew up and I do miss it from time to time...but it's a different lifestyle. This is exactly where I am supposed to be :)

Oy vey.

This has been a pretty insane year. Half way through it I look back and with a sigh pray to God the rest of the year goes just as fast so we can start again. I'd love a redo at this point.

My dad continues to have heart troubles. Things have seemed to have stalled and we're still at the "do surgery or not do surgery" point. I am feeling blessed that things are not getting worse. I'm not sure I could handle it.

My husband went in for an end to end urethraplasty. It sounds as horrible as it is. Basically, they had to remove part of the tubing and put it back together again. He was on bed rest for almost 2 weeks after and in lots of pain. The catheder is out but he's still very sore.

My father-in-law went in for a heart cath and they were just gong to look around...but they found a blockage that closed off 95% of his main artery. They said it was not IF but WHEN he had a heart attack, it would have been devistating. He had a stint inserted today and SHOULD be out of the hospital tomorrow.

Finally, my mom just emailed me with the news that my Aunt has just been diagnosed with throat cancer. Same thing my grandfather had that killed him. She's been told they can't operate on it and it is basically incureable. They did tell her they would try radiation and chemo but after seeing what that did to my grandfather, she's not sure she wants to do that. I'm not sure how long she would have otherwise, but it wouldn't be a guarentee. I could hear the pain my mother was going through in the email and I thank God I'll be there soon to comfort her. My mom is 4 years younger than my aunt but they are VERY close. This is not going to be easy for my mom...or for the family.

Too many medical issues this year. I'm ready for some good news. My best friend was out last week and it recharged me with some positive energy. I get to see my parents and family this weekend so that will help too. It always amazes me how bad news just seems to be followed by more bad news. The saying "when it rains, it pours" is exactly the way things have been going. I'm looking for a little sunlight and perhaps even a rainbow! 

This weekend I learned how to make bath poofs :) We have family in town. It has been fun chillaxin with them when I'm not crocheting like a nerd. Sometimes I wish we lived close to more family. Sometimes.

Red bath poof

Everyone just woke up so this will be a shorter blog than expected. I was busy catching up and lost time and now there's not time to really post.

I'm in Arizona. I've been here since Friday and we're having a blast. My mom, sister, and I are at my Aunt Judy's house. Last night we went to a wedding reception for my cousin which was BEAUTIFUL! It was so great to see her and her new husband and hang out. It was also fun to hang out with other cousins. I talked to some I had never really gotten to know...it's this age gap thing (they're all 20 years older than me) but that's closing the older I get.

I talked a little to Mike yesterday and I'm so glad I'm not there camping. Nathan was covered in chocolate and very grumpy. I needed a break from all things grumpy and sticky!

Today we're going to see my Aunt Lori's new house. Her and her husband David just bought a new house at the other end of Tempe. I'm excited not just to see the house but hang out with everyone together again today. This is very much the FUN side of the family.

I'm back home on Tuesday. Not sure when I'll be on here again. Tomorrow we go back to Laughlin and hopefully I'll get to see my dad for a few hours before leaving Tuesday morning. I miss that crazy bugger.

Easter weekend was nice but it wasn’t near long enough. We went to Michigan to see Mike’s family, both sides live out there. We got in about 3 a.m. on Friday morning after a long drive in and fell asleep immediately. We were so tired.

Friday was busy. I went with Mike’s mom to visit G-ma (her mom, we call her G-ma as a pet name Mike gave her when he was a teenager. She was dancing to his rap music pretending to be a rap artist. He called her G-ma and it stuck.). G-ma is very ill and let us know she was going to the doctor soon for suspected Cancer in her womanly parts. Not sure where, but her blood doctor (she has some form of blood cancer too) recommended she see a gyno-oncologist as soon as possible to get tests done. She’s had an amazing amount of infections lately in her lower GI track so to have this now is very hard for her. She’s just falling apart day by day and fights to live less and less. She’s 83 and at this point is just hoping the journey home to Heaven is quick and painless. We know she doesn’t have much time left so we’re praying she gets her wish.

Nate and G-ma

Nathan was a doll with her. They had a ton of fun playing with her old buttons (funny how random things grandparents have in their closets are the most fun to play with) and sorting them by color and size. It was special for her to spend some time with him and for him too. I don’t know if the chance will ever come up again.

Saturday morning we went to breakfast with the Looman family; Mike’s dad’s family. It was good to see them but after we ate breakfast we left. I think we saw them for all of an hour before it was time to leave.

We went to Fredrick Meijer Garden’s after breakfast with more family (Mike’s mom’s side again). We saw the butterfly exhibit. They had just hatched and it was so cool to have hundreds of different butterflies swarming around us. I wore yellow and even had a few land on me thinking I was a flower. It was cool. Nathan had a blast running around and acting cute. His cousin Emily came (she’s about 15) and watched Nathan most of the time. He called her “my friend” and loved having someone completely devoted to watching him. Such a ham!

Emily and Nathan

Silly Face!

So pretty!

That night, Tanya and Jeff went out with some friends so we just hung out for a nice evening at home. It was nice to just relax.

Sunday we went to breakfast with Mike’s mom’s family. Again, eating and visiting isn’t very easy and the time went by quickly. Mike and I left after about an hour and started our drive home. Lucky for us it only took 7 hours (normally 9 or so) to get home. We did a little picking up but we were ready to get to sleep and start another work week.

I’m happy we went but it makes a long weekend doing a turn around trip like that. It’s good to be home but I wish we had more time to spend with everyone.

It’s a rare occasion when I’m too busy or bummed out to blog. It does happen from time to time and it seems to me I’m going through it right now.

Mike has been working so much overtime that I feel like I never get to see him. It’s just in passing or right before bed that we talk, and just for a minute about the small things before we pass out. If he is home, I’m not. If I’m home, he’s not. Sometimes that’s just the way it works and that’s how it’s going to work for much of the late winter and spring time.

I’m going to certification in two weeks! I’m so excited and so apprehensive about the whole thing. It’s a life changing experience because I’ll be certified in something that’s very important to my career. I’ll have a lot of options once I’m certified and the really cool thing is I like where I’m at. I don’t really need options right now, but, if anything ever goes wrong, I’ll have them.

I booked my flight and hotel and I’ll be by myself for 5 days and 4 nights in a new and exciting place. I’ve always hoped I would find myself in a position like this and it’s awesome to be here. I’m going to miss Nathan and Mike but it’s not like that will keep me from going. If it gets rough I’ll just have to remember this is for them too. The more I know about my job the more in demand I become.

Before certification I’m leaving for California. My best friend’s mom passed away. We might be far apart but my heart is already with her. My flight leaves tonight actually. I’m excited to be seeing my parents and my best friend but the circumstances are difficult. I’ve never had a parent pass away. Other than being so incredibly sorry for the situation…there’s just no words to say. I can only hope being there helps.

So, since I’m not going to be in the office much I’m working like crazy and getting things done before I leave and trouble shooting things that might come up. Once things calm down I’ll be blogging more often.