Friday, June 03, 2011

Finding A Smile While Up In The Air

Well here I am still hanging in there.

Tom reminded me today that we can't move out of state until he gets a different kind of health insurance-- Independent Health only works in New York state. Oh joy. So he may have to do the disability thing which means we'll be in NY longer and have to go through all that paperwork. Oh joy again.

But you know? I'm ok with that, even if we need to rent another one bedroom apartment for awhile. Still (still!) I have such lovely memories of our apartment life in 2008. I'm so YBO'd right now (Yard-Burned-Out) that I'd choose an apartment in a heartbeat (confession time here).

But we shall see what we shall see. Never before has our life been so up in the air.

Anyway, I didn't tell you yet that the same day our friend, Sandy, passed away, Tom's mom had a heart attack and nearly died. And oh dear, was she upset after they rescusitated her! She wants only to go to Heaven. Tom's dad wants only to remain in their little house even though his wife will now live with their daughter (Tom's sister) around 90 miles away. (Mary is a nurse and lives in a larger town with better medical facilities.)

Are we having fun yet?

But I do want to end this on a funny note (Lord knows you and I can use some humor right about now.) Various relatives and friends are now helping Tom's dad as he's living alone and recently our brother-in-law took his turn making dinner for Tom's dad. Remember my post about eating only hamburger baskets when I turn 80? Well his story, as told by him in an email, reminded me of that post:


"Dad eats some unhealthy food. I cooked for him the first couple of days, filet mignon, veggies, and fresh fruit, and he asked me to pick up some Frosted flakes cereal and white bread so he could prepare his own meals. Diabetes and all...Go figure."


Ha! Tom and I laughed and laughed about that for a half hour. It's a new family joke. A true classic.

And gracious! Tom's dad is 84 and if I make it to 80--believe you me--I'm gonna eat whatever I darn well please. Every day. Hamburgers, fries, ice cream, spaghetti, potato chips, chocolate by the gallon, hot dogs, cake and anything else I can think of along those lines. And I'm gonna savor every single bite.

In my book, anyone who reaches 80 deserves to eat however they choose. (Just one of my quirks, I guess you could say.)

So there. :)



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6 comments:

Rita said...

Your posts are honest, interesting and fun. I love reading them. Thanks!

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

I am so sorry to hear about Tom's mother. I hope she will be well, and everything work out well...

You sound a little overwhelmed. Take a day off. No yard work. Just rest and do whatever makes you feel calm and well.

There is a church near us which has a youth group which is raising money by having some of the teen age boys in it do yard work for very reasonable prices. I wonder if you could find anything like that to help you out.

Judy said...

So sorry to hear about your MiL. But one just MUST laugh. MUST. My dad's standing joke was to tell us not to worry about his eating salted peanuts, as he licked all the salt off before he ate them.

jodi said...

My mother-in-law is eating Dove bars and starlight mints whenever she gets hungry. My husband told her to add a little protein to it and he didn't care. She is 88.

Pat said...

I so agree with you about reaching eighty and eating what you want. My mother was still watching her waistline and counting calories in her eighties, refusing to buy ice cream because she didnt want to be fat. I wish she would have had a dish of ice cream...just once or twice.

Anonymous said...

Hope things will go ok for your in-laws. The ending of life can be full of difficult choices. Yea, my dad would not let my mom eat a lot of things she loved the last few years...was not good for her blood sugar...she undoubtedly would have preferred to have eaten them and perhaps left sooner. But she was totally dependant upon him as her caregiver and we children could not do anything.
Hope your house will sell ere too long. If the photo at the top of your blog is of your place, it is very pretty this time of year!!
Blessings, Elizabeth in NC