I was hoping for a more uplifting posting for my first real post, but this is the way the muse took me....
Early October started out really well for us. Debbie & I were
pretty excited that we were going to Vegas (Baby!) on the 7th. We were
staying at
Paris for the
first time (We're trying to stay at all the top casinos and then work
our way to the others). Paris is a pretty place. I like it. I even
talked to some people
from Paris, France that said they liked it too.
So, here's where the Speed Bump Of Life (tm) comes in. The day before
we left, my sister called me and told me that my step mother had a
brain aneurism and was in the hospital. I could almost hear the mental
screeching of tires as all my cool plans in Vegas were overshadowed by
all my concerns for my step mother, my father and my step brother.
All I could think of was questions:
- What's my dad going to do if she doesn't make it?
- What's
my dad going to do if she DOES make it? (there are almost always
debilitating side effects to aneurisms which require extra care)
- How is my step brother going to handle this?
- Why do I keep calling him my "step" brother when I really don't want to?
- What are they going to do for the (upcoming) holidays?
- Did
my dad have life insurance on her? (I'm not sure what this says about
me, but my mind thinks of everything at once, emotional and rational)
- and on and on and on...
Since there was nothing we could do (my step mother was still
unconscious), Debbie & I decided to go on our vacation anyway.
We tried to have fun in Vegas. We even went shopping and I did pick up the world's coolest shirt from
Kenneth Cole in the
Venetian. My wife was shocked that I liked it because it's apparently pink. I will try to post a pic of me wearing it a little later.
Anyway, even though we spent lots of money, I still didn't have a great
time. I was worried about my step mother and the family. On Saturday
the 9th, my father and
step brother decided to remove
the ventilator and allow my step mother to die. Telling a doctor "Hey
Doc. Let my wife die." has to be one of the hardest things for a person
to do. I don't ever want to have to make that kind of decision for
another person. It makes me hope, selfishly, that I die first so I
don't have to do that to my wife.
So, we flew home, slept, did
some laundry and got in the car and drove to Maine. We spent a long
weekend in Camden, Maine, capped off by the funeral services on
Saturday. One lighter part of the trip was that we got to see/hear
Chad Hollister, a friend of my
step brother's who we first met in Mexico. He is a fun musician, I recommend seeing him if he ever gets to your town.
Then I drove the hellacious 600 miles back on Sunday. Back to work, back to daily life, back to our cool cat, Fred.
So, the wheel of life keeps on turning, and we all just ride it for
what it's worth. I invited my father down for Thanksgiving this year.
Hopefully, he'll come down. We all know how hard it is during the
holidays when you've lost a loved one.
My next post will be happier, I promise!