Thread Drift

[Crankin]

Yes, I suppose you could call my dad a character. Both of my parents were slightly unconventional for their time, when I think of it. One of my dad's fondest dreams was to visit back in Boston, with a cowboy hat and bolo tie on, when he got off of the plane. He did get to do this one year, when he came to join my mom and brother, who went to the Cape every year with my mom's family, after they moved to Az, and later, California. Unfortunately, when the shoe manufacturing business went south (literally) and then overseas, our familys' business closed. My dad worked for several years in the wholesale food business in Phoenix, which was great fun, in that I often got to go to restaurant openings, at a time when I couldn't afford to eat in any of them! But, once they moved to San Diego, which they loved, things were really bad for them, with a few good years in between. Although it was awesome to have family in San Diego when I lived in AZ, so I could escape the heat, in retrospect, they picked up and moved really quickly, when my dad lost his job in Az. If they had waited a little bit, even, I think things may have been different.

[redrhodie]

Thank you all for the support. I really appreciate the kind words.

[SheFly]

Red - so sorry to read about the loss of your brother. Losing brothers is hard, regardless. Thinking of you.

Crankin - sorry to read about your dad. I do hope that you and your brother manage to maintain a relationship. You don't realize how important it is until, one day, it isn't there anymore.

Hugs to all.

SheFly

[snapdragen]

Oh my goodness. I just nuked a spammer that had 172 moderated threads on the forum! Have I told you how much Jeff and Susan rock, they added a really cool feature for the Mods called Spam O Matic. It's awesome, and stops sooooo many nasty spams from ever going public.

[emily_in_nc]

{{{{{Red}}}}}}} & {{{{{{Crankin}}}}}}}}

We just spent 10 days with DH's parents, who are, somewhat amazingly, both still alive in their mid-80s and married for 62 years. Dad is on 17 medications but is in remarkably good health, considering. He's frazzled, though, and tired a lot, because he's having to take care of Mom, who has dementia (they think vascular rather than Alzheimer's, but it's still bad). Glad we could be there and help them in their yard, on Dad's computer, and around the house, plus recycling load after load of junk mail and magazines that build up between our visits as Mom throws nothing away, and has no filter on what is important to save vs. not important. We found checks and cash mixed in with sweepstakes entries, charity appeals, and other junk.

Families are tough.

[Pax]

Hugs to all who are hurting.

Snap - that is a cool thing, I remember dealing with spammers when I admin'd and moderated on different forums, it was exhausting.

[Crankin]

I decided to go out to San Diego in a couple of weeks. Just a short visit, arrive Sat. night, coming back on a Wednesday. This way, my brother will have the days off so I can really get to see him and my dad. Things are moving along. My dad is still in the rehab, doing much better with mobility. His prognosis is about 6 months to a year. He had one day of being really upset, but more with medical staff that weren't being honest with him. My brother is working with Jewish Family Services, to help with hospice placement and he said they are wonderful. In the course of our conversations, I've found out a lot of other stuff (about my brother, not my dad), which is good. Hoping my son can come down for a couple of hours, too, but if it doesn't happen, it's ok, as we will be back in August for my DIL's graduation.
I know a lot of people think I'm way too pragmatic about this, but really, I didn't expect my dad to live forever, although I didn't expect this type of illness. His mom died at age 91, while playing Bingo in Florida. We kind of thought he would be the same. Moral of the story is, don't smoke, and if you do, try to quit!