Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dispatches from the Home Front - Monday the 18th

A steady rain washed away thoughts of hitting the park first thing in the morning. Instead, we bided our time with breakfast, Little Mermaid, and drawing pictures for Ama, until it was time to head out. The morning plan was to meet high school friends of mine in Gilroy, about 45 minutes away but near a bunch of premium outlet stores. So we meandered the shops for awhile until it was time to head for my friends' place.

It was nice to catch up with old friends and meet their kids; my, how strange it was to reunite, only to talk about things like disciplining strategies and school choices. Alas, I wish I could've stayed longer; but I was glad we could marshal everyone together, if only for a few hours.

We made a beeline home and, once babysitters arrived, I was off to the hospital to see my mom one more time. She looked noticeably better, on account of having gotten a reasonably good night's sleep. She's done with her antibiotics treatment and slowly working her way towards longer stints without a ventilator. Hopefully, she'll be strong enough to be able to go straight to a sub-acute facility near my parents' house; if she needs slightly more intensive care than that, the best facility is a good 45 minutes away.

Even though my mom couldn't say but one or two whispers of words and otherwise scrawled a few words on a board for me, it was nice to "converse" with her. I would've stayed longer, but my dad called me from home: he had left the hospital to go grocery shopping when I got there, but when he got home, Jada thought it was me and since it wasn't, she started crying inconsolably.

I was ten or so minutes from leaving anyway, so I prayed with my mom, said my goodbyes, and zipped home. Jada was fine once I got home and assured her I was going to come back. We did baths, had dinner, read bedtime stories, and put her to bed extra early so she would be ready for our early start and travel hustle tomorrow.

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