I try to keep this blog tilted toward writing and not personal things, even though it started out as personal way back when. But… things have been hard for about a month and a half now and I just have to share it somewhere.

First off, my mom lost her battle with Alzheimer’s and end-stage renal failure on September 16th. She died at my sister’s house, attended by hospice nurses, and with my dad, her husband of just 60 years, by her side. My sister insisted on hospice at her home so my dad could spend unlimited amounts of time with her; because of COVID, the nursing home would allow only two half-hour visits a day. Not acceptable.

We held her visitation and funeral on September 26th. It was both sad and joyous, but when that casket closed, my dad broke down. My youngest brother insists it broke him. And he told my oldest brother that he wasn’t going to be around much longer. We didn’t know how right he was.

On September 30th, my dad went in for a long-scheduled procedure. Within hours of the surgery, he developed sepsis and was admitted to the hospital. He’d had issues with congestive heart failure and the septic shock on his liver and kidneys made things far worse. He was put on a ventilator early on and, despite some aggressive treatment from the hospital, did not improve. We eventually made the decision to remove life support. He died on October 5. His funeral is October 17th.

And, as if to prove bad things come in threes, just yesterday, Son #1 was hit by a car while walking to work. He is currently in ICU with a damaged knee, broken arm, and a brain bleed. Right now he’s had surgery on the knee. He’s alert; he’s texting me, and his housemate is keeping me updated.

Right now I’m reconsidering whether or not to do the ML thing again. There has been so much lately and I don’t think I’ll have the emotional energy to do my best at it. I won’t make any decision until after the funeral, at least. But Son #1 will need rehab, I think, and if he does, he might want to do it near family. It’ll be his call.

I will be waiting for 2020 to end very soon. After November 3rd, if possible.