It has been too long since I posted my thoughts and adventures. I will 'catch up' here and now.
The end of August, I flew to AZ. Drove my Dad from the hospital in Phoenix home to Yuma. I helped Dad get settled in at home. He had been away from his home for 130 days. Mom had a lot to do to get things back in order. We got home health care set up for two weeks, as well as two weeks of home rehab for Dad. Their church brought in meals every other day for two weeks, and that was great since there were usually a lot of leftovers for another meal.
We started the long and very stressful job of sorting out years of paperwork, files, bookshelves, cupboards, etc. We are going to move Dad and Mom to the NW to be nearer 4 of their children who live here. Mom needs some help and 1500 miles is just too far for any of us to be able to give them the help they need on a regular basis. Anyway, we gave an enormous pile of 'goodies' to the mission, two very large boxes of books to their church, lots of knick knacks to the AWANA store at church, and still had several large trash cans full of garbage that went out. It is amazing how much a person accumulates over 57 years of marriage. It was very difficult for Dad to pare down his treasures, but I got him a huge box for all the things he could not part with. He spent hours reading old letters, newspaper clippings, and lots of things he had saved.
Mom and I spent hours going thru old photo albums that had lost all their 'stickum'. We threw away hundreds of photos of scenery that no one knew where it was taken. I put all the photos of us six kids in piles and we sent them to the appropriate sibling. We had such fun laughing at the way we all used to look. We honestly thought we looked good with those awful hairdos! It was a time of nostalgia and reminiscence. Mom kept all her albums of all the wonderful cruises they took over the years. Those will be for the "remember when" times.
I was blessed to be able to be with Mom as she celebrated her 80th Birthday on September 3. She was given a delicious carrot cake, which we enjoyed for days. And lots of beautiful flowers. Barb gave her 2 dozen mixed roses that were stunning! It was a lovely birthday.
Now that I am home, I have spent days looking for an appropriate place for Mom and Dad to live in. It must have no stairs, and that is a problem. Most of the nice apartments that are ground level have an enormous waiting list. Literally years in some cases. There are just a lot of seniors that can not use stairs and not enough places for them to live. I finally found a little duplex that is ground level. It is in a nice, quiet, residential neighborhood in McMinnville. I think it will be perfect for them for a few years or until they need to have more care.
So this is a time of transition. Mom and Dad will be transitioning to life in the NW and being close to their children and grandchildren (and two great grandchildren). And I will be transitioning to a life where involvement with aging parents will be a regular part of my week.
I look forward to having them closer, so that holidays will be shared with them. And I am very thankful that I am able to help them in this 'winter' season of their lives. It will be exciting to see how God blesses our family having Mom and Dad here.
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