Good, Good, and Ugly

Hey, Amanda.

I'm feeling so out of touch with you!... I wonder what's going on with J, didn't realize things were not going very well (volatile I think you called it) with M, you threw me for a loop about going to an AA meeting, and I'm curious if this visit from your parents is the one your mom decided to take to check in with your brother after the conversation you had with them in California. Quite a list of things I need more details about, girlfriend, wouldn't you say?

Not much to report here, although I should fill you in on W's mom and D's visit. Oh, and my uncle is in rehab now so that's a good thing too. I'll get more details when I take my cousin D to chemo on Tuesday, but just knowing he's out of the hospital and in a rehab facility is huge. He spent 5 (6?) weeks in a medically induced coma and  2  in a step down unit, and things were pretty uncertain at times, but finally he's in rehab. Definitely good news, although a long road ahead. He went in for heart surgery and came out with a colostomy bag and on dialysis. Whoa.

D's visit was great. She arrived at lunch time on Saturday; after three days here (S, S, M) we headed to Boston on Tuesday morning. We stayed overnight (got a late check out) and she flew home at 4:45 from Boston. It would have been nice to have another day, but because it gave us enough time to hang out here and visit Boston, it ended up being perfect. We had plenty of time just the two of us, visited with my parents, visited with L (she came up for a girls' day: pool time followed by dinner out) and then got a chance to see W in Boston too. (OMG I also saw J--yes, That J, while I was shopping and D was napping...more on that later.) Really, it was a perfect vacation for D--and for me.

As you know, W's mom passed away on Monday...and the services--all of them: viewing, service, burial--are today. Amanda, it has been a week of bickering, a dysfunctional family fiasco. I just want for it to be over for him, for all of them, so they can actually mourn and learn to be without her. I want to talk to W and know he is sad, not just pissed off at yet another thing or person in his family Really. It's been crazy. I'm not attending (easier for me not to be there and need to be taken care of/introduced/ in the way) and am okay with that. I offered and was willing, of course, but W and I decided that what's most important is getting through this with his family, and I agree. Honestly, after the way the week played out, I'm happy to be distant from it.

I think the J story is better told in conversation so you can insert all the OMGs and questions you want as I tell all the details as I remember them...so I'll wait for us to have a chance to talk. I'm poolside today (okay, now I feel awful that I'll be working on a tan while W is burying his mother), and around tomorrow and Monday. Monday night I'm sleeping at D's, Tuesday is chemo, and Wednesday afternoon I head to Newport. I'll have my cell though and alone time, so if we can't catch up in the next couple of days, maybe we can talk then.

Hope you're hanging in there...Miss you!

Love,
Barb