Friday, October 25, 2013

Reunion and Birthdays

Our high school graduating class celebrated our 40th recently.   Hog Man and I graduated from the same school, same class,  etc.  It makes it simple to go to class reunions.  We had lots of fun.  Some people hadn't hardly changed at all.  Others had changed some but I still knew who they were.  Others I had to read their name tag!  I hadn't seen some of our class mates since we had graduated.  I had reconnected with some via facebook and have connected with more since the reunion.  I was visiting with one gal who had moved down around Brownwood right after high school.  I told her our daughter in law was originally from Brownwood.  She asked what her maiden name was.  Turns out she knows Angie's folks.  Small world!  

We used the weekend of the reunion to do some more work at Mother's house.  We took down all the family pictures and boxed them up.  We located all the photo albums and boxes of photos.  Our DD Amanda drove down and helped out.  Lots of sorting.  Lots more to do.  I brought all the photos home with me for safe keeping and for storing.   Several of us had lost parents this past year.  One gal lost both her parents within a few weeks.  

I was clearing out our answering machine the other day and ran across a message from Mother.  I left it.  I thought it would be nice to hear her voice sometime.  I've been going through a very low time.  I guess it's part of the grieving process.  I have no interest in sewing, quilting, etc.  I know the urge will return in time.  Everything has a season.  

Hog Man and I are also celebrating our birthdays.  Our birthdays are only three days apart.  So tomorrow we will have the family over and cook some good food and have a wonderful time all together.   Psssst----
Hog Man celebrates a big one.  But I'm not telling.  LOL


Blessings,
Catering Quilter

Friday, October 04, 2013

Game Changers

I looked at my husband the other day in the car as we were traveling on I-20 back again to San Angelo and said this is a "game changer".  Let me explain.  We had taken my mother to the audiologist for her hearing early in September.  It was determined her current hearing aids could not be adjusted enough to give her the range she needed.  She purchased new ones.  In ten days the new ones should be in.  Just like clock work they called.  We made to trip.  When we got to her house I knew something wasn't right.  She wasn't sitting in her recliner waiting for us.  The house was very quiet.  Lights were on throughout the house.  I didn't want to startle her so I waited a few minutes to see if she would come walking out of her bedroom.  When she didn't I went in and her bathroom light was on.  I peeked in and she was sitting on the toilet.  I turned away.  But in that one glance I knew something was wrong.  I looked again and knew she wasn't doing well.  I helped her get dressed and let her to powder her face.  She walked into the den but was very weak.  I got her blood pressure machine and she started telling me she couldn't get it to register earlier.  Her batteries were out.  I got new ones and knew then what was wrong.  Her blood pressure was very low.  She stood up and would have fallen if I had not caught her.  We called the ambulance.  At the hospital they determined she was having heart issues.  She was transferred to a larger hospital.  They did a heart cath stat.  The doctor came out and was talking heart by-pass.  After what the Ballinger hospital told us I knew she might not be healthy enough for that.  Kidney failure and weak heart.  I questioned the doctor about that.  He called in a surgeon.  The surgeon determined she would not survive the operation.  We were told she probably would not make it out of the hospital.  Pow! That's a game changer.  All our plans were changed in a blink of an eye. 

That was Friday.  I called my sister who lives out of state.  She made arrangements to fly in.  She arrived the next afternoon.  She had started improving on Monday.  Since she was doing better and my sister was there Hog Man and I went home to take care of some things.  He had an appointment with some pig buyers on Tuesday.  It was so nice to have a couple of days out of the hospital.  My sister called and said that Mother had been moved out of ICU on Tuesday morning.  She had plans to fly out on Wednesday.  So we planned to drive back Wednesday evening.  My sister left the hospital around 11:30am to drive back to Abilene to catch her flight out.  We were almost to Mineral Wells around 1pm and the hospital called.  Mother had taken a turn for the worse.  The doctor called around 1:30pm then at 2:30pm they called to say she had passed.  Needless to say that was a major game changer.   My mother always wanted to do things on her own terms.  They had been talking to my sister while I was gone about arranging for a nursing home.  Mother and I had been talking about moving her near me.  She didn't want to move.  So she got her wish. 

Her funeral was Saturday.  It poured rain.  I was grateful for all of those who turned out for her funeral in spite of the weather.  It was a nice service and she had such a peaceful look on her face.  We had found a picture of her when she was a very young woman and asked them to put it on a pedestal beside her casket.  She was a very pretty woman. 

We began to go through my mother's things.  My sister and I and our husbands.  We found lots of pictures.  Baby hair.  A special signature quilt that I brought home with my relatives names that dates probably 1947.  Much, much more.  Lots that needs to be shredded and lots that needed throwing out.  She didn't throw away anything!  It has sure made me think about my own house.  LOL  Then it was time for all of us to get back to the schedules of our lives. 

While we were in the area we had a joyous occasion.  Hog Man's mother celebrated her 80th birthday.  After seeing the signature quilt I decided I would make her a signature quilt in celebration of her special birthday.  She had some muslin left over from a project so I prepared it with freezer paper backing and got those in attendance signatures.  I will mail out pieces to relatives who couldn't come.  It will be a special quilt. 

My emotions and physical body have been through a roller coaster.  It has taken me days to feel rested and back to normal.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose a spouse or a child.  I can honestly say I have more sympathy and understanding than I did before.  Isn't that how God shows us things?  I felt His presence the entire time.  It was amazing to me how strong I was.  It wasn't until I got home that I let down and felt the weight.  God is so good and so loving. 

Glory to His name and blessings to you,
Catering Quilter