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Friday, August 06, 2004
I made it. The flight yesterday was relatively uneventful, although I spent the flight from Memphis to Knoxville sitting in front of someone whose life has been very very very affected by the Left Behind series, and she needs to talk about it right now. Had there not been a small screwup on the part of someone who couldn't read the row numbers, I would have been sitting next to her, listening to blah blah blah Rapturedoodles. I got on the plane late because I had twenty minutes to make my connection, and the Memphis airport is actually quite humid, so I pretty much had to swim to the correct concourse. I just grabbed an available seat in the next row. Bullet dodged. Honestly, I was already on edge from sitting next to Mme Elbowson from Jab County on the flight to Memphis, and I think that having to nod politely was just beyond my scope at that point.
Today my mom and I visited a yarn store (I got more Cascade 220, and did in fact get it wrapped into a ball on the store's machine...thanks go to whomever mentioned that little tip), and a seriously Christian lunch spot. Scripture painted on the wall, staff in Born Again t-shirts, bibles and devotional books slipped next to the napkin dispenser on every table, and the best curry chicken salad I have ever had. I can't imagine the place existing in the bay area, and not just because my lunch was $3.99. It's interesting being in a place where religion is more out in front. It's not good or bad...just interesting.
The best thing about being married to a writer is that I get really nice love notes in my email box when I'm away. I miss the Dennis.
I saw my grandmother today. She was having a good day, and was relatively present. The hardest thing (ok, not THE hardest) is that there's nothing that really brings her pleasure. There's nothing that any of us can do to make a difference for her. My grandfather loves my mom's chocolate cake, for example, and when we brought him home after dinner tonight, he playfully waved the empty Ziploc at my mom as he took his last piece out of the freezer. So tomorrow, she will get up and make cake and wrap up single servings and take them to his freezer. There's no way to take care of my grandmother in a similar fashion. Her skin is so fragile she can barely be touched. She has compression fabric tubes on her arms and legs to protect her from the everyday handling of the staff.
My grandfather actually looks pretty good, considering he's going to be 89 in a few months. He was out in his woodshop "making sawdust" this morning before he went over to see his wife. He stays through the afternoon (mom says sometimes she comes in and he is snoring away in the chair while grandma snores away in her bed), and helps her eat dinner. There's so much tenderness there.
Tomorrow we're going to run around, go to another yarn shop and some thrift stores. I haven't thrifted in months, so I'm lookiing forward to that, especially since I always have better thrift karma when I'm out of the bay area. My dad will be able to hang out with us since he doesn't have to work. He's a part-time Red Shirt at Target. I think it's as much about being out of the house as it is about supplementing his pension and SS check. My parents moved down here to take care of my grandparents and have been absorbed with that since day one, so they don't really have a local network. I worry about them.
Oh, and happy 14th birthday to ubercool niece Sarah!
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