Sittin On A Porch

Sittin On A Porch
Our little back porch

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

An Early Christmas Present

I just had the best present I could ever hope for.  My cousin Ned, whom I have not seen for over 30 years commented on my blog, and gave me his email address.  Then he called me a few minutes ago and other then the fact that we asked a million questions about family, we talked as if we had talked last week instead of decades ago.  He sounds amazing.  He is married to a beautiful lady and has a 19 year old son and a 7 year old daughter who is gorgeous also.  Well, from the one picture I could see of them.  I am so happy to hear from him.  I don't have a big family and my parents were not into staying in contact with other members of the family so I grew up without much family around.  My Dad's only sibling, Dianne, came down each Christmas to visit her parents who lived near us.  And she would bring the three kids, Fred, Ned and Cara. 

Now we are all grown up.  Dad still lives in the same house he has for almost 60 years.  Dianne still lives in Indiana.  So it isn't that we are that hard to find.  And it doesn't sound like they have been moving around a lot either.  I don't care how many times I hear stories of people finding each other after, oh say, 30 years or so, and it always amazes me.  And now, here I have my own story.

Now to talk them into coming to visit us in Florida.  I played up the cancer, coughed a little and said that it isn't a good idea to wait too long.  Who knows how long I have.  Hey, that is all true.  Of course, I probably have way long enough for them to take their time getting here, but you never know.

This morning I woke up, turned the heater on in the house and wanted to just roll over and stay cozy and warm under my goose.  But I had to take Edna to the vets for her final visit about her skin, so I got up, took care of a few things around the house and then Edna and I headed off to the vets.  We had the same new young vet we had before, but she impressed me this time.  OK, she impressed me last time, and not in a good way.  But this time she seemed much more at home and I appreciated how she handled everything today.  Edna looks good, that is not just my opinion, that is also the vet's.  Maybe that is why I like her better.  So after a very successful visit we loaded up in the toy and headed home.  Just as the speed picked up as we left town, Edna looked at me and then emptied her stomach into my hat.  OK, I can clean that.  Oh, but no, she was not done.  She then continued being car sick all over the seats, but the worse was right down into the emergency brake.  I have no idea how I am going to clean that so the car does not smell like sick dog.  sigh.  She is so not a Labrador.  But she is a sweet pretty little girl and she is trying.  She really is.

So with the delay of trying to get the car some what cleaned up, I still had time to make it to Thomasville and the Y.  Then I got a call from Dad.  He fell yesterday.  He is fine, and he was able to get a hold of Rob who went over and get him up off the floor.  His knees are a little sore, and he cut his arm where his watch is when he went down, but for 86 he is lucky to be fine.  I know he is an adult, but it just scares me with him living alone like this.  He is just not stable on his own feet and I worry about him.  He is my Dad after all.

After the call with Dad I headed up to Thomasville and missed my yoga class by 15 minutes.  I could not walk into the class late.  So instead I ran errands then went to the Oncology Center to give blood.  I get to see the amazing Dr. M next week. 

I stopped at Lowe's on the way home and bought plastic to close in the back porch.  I want to put Christmas lights out there and hope that I can keep the porch above freezing.  That way I can keep the frost sensitive plants can be close where I can watch them.  I have a glass house I could put them in, but I have not cleaned that poor little place out in 2 years and I would need to clean it out to use it for this winter.  Also it is just in my back yard, but there are days that the only place I go is to the chicken coop.  I dislike the cold, but my only way to deal with it is to stay in the house.  I do not leave the house willingly when it gets below 60.  Shoot, below 70.  If I could move the chickens into the house I would.  But it is bad enough when they are peeps and I keep them in the bathtub, I am not having 11 grown chickens scratching around my house.  OK, I would if I had vinyl floors and could just hose the house out and then pour bleach everywhere.  I would do it just so I do not have to go outside into the cold.  Yes, I dislike cold that much.



This evening has been spent talking to family.  First Ned, then while I was talking to him, Rob called in with a video chat.  I put Ned on speaker phone, but I think it was difficult to hear each other.  But Rob's eyes got big and round and I thought they were going to pop out of his head.  Word ran through the family.  Rob called Tom, I spoke to Dad.  Then I went on facebook and requested to be Ned's, his wife, his sister and Mother to be friends on facebook.  So it has just been a regular Christmas family reunion.  And I love it.  I updated Ned on each of the family, as best as I knew and we laughed as we remembered the days as kids and visits to our shared grandparents. 

Now it is time to call it a night and head to bed.  To sleep, to rest, to dream, maybe about family.  Maybe about the holidays.  I don't care, as long as I get some rest.  Most of the side effects are from the meds.  But the tiredness is as much if not more from the cancer then anything else.  And it takes so much longer to get back on my feet.  So sweet sleep, good night, and sweet dreams. 

No comments:

Post a Comment