Catching Up

Well kids, it has been a little bit since I have posted. However, it has not been for lack of things occurring in the always intriguing world of Meghan. Less a day go by that something blog-worthy doesn't happen. It just so happens that the last few days have been somewhat technology constrained. I was regulated to dial-up access at my uncles' house. And man, how did we EVER live with that as a Internet option? Just checking an email took forever. Hell, I think my cell phone is faster. And then I ended up at my parents for a day or so. Their computer is totally on the fritz and ranks somewhere in the neighborhood of #826 on the priority list these days to fix.

So, back in the saddle I get with an update on the last few days in my little red-head world.

What, ask the screaming masses ( I imagine you all as screaming when I don't post for a day or so), have you oh teller of the urban legend been up to?

Headed up to Cedar Falls on Friday after work for my great-Aunts' 80th birthday party. It turned into a pseudo-family reunion due to all the people that actually came up, out and over for it. The party wasn't until Saturday so Friday night was spent in avid dedication to the consumption of all things grape and fermented. And consume we did. In fine fashion. I believe the count the morning after was 9 bottles between roughly 4 people. Which, by my math, and the maths and I were never very tight - taps out at roughly 2.25 bottles per person.

Well played. Well played indeed.

Of course, I have a large family.

Irish.

Catholic.

Drunks by the above snippet.

All things point towards many members of the family. With large family comes the always entertaining family dynamic. There is the crazy uncle from Maine, who along with being socially inept, will talk in an affected Irish brogue every now and then. And he was born in Iowa. There is the uncle who divorced his wife of like, 30 years about 10 years ago and has remarried to a drunk. My parents in all their dysfunctional glory. My aunt who just wants to keep everyone happy. You see how this becomes fodder for the mill. Its like a bloggers dream.

So the stories of the weekend:

• Meghan competing with her mother on Saturday morning to see whose liver would fail first, hers or mine from all the stinking wine.


• The aforementioned drunk step-aunt (is that right?) who was blotto by noon on Saturday -- and we still had to go to the actual birthday party that they drove 700 miles for. She was drinking straight gin out of a water glass that I thought was -- drumroll, water. Seems I was quite wrong.


• The group effort to cook lobster when no one had ever done so. Even the crazy uncle who lives in MAINE was clueless. Although in all fairness, I don't think he can afford lobster in any fashion, even in Maine.

It was as always, a joy to behold and mentally file away. There are a few pics posted on the Flickr account. Link, as always, to the left.

My Aunt's birthday party was great. One of those deals where of the 120 people in the room, I was related to like, 80 of them. And for once, I don't think I was exaggerating.

Then there is the always uplifting mom update. She came up on Thursday so she would have Friday to recover before going to the party on Saturday. She did fairly well on the ride up. Or so I am told. Over the course of the weekend however, my dad and I noticed several things that caused us concerns. Things she was doing herself the week before all the sudden became an issue; showering, getting dressed and even eating. The other thing was her spatial relationship to things. She would poke her fork at something on her plate, but miss it by like 2". The straw that broke the proverbial camels back was on Sunday when she fell. She had been laying down taking a nap, apparently needed to use the bathroom, tried on her own and didn't make it. So after a few intense conversations we decided to call the hospice on Sunday and see if they would move her assessment up to Monday when we got home. I took a few days off work and drove down to KC with them on Monday. Met with the nurse as a family. She was amazing. Really amazing. We now have a hospital bed in the living room and someone will be stopping by daily. I am not sure she is "really" that bad -- all things considered. But she clearly needs 24/7 care and we needed the help.

The gut punch of the weekend was Monday -- which was Patrick's birthday. We are sitting there going through all the hoops with the nurse. At one point, she is talking to my mom and asks her "Susan, is there anything I can do for you at this point?" My mom looks at her and says, "Make it go away" - the nurse replies, "The pain?" To which my mother said, "No, the cancer"

Queue the tears and a sobbing we will go. Lost it on that one.

So into this new phase we go. Somewhat ambivalent, a little scared and didn't think we would be here this quickly. But we are, so deal with it we must.

Sounds very Yoda-esque doesn't it?

Oh, and my parents insane friends built a ramp to our front door while we were gone and cleaned the ever-loving crap out of the house.

So there it is kids. Your update for the day. Enjoy. Ponder.

Now Listening: Passive Aggressive by Nicola Hitchcock