Grandmother passed away

It snowed the day my grandmother passed away.  Not a lot, but enough to look pretty.  My mom called early that morning, but the phone didn’t wake my up.  It was January 17, 2016, almost a year after my grandmother had gotten sick.  I stood outside watching the snow fall as my mom told me that at the age of 92 my grandmother had left this world. Thankfully, she passed peacefully in her sleep, never having to endure enough pain to require medicine.

At 91 years old, her body had started giving out.  Congestive heart failure began to set in and the fibrosis in her lungs began to advance.  She was soon placed on home oxygen and remained on it until she died.  However, even with her failing health she remained in her home.  She took care of herself as long as she could, using a walker to move around and keeping her mind occupied with knitting and watching TV.  Her friends would call her daily and she would light up talking to them.

As her illness progressed my mother and uncle began staying with her.  After a while, they would need to be there 24 hours a day.  My mom taking the days, and my uncle staying at night.  Still, my grandmother refused to leave her home.  My cousin and my father would eventually stay with her occasionally to give my mom and uncle time off.

Even through it all, when various family members, myself included, would go to visit she was in good spirits.  She would occasionally become depressed and wish that the Lord would take her.  She tired of fighting and tired of “being a burden”.  Everyone would tell her that she wasn’t a burden though.  Because everyone loved her.

She was sweet and kind and funny and loved spending time with her loved ones.  She was the nice old lady that strangers would buy her lunch for her just because she had a nice smile.  And at 91, she would still drive herself to a little dinner for lunch and to church on Sundays.  She was also a straight shooter and told it how it is all the time.  But she would also know that no matter what, things would be okay and would often be heard saying, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

She was an amazing woman.  She helped raise me and looked after my when my parents had to work.  She divorced my biological grandfather due to his alcoholism.  She raised her two children as well as her own sisters.  She eventually married the man I would consider my grandfather.  He would take me fishing and when he developed heart problems I would go to the mall with him early in the mornings to walk.  In the afternoon she and I would watch Perry Mason, The Andy Griffith Show and Wheel of Fortune.  She was smart too.  She read more than anyone else I’ve ever known, aside from maybe my mother.

I’m going to miss her.  Everyone that was blessed enough to know her is going to miss her.

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Long time…

I guess it’s been a bit longer than I had planned.  A lot has happened over the last few years.  Jenna and I divorced; we abandoned the house; we filed for bankruptcy; I reconnected with some old friends; I met a girl; and I took a trip to Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland (partly with my cousin and partly solo). Now, a little more than a year after meeting, I’m getting ready to move in with that new girl. Hopefully over the coming months I’ll start posting a bit more, about the trip, about the girl, and about our adventures together.

Boring

There isn’t really anything to report.  Nothing that good anyway and I don’t really feel like writing about the bad.  The house is still on the market and we’ve lowered the price about $50K.  We have had more showings in the last week than we have in the last several months though so maybe something will finally give.  We are having an open house on the 15th of this month so maybe our buyer will find and fall in love with the house then.

Nothing eventful happened this summer.  No trips.  No vacations.  Mostly just work and more work for me, and work and school for Jenna.  My uncle retired from UPS which was the excitement for the family.  But boring can be good.  Right?

Death in the family

Just thought I would take a moment and mention that Jenna’s aunt passed away Thanksgiving morning.  She had been fighting cancer in various forms for a long time.  This last round left her very sick and undernurished for a while and while in the hospital she was receiving IV nutrients.  They also decided to install a feeding tube which cause her to reflux and aspirate into her lungs.  Unfortunately she was not strong enough to undergo sugery to clean out her lungs and passed the following morning.  She will be missed.

FML

I think yesterday qualifies for worst day ever.  I get up, get ready for work, go out to my car, put the key in the ignition and… nothing.  Car won’t start.  So I call a tow truck.  Luckily the guy is able to get it started and I take it directly to the shop.  So, $400 later I have a new starter in the car.  I get to work 2 hrs late, deal with the usual idiots and then Jenna calls.  Turns out her work is laying off about 25 people and she has to awesome fortune to be one of them.  The good thing is that they gave about 2 months notice.  So she will be out of a job in June and finishes school in July.  Hopefully it won’t be hard for her to find a job after July.  So, after all this I go into work at the theater and Jenna calls to let me know that she cannot drive her car (which she picked up from the shop a couple days ago) because none of the rear lights work.  Well, the turn signals work.  But there are no tail lights and no break lights.  Which means it’s illegal for her to drive and extremely unsafe.  So, back to the shop it goes! 

Thank You Easter Bunny! Bark! Bark!

Okay, so maybe the Easter Bunny didn’t come to our house this year because we weren’t so well behaved, or maybe he didn’t get our change of address card, I am not so sure. What I do know is that it was a beautiful weekend with Spring weather. It was the 1st weekend of Spring.

Friday, my mom and I took Hailey and Christopher out to Family Swim night. They are learning to swim which is something I think every person should learn to do. If you have swam all your life you will never know what it is like to fear water. These kids, while taller than 4 feet were afraid to let go of the wall of the pool in 3 feet of water. I personally don’t get it because I have always been a fish but these kids were terrified like I have never seen before. So, swim lessons it is and the improvement has been amazing.

So, if you don’t know how to swim, don’t know the Dead Man’s Float, then learn. Put it down on the top 100 things you should know. (hummm sounds like a list is coming on……)

Hope you had a great weekend!!!!

Oh, Happy belated birthday to our friends Gary Moe and Casey Blackburn! We may be 5-6 weeks late, but we did remember!

New Realtor

Well, we finally got a new Realtor.  Hopefully this one will get the house sold soon.  Really soon. 

I took some picture of the view from the back of the house.  Since we had our two days of fall the leaves are turning and the view is really nice.  I will try to get them put up this weekend.  I’m sure it wont be long though before they are all gone and we can see our neighbors across the ravene.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Congratulations to me!!!!

I did it! I passed! Today I passed the North Carolina state certification test for Nurse Aide I. I feel high as a kite right now! I hope to start working part time as a CNA at Wake Med or Rex.

Thanks for believing in me!!!!!

I got a new job

Sort of.  Instead of working on Social Security Disability cases I will be working on Medicaid cases.  It’s the same building and same pay.  It’s a little different in how cases are processed and the rules we have to follow are a little different, and less strict.  The up side is that there are no more QA reviews and no more stupid SSA policy changes.  Overall, I think the job will be a better fit for me though and that’s what matters.