I should be sleeping. Tomorrow is the last full day my son and daughter-in-law will be in the USA. I have no idea what I would have done without their help. I owe them so much and will miss them tremendously. Yet, you can see it in their eyes they are ready to go back home. Their life is calling and their home. It is time.
One more day of hugs and I love yous said in person to be had. But I know the feeling of missing your home and things familiar to you, so I do not hold it against them.
My Mom has finally woken up from the dream state she has been in. The will to live is finally once again showing brightly in her eyes. She left the Hospital today and got driven down the hill to the rehab center, where she will have to work hard to get her body back in shape to finally go home to her new apartment and life.
It will not be easy, but she has so much to look forward to if she can only get there. I now have faith that she will sooner than later.
My Monday started with my cell phone not working. It turns out the cell tower in my town was down. The bad part is my cell phone is how my son and Mom have been getting ahold of me these past weeks. This morning, they needed a vital number from me. I could receive text messages but could not send any out.
To work around this problem, I sent the number to my Mom's phone on WhatsApp, and I also sent her an email with the number. I also knew they would never look on the phone for those messages because they were on a call with Social Security. Once in the phone Que with them, you only leave if you want to wait another two hours in line again.
So I called the Hospital. I asked to be sent to my Mom hospital room phone. It took three other stops and telling the same story to finally be connected to her room phone. Lucky for me, they answered it. I explained what the number was they needed. My son found it immediately, and the number fire was put out.
Next on my list of things to do today was return a horrible computer monitor I bought from Best Buy. The long and short of it is I needed a new monitor because I finally had a new graphics card installed on Saturday. The problem was the new graphics card only had Display Input slots. One of my monitors is so old it would not work anymore with the latest graphics card, and the other one was fine , but I have gotten so used to having two monitors that being down to one felt like I was missing a leg.
The monitor I purchased on Sunday at Best Buy was Crap. This meant I needed to take everything apart and figure out how it all fit back in the box. Find boxing tape to seal everything back up correctly and return it to Best Buy. I forgot my usual driving route to Best Buy is all dug up. I swore loudly as I rounded the corner and realized I was an idiot to have forgotten in only one day.
I snaked the truck through more back roads, made one wrong turn, made one U-turn where I should not have, and finally dropped off the offensive piece of junk at the store. Once that chore was done, I was off to the small computer store closed on Sunday because it was Sunday and everyone deserves a day off!
More back roads I went. Thirty minutes later, I returned home with a new monitor and adaptor. Now, all I needed to do was assemble the monitor and set it up. Once I turned everything back on, I was happy!
After one short call to ensure Mom was doing okay and that the Hospital was still moving her to the Rehab Center sometime today, I was off on my next big chore. I needed to open a bank account.
Now, normally, I can chit-chat with the best of them. I can follow the bouncing ball in the conversation of someone, trying to make me believe they want to get to know me when they just want my information so they can make me a brand new savings account in their bank. These days, people like to be pandered to. I get it, but sometimes I felt like yelling, "Just ask a straight-out QUESTION!" instead of five minutes of bullshit talk with a question in disguise thrown in occasionally.
Forty minutes later, the bank salesman finally made me a savings account, and he was all happy that he now knew so much about me and gave me the perfect savings account created just for me. I honestly do not even remember the man's name. He talked in circles, around bends, and through loops. I stopped listening one sentence in. He was happy, and I left with what I had come for.
Whatever happened to the good old days when bank peeps treated you like crap and only asked you important questions, and you did not have to make small talk and have to spend almost an hour in a bank opening up one small savings account? Sometimes, I miss those simpler days. I really do not need to be best friends with a bank.
Once more, in the truck, I headed to my childhood church. I was going to be early for my appointment at the cemetery, but the sun was shining, and after the gabby bank guy, I could use a little quiet.
I almost dosed off to sleep while waiting for an orange pickup truck. I decided to take my phone out and see if a place was open to get my hair cut. It has been over a year since I had gotten it cut, and it needed a good trimming. I was in luck! The place I called had an opening at 4:45 p.m.
I returned to nodding off while waiting for the orange pickup truck, so I could pick out my Fathers's and, in twenty years, my Mother's final resting place. Soon enough, a new orange pickup came around the bend, and it was time.
On the one hand, it felt good to know that my father's ashes would finally be where I knew he would be happy. My parents have always been very active in any church they belonged to. The first forty-plus years of their married life were spent at the church I grew up near.
We lived close enough to the church that you could hear the bells daily. My brother and I could not wake my parents on Christmas morning until the bells rang. Seven in the morning could not come fast enough on those days.
Over the years, I have stopped at this cemetery to visit and talk with my best friend, whom I lost when I was a tiny child. It feels fitting that those I love are in the same place. When I drove out of the church parking lot, I was relieved that things were set in place and paid for.
I had just enough time to go home and look at my new monitor before I heard the front door open. My son and his lovely bride walked in, and I was hugged.
I explained I would get my hair cut, and, afterward, Grandma should be at the new Rehab Center, and then I would drive there to see how she was doing. They grabbed a few things and were on their way to... I am not sure... I am sure they both looked tired.
I had a wonderful lady cut my hair. She was so funny as she went on and on about how beautiful my natural white hair was. How I should never color it! I should be happy I have white hair because so many young people pay hundreds of dollars for hair like mine.
She then dried, curled, and hair sprayed the crap out of my hair. I can still smell the hairspray. Before I go to sleep? Take a nap? I need a shower so I can breathe fresh air once again. The lady did give a great haircut, though!
The last stop for me today, as I drove past my house again, was to see my Mom, who had finally made it out of the Hospital and into the Rehab Center!! I was surprised to see my son and daughter-in-law there, too!!
Mom looked happy to finally move on to the next step of her recovery. We discussed future things, but she just wanted to watch her History Channel shows. It had gotten late, and it was her time to wind down for a busy day tomorrow.
I made sure she was as comfortable as you can be when not at home. I ensured she had her phone and tablet next to her should she need either.
On my way out, I talked to the nurses, who told me that many people will bring bed toppers for the beds because the mattresses are so hard. I thanked them and said my husband might be making a trip up later with the one Mom brought up from Florida. It was sitting in my spare bedroom doing nothing. I figured let's put it to good use!
I walked through the maze of hallways and entered the fresh night air, finally turning the truck towards home.
Once home, I sat here, spent and tired, thinking about my day. I wanted to write a post today of all days because today is my sixth Hive anniversary! I thought I would have written a different post today. Yet I wanted to record my feelings of today and all that happened so I would not forget.
There will be other days where I sing Hive's praises like I always do, but today was for memories locked into the blockchain so they are never forgotten.
All photos are mine unless otherwise stated.
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