9 August 2011 Update

It's been a whirlwind month here. Summer is often about relaxing, but it seems ours has been full of activity and stress, although we have managed to have some fun as well!

My mom came down for a couple days a few weeks ago. She was dragged to my yoga class and managed to do very well -- since she's VERY fit, I wasn't surprised! She took Abby back to North Carolina with her for a week alone. While Abby was there by herself they went to Carowinds Amusement Park with my sister and her kids and rode lots of rides. They also enjoyed boating and swimming and she got to spend the night at my sisters' with my niece who is 2 years younger than Abby. The girls get along really well and always have fun playing together!

Maggie and I were able to join them in North Carolina a week later. Unfortunately Tom wasn't able to join us. His dad's health has been failing for the past few months and after Tom took us to the airport he drove (once again) back to Houston as his dad had been admitted to the hospital again, this time with pneumonia. It was sad to see Tom go and know that I was heading to have fun while he was most likely heading to see the end of his dad's life. However, as we all know in our heads, life does go on. For the fun part, Maggie and I arrived in Charlotte without incident and mom, dad and Abby picked us up at the airport to head to my sisters'. We all went out for Japanese food and had a good time. Then the girls and my parents headed up to their house where we were staying. They all went swimming but I stayed in -- suffering a NASTY cough. On Sunday my cousin Amanda joined us at mom and dad's and we spent most of the day in the water. There was some boating involved as well. It's always fun to see Amanda! Monday my parents took us to enjoy a man-made white water rafting -- a GREAT way to see if you like it before travelling/paying to go on a "real" trip. The girls LOVED it. We did 2 rounds of rafting, each about an hour long. The place had good food as well. We tried to go on the zip line, but after over and hour in line we'd only moved a short bit forward. Sigh. Next time, perhaps. We were all really tired that evening!

On Tuesday my sister and her kiddos came up to mom's house. More time in the water, followed by a photo session for the 4 kids. Mom and Kris took them (I was kindly asked by my girls to stay home!) and then dad and I met them all for dinner. Kristin and I then headed to her house and mom and dad took the 4 kids home. Wednesday Kris and I went shopping at the outlet mall. We were there over 6 hours and completely exhausted (and broke!) afterwards. Back to mom and dad's for a bit. Kristin took Mackenzie home that evening for a dental appointment in the morning. They came back Thursday and we were all again in the water. We had BBQ for supper and all spent the night. Friday morning Kris and her kids went home. The rest of us went for movies -- dad and the girls saw Harry Potter and mom and I went for Crazy, Stupid Love. Met up at Starbucks afterwards and back home for a Chinese dinner. And then Saturday the girls and I flew home.

Meanwhile, Tom and all his siblings gathered in Houston. On Sunday his dad and Kay met with the hospice folks and Ray decided it was time for him to enter hospice care. He'd been suffering from chronic leukemia for several years and the past 6 months has been a series of transfusions and repeated infections and hospitalizations. His courage in choosing his fate is amazing and the bravery with which the whole family faced his death is admirable. They brought him home from the hospital and set him up there. Ray maintained his personality until he became too fatigued to do so -- Tom indicated that the hospice company was called "Compassionate Care" -- in typical Ray Webb fashion, when they showed up he announced to the nurse that he was "ready for some compassionate care". He quickly became more and more fatigued, but all were comforted by each other's presence. Ray died Thursday evening with his wife and 5 children by his side, quietly and peacefully. The entire family are gifted by the knowledge of his bravery and the peace with which he faced death. One of my mother-in-law's brothers remarked at the wake that Ray "had his bags packed and was ready to go" to heaven. Would that we could all face death so bravely and peacefully.

After the girls and I returned Saturday, we repacked to go to Houston on Sunday. Saturday evening Maggie and I had tickets to join a friend of hers and her mom to see "Rent" at a local theater. It was a great production and we enjoyed both the show and each other's company. Plan to joint them in the future for other shows! Abby stayed home and I checked in with her at intermission and as we were heading home after the show. I think she's more comfortable at home than I am leaving her at night alone!

The three of us left for Houston Sunday morning. We made good time and arrived at the hotel about 3pm. Tom called and planned to join us at the hotel and we'd go to the wake together. As we were getting ready we realized that Maggie's dresses had been left at home. Whoops! We called Tom and communicated a change in plans -- necessity to find a store to buy two new dresses. I managed to not only find a store, but the mall (with my rusty knowledge of Houston and complete unfamiliarity with the Lake Jackson area)! Went to Penney's as we'd had recent success there and power shopped. Within 20 minutes we'd found 2 dresses. AND they were one sale! AND one is appropriate for a school dance. Meanwhile Tom found us at the mall and followed us back to the hotel for a quick change. We piled into his car and headed to the church for the services. Afterwards we were back at Kay's house to gather with family. Abby ended up going with her cousin Rachel to spend the night there, and Tom, Maggie and I went back to the hotel to sleep.

Monday was an early wake-up and we met back at Kay's for breakfast. We all headed to the church for the 10am service. I think we were all comforted by the fact that Ray had "welcomed" his death as a relief from his suffering, which made it not-so-tragic. After the burial there was lunch at the church and we again headed back to Kay's with some of the family headed home. The girls and I left this morning (Tuesday) to return to New Orleans as Maggie has registration Thursday as well as mandatory cross country practice all this week. We made it home and to the grocery by 4pm, and I've completed 3 loads of laundry (enough for today). Unfortunately discovered that we'd left Maggie's glasses at the hotel, but my phone call showed that they'd been turned it and Tom thankfully agreed to pick them up tomorrow. Always something.

And our two interesting/funny travel stories -- on the way to Houston we were backed up in traffic. I noticed smoke ahead and as we got closer we saw a car completely engulfed in HOT fire (we could feel it and the car was in the median between the freeway lanes). Thankfully it appeared that no one was injured, the one girl crying appeared to be upset about the loss of her vehicle rather than a person and there was no ambulance in sight. On the way home we had another traffic back-up. This time, as we hit where the police vehicles were one car got impatient and decided to cut across the grass to the adjoining access road. A cop immediately boarded his motorcycle and, with a smile on his face, headed off to follow the car. A mile or so up ahead we saw the car pulled off with the cop giving him a ticket! Meanwhile, we were back going at speed......guess it doesn't pay to cut through the grass, no?

And one more item -- Maggie's caught the cold I've been fighting. But now she's got a fever as well. Hopefully she's better tomorrow AND hopefully none of her cousins/family gets it.

Please offer a prayer for my mother-in-law (and the rest of Tom's family) that she is comforted in her loss. She's a strong woman (her elder daughter died from a car accident at 17 and Kay's amazing in her strength to get beyond that), but she's hurting.

Here's to a good back-to-school season!