Greetings from Gainesville, Florida.

[sistawendy]

So I took an 0615 flight out of Seattle and arrived in Gainesville at 1530 Eastern. Advantages:

• short security lines
• cheaper, all else being equal
• mellower people all around

Disadvantages:

• getting up at 0300
• the mad rush to get ready to leave the apartment...
• ...which I couldn't do by transit because the first train leaves downtown at 0500

As soon as I got most of the way to Mom's, I ordered a small pizza with whole wheat crust from Leonardo's and devoured it entirely because grub on planes is extra anymore.

I went for a walk down my old street in the last of the twilight, as I did so many times with my dad, whose love of walks I either inherited or learned. I cried halfway to the cul-de-sac, or as we used to call it back then, the dead end.

Niece E left me a note about clean dishes & linens, a face shield because the rehab facility requires them, and a thoroughly organized master bathroom*. What did my Evil Sister do to deserve that kid?

As for Mom, the first day with her went better than expected, to tell you the truth. She wasn't horrible to anybody. She got my gender right more often than not. She remembered that Dad is dead. Mentally, she was better than expected, but physically, not so much: she can't stand without excessive pain. And she forgets that she can't walk, as my sisters warned me. She didn't ask me to shoot her as she did at least one of my sisters, but she did say she wanted to lie down and die.

I brought her today's and yesterday's edition of the Gainesville Sun. I brought fruit and Diet Coke, but she already had those. What probably disturbed me the most while I was there was how little of her lunch she ate. My sisters say that hasn't been typical. I took the physical therapist's arrival as an excuse to leave.

I locked my key in the car. ¡Viva AAA! As I waited and sheltered from the rain** in a gazebo I chatted with a random middle-aged couple who were doing the same. I'm wearing my Pride jewelry as a protest while I'm down here; I wonder if they noticed. The young male nurse who wore a Pride-striped wristband sure did.

Thinks I never expected to do: listen to "Enjoy the Silence" on demand on I-75 and then talk to my real estate agent, both while driving a tiny, little rented Chevy. Some parts of the future are OK.

Speaking of real estate, it looks like I'm making an offer on a house. Once again there are too many things happening at once.

Time to fall asleep to the sound of some serious rain.




*I needed to find Mom's toenail clippers.
**This is Florida rain: not cold, but intense. Growing up I never realized that storm drains here are designed for higher flow rates than elsewhere.

Comments

[dark_phoenix54]

Both pain and pain killers can reduce one's appetite, FWIW. Hopefully it's just that.

[sistawendy]

Good Sister tells me that giving her psych meds at lunchtime was one of the conditions of her entry into this rehab facility. That's probably making her sleepy thereafter and it may be messing with her appetite.

[garpu]

Congrats on the offer!