Rain in Life

Good morning son! All is quiet here this morning. Well, why wouldn't it be? It's 7:15 am on a Sunday morning and I'm up. No, I don't know why. Sammy and Jamison are sitting in the window watching the birds. It's misting rain, warm and humid. Kind of like what I imagine the jungle to be. Can you tell we watched Jumanji with Jose and Dylan last night? Thoughts of jungle in my head when I went to bed last night. Dad is still sleeping, if you believe that. Usually he's already up by this time and he and Jamison (and Sammy if he's here) have already gone on their walk. He's not been sleeping well lately so I'm glad to let him sleep.

This could very easily be our porch!

The birds are at their feeder this morning. Yesterday when I looked up we had 5 little ones sitting along the railing. We have one who is pretty much of a bully, he's a pretty bully, but a bully none-the-less and does not like to share.We were suppose to get the porch replaced in June and we're still waiting. I haven't put any plants or done anything with the front of our house because it will all get torn out when they do the work. But, we're still waiting. The last thing the landlord told Dad was they're trying to find the guy who did the first bid again. They thought he was too high.They've since found he was the lowest bid. I just hope he does quality, safe work. This is a two story porch. The couple who rented the second floor were counting on that porch. Their porch is very unsafe so they can't even use it. They're not very happy. We've started using our back door because the steps are too unsafe out front. It's actually worked out better for us, especially when we're unloading something. The backdoor will be better this winder too. The two steps leading up to our kitchen are indoors so we don't have to worry about slipping and sliding.

The visit with the cardiologist last Thursday was pretty benign. The EKG was clear and the doctor said everything sounds normal. He did say the symptoms dad is having could indicate that we're approaching the time to do an angiogram. We're waiting for the blood work that the doctor ordered to come back to see if it has something to do with his thyroid and/or anemia. The cardiologist scheduled him for a 6-month checkup but if the systems persist we'll see him before that.  Yesterday dad had more energy than he's had in weeks. He just keeps pushing. I don't know whether that's good or bad, I just let him be Ray and do what works for him. I like it when he's himself!

You know what I just noticed about our family portraits? You, dad and I are never in them. Nobody's fault. Just an observation.

Grandma isn't doing to well. I think I've told you that she's fallen a couple of times in the last couple of months. Evidently one of those falls created a compressed fracture in her back. She has been in extreme pain for a month now. They'll be doing surgery next week to fix it. Until then they're keeping her pretty doped up because of the pain. They have a great doctor in Groveland. Trichelle works for him and she stayed right on top of the situation and the doctor even worked with her while on vacation to see if they could find out what was happening. All the extra work paid off because it was grandma's doctor who found the fracture after she'd gone to the emergency room and had x-rays twice and they could find nothing. Auntie Di says she's doing okay but I'm concerned about her and her health and Uncle Ron is worn to a frazzle. 

It's fun to laugh with dad again. The other day I think I missed a good one. At least hearing dad tell it I missed a good one. He was coming from the kitchen to the living room. As he passed the doorway to the laundry room, the curtains I have hanging in the doorway blew out and wrapped themselves around him. He said he was so tangled up he pulled the curtains, rod and all out of the doorway and almost fell on his face. (And you always wondered why I liked spring-loaded curtain rods!) I can just see it. Actually, the first picture that came to mind was of Carol Burnett in that scene on her show where they did Gone With the Wind. Remember? They had made her dress from the curtains and left the curtain rod going across her shoulders? Yeah, that one. Dad and I still laugh when we see reruns of that show. Of course, what's not to laugh at in Carol Burnett reruns!

The Troy 9 are as busy as ever this summer. They're playing soccer, doing plays, playing baseball, doing Zumba, swimming, and who knows what else. They're all growing up entirely too fast. Josie asked us last night if we're coming to her soccer games this Fall. Guess she's going to try out soccer and she how she likes it. I would imagine there are going to many, many things Josie tries out. One thing you don't ever want to say to Josie is, "only boys do that". I like that. She sees no reason why a girl can't do anything a boy can do. I see some very challenged boy friends in her future, that's for sure.

This week was Relay for Life in Springfield/Eugene. It felt odd not to be there. We thought we might be able to join a team here this year but dad just wasn't up to it. We'll look toward next year and see what happens then. However, you were not forgotten in Springfield/Eugene. The Choose Joy Team was right there this year doing their thing and raising money to fight this horrible disease. We had such good times and made such great memories each year. Maybe some day we can go back and walk with the Choose Joy team. It will never really be the same though, without you.

For the first time in my life, ever, I feel old. I don't know what it is. I've never felt like this before, old, that is. My mom use to say when we talked about it, that our bodies get old but are spirits never do. Today, my body and spirit both feel old. I'm tired I guess. Sometimes it feels like life just keeps revolving in circles.  You know, the one where you get up in the morning and do what's in front of you, come home, go to bed, get up and do what's in front of you, come home and go to bed? Yea, that one. Maybe I have too many unfinished projects going, I don't know. Maybe I'm tired. I don't know. Maybe I'm getting older? That I do know. I think I have us so involved in so many projects there's no time to live and have fun. Every spare minute I have I'm working on a project. Life at home is beginning to feel like there's no time to enjoy, just sit back and read a book all day if I want. It's more about we gotta get these projects done, work, work, work. Dad and I spend too much time talking about the things we want to do. We need to start doing them. Dad's putting together a couple more cubby shelves for my studio today. Once those are done I can move my studio into the dining room and I'll be able to carve a space for dad to have a small den where the studio was. Poor dad has no place to put his things like his guitars, piano, trumpet, sheet music, books, and computer. You know, a place where he can string stuff out and leave it if he wants. I don't have a lot to do, just a lot of little things. I want to finish everything up before we go to California in December. We're looking at other things to make and sell on Etsy and at Troy Flea and I need to get all this other crap done so we can really zone in on Auntie Jan Creations. I just sold a sign that read, "Just Another Day in Paradise". Maybe I should have kept it!


Until next week, be Aaron, love mom