WOW 2020

Jeepers time flies. Just got back from the memorial for Uncle Herb who passed away on Thanksgiving past.

He's now at rest with Gramma, Marge, and Aunt Gloria in Valley Memorial up in Novato. Rest easy Herbert Sherbert (or Uncle Red) as the other side of the family new him.

Long good life till 93 and he's with loved ones and angels now. (He got in with the angels because of proxy by Gloria, Marge and Gramma)

Lots of family attended from both sides and friends from the ages. Lots of good stories.

We Will remember and miss him.

Greetings for the new year, yeah it's the end of February but last year sucked so hard that it's taken this long to wipe the slimy discharge away. Just Sayin.

In 17 we had to move all of the family nonagenarians out of their respective homes and into assisted living situations. Sucked. Suckity suck suck sucked. Herb fell and broke his hip, Mom fell and broke many ribs, just couldn't take care of themselves without 24 hour care. Nobody liked it least of all them.

As I have said many times, this getting old is coming at a very inconvenient time.

So Mom is in Pacific Heights Transitional Care and as expected, not loving it. Yes we wish it didn't have to happen. Stubbornness is a double edged sword indeed. Herb is in an assisted living home in Novato.

I'm still working away at the Island of Misfit Toys (AKA COLE HDW)
While a lovely hardware store and full of great people it often gives new meaning to torpor.

Have been reading a bunch, have some New Years Resolutions (to learn/relearn to play some instruments)

Bingewatched some great shows on Netflix.
1. Stranger Things
2. Mindhunter
3.The End of the F***ing World
4.The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Just started Kimmy, Loving it!  The other three simply ROCK.

Recent Music

Seven Nation Army    White Stripes
Best Friend     Sofi Tucker
Feel Good Inc.    Gorillaz
Celebrate    Dirty Heads
Line of Sight    ODESZA
Upside Down    Gracie and Rachel
Where's My Love    SYML
Walk on Water   Thirty Seconds to Mars




So I'm going to try to get back into blogging better this year. Also may revitalize my other blog  "Carrots Shouldn't Bounce"

Back Soon 

Well, we said SEE YA LATER to Aunt Marge today with a lot of family in attendance.

It's of course, bittersweet. We saluted her long happy life and all of the generosity, mirth, love, and tenderness as well as shared some funny stories. A sendoff that I'm sure she was touched by looking down on us.

Those of you who know me know that I'm not the textbook definition of a religious person. I have to say the events of the past few years have certainly altered, if not changed that.

Today I'm struck by how a day that started off wet and rainy, managed to hold up for the majority of the service with just a minor drizzle to not really even inconvenience us. There were many rainbows on the way up to Marge's new home on earth.

I have to say THANKS for keeping the rains at bay for your family.

Tonight it's absolutely been DUMPING, as if the sky opened up and let go of all of our pent up tears.

 

Wow is all I can say, and I'm not exactly known for brevity. Some would simply say Shut Up!           


Actually many have, on occasion. Whatevs!   

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But I digress. The memorial was attended by many many family members from all sides of our close and special family. The few who couldn't make it had health reasons, passed their cares on to all of us and most will be back there in July to re-celebrate and see if they're keeping the lawn nice and tidy.

It, other than the occasion, was a very nice family get together. We had family from Milpitas, Hanford, Chico, Sonoma, Berkekey, SF, and more. Aunt's, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, fom 9 to 94!

Kirk, our resident pastor, and cousin gave a truly heartfelt sermon/eulogy/discourse and reminded us that this was not goodbye, simply See Ya Later, and read from Thessalonians.

Family members shared stories and fond memories of the EEPIE CHOOIE KID.

What a treasure! We were all so lucky to have her in our lives for so long. Big thanks for hanging around Aunt Marge.

BTW there is a GREAT obit in the Chronicle today, you can view it online here;

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=marjorie-belben&pid=184341198

Seeing all of my extended family today was exceptional. Let's stay better in touch, get together more often, say prayers for those who are struggling with ...whatever.

We are absolutely blessed to have the family we do.

What a difference a week makes.

We lost Aunt Marge last week. She had fallen and hit her head, causing a subdural hemotoma. Initially she showed progress but then had to have surgery. I'm sorry to say that despite all best efforts and family by her side, she simply never woke up after surgery. She passed without pain just napping away. A very peaceful passing. Rest in Peace Aunt Marge, we all miss you but are pretty sure that they just needed a warmhearted teaching nurse with a side order of silliness up there.
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Aunt Marge and the long wonderful life of the Eepie Chooie Oowie Wow Kid

I've been looking through pictures from family gatherings and looking for pics of Aunt Marge, and the one thing that keeps striking me is how many of the pics are not of her smiling as much as of her "questioning" with a curious, puzzled look on her face.  There are pics of her smiling, don't get me wrong, but our family is a bunch of tough nuts to crack when it's photo time. 

For a person with so much inquisitiveness, the fact that she remained so gentle is amazing. Many, maybe most people who question much of the world turn out to be not only skeptical, but cynical.  Her questioning was always just a desire to understand more, with no strings attached. The cynicism never happened with Marge. I can't remember her ever having a cross word for anyone, whether they deserved it or not. 

We would talk about our shared frustration with the care of mom, and while being on the same page with me in so many areas, she always came back to what can we do to positively move the situation forward.

My ability to remain sane in the face of continued adversity was helped over and over by our talks in person and on the phone. Her insights will be sorely missed. Her warmth is irreplaceable.

Speaking with her littlest brother the other night he wondered if her mom would be waiting for her up there. I say no doubt. Marge will have a first class ticket straight up simply based on her kind soul. We all have experienced the incredible kindness of the nurses, doctors, staff at care centers, from hospitals, SNF's, and nursing homes. They already have their reservations and first class tickets, and apparently they needed a nice teaching nurse named Marjorie Ruth up there as well.  God Speed Marge B, God Speed.

Went over to see mom today and I spoke to the Speech Therapist Lydia. Nice girl and very caring. She is in the process of moving mom through the "mechanical soft" aspect of her diet and into the "real food" area. She has to do a couple more evaluations and then she can sign off.
Mom has not been too impressed with the menu but truthfully she never is. Not at the Towers, Not at the Coventry, not here. Unless she's going out to eat at the Olive Garden or Osteria or House of Prime Rib, she's not going to like the food. The chopped texture of her medically required diet is not very appealing. Once we get the okay for regular food, we can bring her "outside" food. KFC chicken is top of the list, a burger from Cable Car Diner, a turkey sandwich from Arguello Supermarket.

Today she had a visit from the Lupine Gang. Victor, Jan, and Douwa! Jan brought her a nice rose for Valentines Day and the Gazette to read.

Biggest complaint (among many) is that she's lonely there. So any visits from loyal readers are MUCH appreciated. 2707 Pine 502B


That's all for now.

Quick Sunday Morning MomMarMupdate.

Mom is status steady. Barbies went on a road trip.


More later as more info is available.

MUPDATE! 

That's a Mom update.  So I visited yesterday and met Quinn also coming for  visit. Mom was with the Occupational therapist and they were practicing walking with the walker.

This is good. Mom's ribs (from all appearances) are healing. She has lost some weight since arriving, doesn't like the food. DUH!

However she has progressed from primarily pureed food to the next step which is called "mechanical soft" Basically chopped rather than pureed. Heading in the right direction. Last nights dinner was a Hamburger and Tater tots. The hamburger itself was chopped and was less than ideally appetizing though the tater tots were fine. I convinced her to eat about half of the burger and all of the tater tots.

I took that occasion to track down the speech therapist and had a long talk with her. She is the person that gives the okay to move from pureed to mechanical soft to steak and eggs. She agreed that she will work with the insurance/medicare to reinstate the third discipline so that she can work with mom again and get her heading towards solid foods. At that point we could actually bring her a real burger, or some of the Colonels best chicken. YAY!   

BTW the perverse health care system medicare decided that once mom had "plateaued" they would reduce therapy to only two disciplines of the three (PT, OT, ST) so they abruptly cancelled speech therapy. The mental mediocracy of the insurance providers rears it's ugly head again. So the Speech therapist and I discussed having OT pull back (since they overlap with PT) to allow ST to get back in the game. The people who make these decisions at Hill/medicare/HealthNet are condemned to a lifetime in the ninth circle of Hell!

 

That's my two cents.And I have A LOT of experience with this.

On a Second Front.....     Aunt Marge had a fall the other night and hit her head.  She is staying at Che St. Francis for a little more observation, she's a bit weak so they may send her to a SNF for a little rehab before letting her go back home on her own.

I saw her today and she was much better and in pretty darn good spirits. Strong chance for a full recovery!!  YAY


All for now, more later as news happens.