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"Summer" Continues

sum∙mer n. any period of growth, development, fulfillment, perfection, etc.

Read more about why The Anticipated Best Summer Ever hasn't ended.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

An eventful day

Thanks for all your well wishes - you're all the best.

Most of you know, but Grandmom died this morning, and she's in a better place now.

We've spent the day making final arrangements, setting the mass times, meeting with the funeral director, helping with travel where we can. The services aren't until Sunday night and Monday morning, and there really isn't much to do between now and then but sit and accept visitors.

Which you all know I adore.

I did want to log on here and tell you some of the funny stories from spending a week at the Villa and a week (and counting) at the convent. I should have been better about writing every day, but it truly is exhausting to keep vigil for seven days!

I should have been better about telling you about yesterday, when I was determined to get some work done. Lots was going on, lots of phone calls, lots of e-mails to reply to. So I started in the solarium of the Villa, which opens into the balcony of the chapel. Laptop up, bluetooth earpiece in. Until mass started and the hymns could be heard through my phone. So I moved to another sitting area, until a woman scheduled to give manicures to the residents arrived and kicked me out.

So I moved to Grandmom's room, but the constant flow of nuns and the priest (the priest more than almost all the nuns) didn't hide their disapproval that I continued to click-clack on my laptop when they came in to pay respects.

I moved to Aunt Mary's room (sidebar: Grandmom is my mom's mom. My dad's aunt, Mary, is in the room directly across the hall from Grandmom. Just moved in about three weeks ago.), and stayed in there for a good bit. Aunt Mary is on bed rest and deaf, so she was just hangin' out saying the rosary.

That was relatively uneventful (buy me a glass of wine and I'll give you the "relatively" part), until she had a visitor. Since Aunt Mary's deaf, the visitor was very, very loud.

I ultimately found a room down the hall where the resident was in the hospital so her room was empty. Bingo! Finished out the day there.

Let me jump ahead to today, when we were making final arrangements (I know, I'm skipping all over, but cut me some slack, people). I say "final," because we really had done quite a lot during the seven days we kept vigil. The mass was planned, the mass booklet typed up, the cover ready to go (less the dates), the outfit picked out and dry cleaned, the church and luncheon place on alert, the jewelry decided.

Some things, though, you really do need to wait until they're dead. Like the casket. Kinda tacky to pick it out ahead of time.

I went with the aunts to the funeral home this afternoon and we made the final arrangements. Wait, I said that already. (More slack, please. I was the one who answered the phone from the Villa this morning because Aunt Jo was in the shower. And trying to figure out this massive phone system that runs the three floors of the convent at 5:20 a.m. was a bit startling.)

Anyway, the funeral home. The funeral director actually graduated from an elementary school where Aunt Jo was several years back. Which provided endless fodder for the ride home, since he must have said "you's" about three dozen times.

We handled it all very well, and then went into the "showroom."

I was prepared for this, and frankly, we all were. It wasn't terribly shocking or emotional. In fact, it was hysterical.

Hysterical because they just renovated their showroom. JUST. We were, in fact, the first clients to see it. And the funeral director was very proud.

It didn't have full-sized caskets. Instead, they were mostly "corner cuts" of different styles. But in between each opening with a "corner cut," the wall panel pulled out to display all the upgrade options - different color liners, double liners, added embellishments.

There was even a big electronic display in the middle of the room for "customizable" caskets. The funeral director literally said, "It's like being at WaWa!" (For those of you unfamiliar, WaWa is to 7-eleven what a Whole Foods or Central Market is to a Giant.) It was a big touch screen, and you could go through tons of options and pictures and make your own casket.

Oy.

But the funeral director was very proud. (Just for Lauren....) Bless his heart.

So, an eventful day all around! Lots of phone calls and planning and visiting and grocery shopping and you name it! No eulogy writing though. Gotta get on that!

First, though, another glass of wine...

Monday, March 23, 2009

What do you post?

I'm still here, I promise. I have been embarrassingly bad at posting lately. The office move took up every free second I was there last week. Then Grandmom had a heart attack. A really big one. Like a, "it's the end" one.

(See, that's been my problem the past few days. How do I write this? How do I tell you about the heart attack? It's not going to come out right. The fear, the sadness, the coping that involves the humor and the drinking and the sarcasm! So if you don't like my tone in this post, then you don't know me and you might as well stop reading.)

I was scheduled to go to Chicago on Thursday afternoon until Wednesday (two days from now). I drove up to Philly on Wednesday night, arrived at Aunt Jo's convent at 11:30 p.m. Fast asleep, up at 5 a.m. to go to the hospital. The doctors said there was nothing more to do but hospice care. We were ready for that. We moved her from the hospital back to the Villa (the retirement home). We called the rest of the siblings (Patricia was up for Thursday), and Tim and Terry jumped on a plane with Elizabeth and Francis and arrived around 6 p.m.

We laughed, we cried, we kept vigil. With Tim and Terry in town until noon on Friday and Frank expected that afternoon, I flew up to Chicago Friday a.m., and came back on a 6 p.m. flight that night.

It was a really hard decision to make because there were so many "what if's" while I was gone. But I knew my other siblings were there, and, quite honestly, at this point we aren't here for Grandmom, we're here for the aunts.

So I landed around 9:30 p.m. Friday night, back to the Villa Saturday morning. And all day Sunday. And now all day Monday.

This is one stubborn lady.

(See, there's the part that if you don't know me, you'd best go away now.)

I'm the only of my siblings here, and I have a great job that is allowing me to do this. I was supposed to be out of the office any way this week, in Chicago and then Austin. So the DC girls were set to be without me (That sounds obnoxious, and is only relevant because of the new space headaches. In the old office, I wouldn't think twice about being gone for a week.). It's a really big "bonding" thing I'm missing in Chicago with new biz partners, but not the end of the world for me to miss.

And, heck, I missed all the OTHER tax seminars that I love and planned and so hated missing, that why don't we make it even and I'll miss ALL of them this year and not make it to Austin!

Back to me being here. It's important. It's for the aunts. They're at their wits end, just suffering through this, and trying their best to stay calm, and to plan, but not to plan too much, and OY. They did this for me, it's the least I can do for them.

So that's why I haven't been writing. The days are simultaneously excruciatingly slow and yet fly by without getting anything done. Aunt Jo and I left the Villa pretty early tonight and are doing those "normal" things you can put off for a few days but need to get back to -- laundry, e-mail, gathering dry cleaning, blogging!

I hope you'll understand, and keep checking back here. I do promise to write more, and I want to write more!

And please also say a prayer. Grandmom has wanted this for a long time now, and we just want her to stop suffering. We need all the strength we can get.

P.S. You really do need to be following me on Twitter. If you aren't, you've missed some good convent living Tweets.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

St. Patrick's Day 8K

Ran in DC's St. Patrick's Day 8k this morning! That's just under 5 miles (literally just under 5 miles - I think it's 4.9). Should have been a piece of cake, but it was really rough! Not sure if that was because it was cold and rainy, or because I was still beat from a "boot camp" class I took at the gym on Friday, or maybe I just had one too many glasses of wine last night!


But, getting out there and running is the key, right?

And in the St. Patrick's Day spirit, Goldie now dons her new collar.






Saturday, March 14, 2009

A change in plans

My March is turning out to be just as crazy busy as I had expected, but for all different reasons.

Well, for some different reasons, and some of the same reasons have been more hectic than I planned for.

(And you all know how I like to plan for things.)

The bad news first: I'm not doing the travel for the tax seminars. As you can imagine, I'm pretty pouty about this.

It's the right management decision, I know. There is sooooo much else going on. And while the seminars take a lot of juggling and people skills and time management, there are other projects going on at the same time that take the same, plus some.

Still, I'm pouty. This is my pet project. I thought it up, I envisioned it, I struggled through two years of seminars where only 4 people showed up and still convinced the higher ups that it was worth the budget.

This year, two of the seminars already have over 50 registrants. Two others have over 30, and the others all have more than 20.

So, it, like, worked.

But I'm not going to get to see them. Sad face.

Okay, enough poutiness. Raleigh's seminar was actually canceled (ok, so not all the seminars had high registration. Like, Raleigh, for example. Didn't have 50 people registered.). Which, in hindsight, was probably good. Because the office move, as anyone would have guessed, did NOT go smoothly.

No major disasters. Even though someone tore down our "No Parking" signs for the moving trucks, and even though that meant I stood in an empty parking space for 30 minutes until the moving truck arrived, ignoring all the people shouting mean things to me, and even though the computers took three days to set up instead of one and a half, and even though the elevator broke down and we had to devise a way to go through the construction on the floor above us and down a set of stairs to doors we needed to prop open for the day with file boxes, and even though the wrong printer/fax/copier was delivered, and even though it took two full days to set up the phone system, during which time you couldn't get through to the office number, and even though just as the tv-installer guys were about to install a tv we found out they just might hit a water pipe if they use a screw a half inch too long, and blah, blah, blah....

Even though all that, there were no disasters! Total and utter chaos, but no disasters!

I wouldn't exactly say we're settled in the new space, but it's gorgeous. It'll be awesome.

Instead of the seminars this coming week, I'm headed on another trip instead. Again, a good management decision, just kinda pouty!

So that's the update on the change of plans! If I were a really good poster, I would have pictures of the new space to post here! But I don't! Sorry!

In better news, Grandmom had a pacemaker put in on Monday. She bounced right back, and was at the Villa by Tuesday night. And in a great streak of luck, my Aunt Mary (my dad's aunt) moved in to a room directly across the hall from Grandmom on Wednesday!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Move

We moved offices yesterday!

It was hectic, and not without incident - like someone tearing down our "No Parking" signs for the movers - but I suppose if that was the worst of our problems, we're in good shape.

Had a snafu this morning, too, with the elevators not working, and there being no other way to access the suite, but we think we have that worked out also - and worked out to our benefit, at that.

As you can imagine, there are lots of stories with the move. But I'm exhausted, and behind on a million things, etc., etc.! Sitting in an office with a bunch of boxes, and not sure how to organize everything! At least I'm lucky in having a laptop and broadband - the Internet isn't up in the suite yet, so the other girls don't even have that. Of course, it means they've just been busy unpacking!

More later, including pictures!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Gmom update

Grandmom is doing really well! She had a pacemaker put in yesterday, but she bounced back quickly and is actually back at the nursing home tonight! I just talked with her, and she did great! She only stumbled a few times, and wasn't getting as frustrated with it. She said she felt good.

Crazy at the office this week. Can't post about work, but just trust me to say it's been crazy. Throw in on top of that the MOVE and it's out of control. The furniture arrived yesterday, we picked out some knick-knacks and paintings today and tomorrow we move all our files and computers over! And then we're IN!

I can't wait for you all to see it! It's out of this world.

Goodnight!

Friday, March 6, 2009

I am a bad person

Grandmom is ok.

Let me just start there.

I've been called out for the dramatic nature of my previous post, and I apologize. Grandmom is doing much better. Still in the hospital, but I talked to her last night. That's right - I talked to her! She had a little trouble forming her sentences, but she had her sense of humor and she was completely coherent.

Or, you know, for her.

(That was a JOKE, people!)

I'm heading up to Philly tonight to visit her, and I'll report more later.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

A Big Day

It was a big day in the Fleming family yesterday.

Grandmom had a stroke.

Katheryn celebrated her second birthday in style - on the throne. For the first time.

Terry put his big brother hat back on and called us each individually to make sure we didn't have questions about Grandmom.

Samantha kept her mother up all night throwing up, and wondering why mommy wouldn't cuddle with her in bed.

Feels like it was just a Big Day. Good things, bad things, confusing things, exhausting things. Today was another day. It was kinda another Big Day, but also the day after a Big Day. The day to make plans - to visit Grandmom, to visit Katheryn, to hope to visit Samantha. To figure out what you're doing today, what you're doing tomorrow, what you're doing Thursday. To get up, and to grind away, and to hope you're making a difference at something.

Not as drastic big a difference as Grandmom's improvement in speech, but at something.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

DCA to DFW

I’m in Dallas (or, more specifically, the Grapevine/ Southlake area) once again! I was scheduled to fly out at 6 a.m. Monday morning, but with the mother of all storms heading up the East Coast, I switched it to fly out on Sunday afternoon. I do feel bad – Mike’s really sick. It’s the kind of sick I can’t do anything about: he’s congested and has a sore throat, so he really just needs rest and fluids. And when he’s sick, he prefers to be alone and miserable. But he also wants to know that someone is there in case he feels like complaining or wants something. Which, I guess, is completely normal. The only thing worse than being sick is being sick alone.

But I think he understands why I took the earlier flight. The thought of going for my 6 a.m. flight on Monday and then standing around because of delays until noon just turns my stomach. I’d rather get into Grapevine, have a normal dinner, and get to bed early (Did I mention Mike’s cold also comes with coughing? A lot of it.)


Here’s my amusing story from the airport today:


We were all waiting to board, and it was very crowded at the airport. The plane came in a few minutes late, so when I went down to the gate at the boarding time, they were still letting people off the plane before ours. That just meant we all waited around an extra 20 minutes.


This guy, his teenage (maybe preteen) daughter and wife were next to me. They kept crowding up on me, forcing me to take a step away, and then they’d continue to crowd up.


They finally called first class boarding (oh? I didn’t mention I was upgraded?), and the guy shoves me out of the way to rush the gate. I start to take a step towards the gate, and the wife says, “oh, we can board with him,” to the daughter. So they start following behind me. The guy had completely left them. I stepped to the side and said, “please, after you,” to let them all go up together. (Not saying that because I’m all great. I just knew if I didn’t, one of them would cause a commotion about being separated. Thinking ahead, I was.)


The AA crew taking our tickets wouldn’t let the guy board with his bag. I admit, it was one on the edge. I think the size would have been ok going sideways, but it was overstuffed – even the outside pockets were stuffed to the gills. So she said, “sorry, you’re going to need to check that.” Now, it’s a really, really full flight. He stops to make a fuss, raising his voice, saying he fit it on the way up here, and 100,000 miles with American last year with this bag and why were they giving him a problem, etc., etc.


Meanwhile, the AA crew woman lets the wife and daughter through. I go. He’s still arguing about the bag.


I board, and see the wife and daughter in the first row of coach. He finally walks on (sans bag) and sits down next to me. Naturally.


I hope they don’t mind being able to see him with his whiskey on the rocks, chicken parm lunch and warm chocolate chip cookie.


So there you go! The glamorous life of travel! I’m writing this on the plane, and I’ll post it up tonight before I go to bed. I’m so anxious to hear how much snow actually does hit!