Week Two - Patience, where art thou? (1-7-08 - 1-13-08)

Health
Mine: blue and a bit of a cough – trying AGAIN to quit smoking completely.
His: Better since the antibiotic. Less “tired” feeling but still needs more sleep than “normal”. Could this be from the additional milk he’s drinking? (tryptophan) Cough is not as bad.

The week was rushed and very busy. My dislike for my job seems to expand the busier I get. I resent the demands because I resent the job and the coworker. The busier she gets the more she cries and complains and offends.

I flew to Houston Friday to attempt “our” family Christmas. It went badly. My brother’s family was in turmoil. My sister’s family was moving to their new home (YAY- First home! It’s beautiful and I love it. Good job kiddo!!). My mother was overwhelmed with children, worry and lack of sleep. (The final straw coming when she accidentally backed her car door into the carport post. Sometimes things happen that make everything too real. Thank god neither the door nor the post were badly damaged.)
We did try to be patient and we did try to find humor. (Canadians - inside joke.)
In the end, it got the better of all of us.

I did fix Netzero on my grandfather's PC. No one else knew how or was willing to take the time. It saddens me that no one will help him. He has so little to enjoy and our family acts like he's such a burden. It isn't fair. He's stuck here and he only has us. How dare we not take the time to make his life as enjoyable as possible.
I was pretty proud of getting that Netzero fixed - but even better than that, he and I spent a couple of hours just enjoying each other's company. He told stories of things he remembered and we laughted about our younger days. He gave me a great book, (Turn South at The Second Bridge by Leon Hale <-- that's for you Rupen). It was a time I will hold dear in my memory and hope to have again some day.

We had Christmas and collective-birthdays (the neice and both nephews were born in Jan & Feb) at my brother’s house on Sunday brunchtime. It was rushed because I had a 2:30pm airport arrival time. On the same note, everyone was glad of that because we were all exhausted. Overall it was quite depressing. It made me miss Dad even more.

This morning I am applying my “Better living through denial.” Motto. I will deny to myself that it was bad and remember things like; Nora’s crazy 1 legged floor scoot. Riley’s wonderful laugh. Andrew’s super-quick wit and artistic talents. Nora’s quirky little smile – so many facial expressions on that one…and she’s a THINKER. Ooooh she is planning! Riley is so very sweet and caring for a boy. He’s all boy but he sure loves deeply and obviously. He’s not a terribly manipulative child. He’s more about honesty. I hope he keeps those traits. Andrew wants so much for everyone to be proud of him. He minds very well and takes such good care of his little cousin, but he does have a hurricane of bottled-up-energy to release…and it’s LOUD energy. He seems to have the need to take care of the people around him. He sees things from other perspectives than his own. That’s pretty impressive for an 8yr old boy. Boys generally lack empathy. He’s a sweet kid. I hope his only escapes from the insanity of his surroundings are music and art. Never anything more addictive than that.

The Continental flight home was not without problems. Their track record is now something like 75% failure rate for me. This time there was a “broken indicator light” which prevented us from taking off. 2hrs later and we were on another plane headed home – finally. The evening was sullen and sad.
I’ll get the brakes fixed on my car and drive back down next month.

To look forward to:
1) I have brunch with my “best friend” on Saturday 1/19. She will drink too much and complain even more.
2) I have next Monday off.