In the Trenches

Most people I know keep family matters private. To each their own and I totally understand and Max definitely wishes I did the same. However, I just can't. Mainly because I feel guilty when I cancel on my third girls night in a row. Or when people see me out and I look like room temperature dog shit. Or to possibly explain why I'm a hot mess express via text. I pride myself on being super organized and I missed school curriculum night and my son wore a jersey to school picture day. These aren't the mannerisms of the "Room Mom" PTA SuperMom I wanted from myself for our Kindergarten year. My son's teacher must think I'm a loon.

The normal day to day activities of a household are sometimes enough to drive you insane. Especially with a very militant and feisty almost 2 year old and a non stop talking 5 year old. Add in Soccer, a new Kindergarten routine and back to back travel for a spouse every weekend and you've got stress. Normal stress from what I gauge most friends are experiencing but still, stress.

My Aunt died last week. She and my Uncle did not believe in saying "passed away" or "we lost Aunt Kathleen". Because she wasn't lost, and she didn't pass anywhere. She merely died. It was out of the blue and heartbreaking. She was the Matriarch of our family and our very own Dowager Countess of Ansley Park. My Dad is crushed. I am crushed. She deserves her own post that I will hopefully write soon. She was a Rockbrook Girl and no other woman had such style and elegance as she did. We all thought she would pull a miraculous recovery like her cousin Kitten did this summer but she did not. She tasted her last gin and tonic on Wednesday afternoon. 

Thursday morning my Dad called me in a panic because BB had fallen while he was visiting and hit her head and started seizing.......and was unresponsive. I honestly thought when we hung up that she was gone. I just sat on my bed sobbing and Max got me in the shower so I could either start packing or make a plan. She ended up being okay and after speaking with the nurse at her facility they noticed on the surveillance video that the seizure caused the fall and not vice versa. Something we will need to address pharmacologically soon. Apparently in the end stages of Alzheimer's this can become common. End stages.

After Asheville we went to Sewanee to celebrate the marriage of my cousin. The same cousin who just said goodbye to his mother. Many people probably wondered how we could celebrate after such a tragedy. My grandfather died right before my Aunt and Uncle were married in New Orleans. I guess if any family knows how to do this its ours. It was a beautiful weekend in Tennessee and everyone had a wonderful time.

This week we prepare to head to Atlanta to celebrate my Aunt and Max got the call his brother is in the ER. He has a blockage of his arteries and is having a catheterization done. Max is very close with his brother, he is his best friend and I swear those two use every minute of our phone plan. To say that he dodged a bullet is an understatement, the doctor told him he was a ticking time bomb with a 90% blockage.

I write all this to ask.....for you to please say a prayer for our family. Max has been keeping things running here while I've been at Alzheimer events, Asheville events, family events...... and he is exhausted. I'm exhausted from all the events and from not being home. Our hearts hurt. Our minds are functioning enough to keep our kids happy and healthy and to make sure we still have jobs.

I know many have it far far worse than we do but I just wanted to put this down on paper so I can look back and see what this time in our life was like. This must be what if feels like to be in the trenches.