3 Years

Monday, January 26th marked the 3rd year since my dad passed away. I wonder if it will always be a difficult week for me? I find that I am so much more emotional than normal. I watched a Lifetime movie, Prayers for Bobby and cried long after the movie was over. I went to work with very swollen eyelids the next morning. I consider myself very lucky to have had such a wonderful dad. Life was like a 50's sitcom at my house. I am getting to the point where I can talk about him more without crying. So much has happened since he has been gone, things I wish he could've seen. Things like his former employer re-naming their Employee of the Year Award. It is now the Marshall Holycross Award and the winner gets $5000 and a trip. They said that if there was ever such a thing as a perfect employee, my dad was it. That would have made him very proud. JT becoming a firefighter, he would be beaming with pride and would let everyone he came into contact with know he had a grandson that was a Firefighter. Watching Mercy & JT grow up. He enjoyed them so much, and he only had a very short time with them. Ryan graduate high school. I guess there will always be something we wish we could share with him. I have faith that he knows all about our triumphs and is there for us during our sorrows. When he died, someone said to me that life will never be the same. They were right.

Gotta Love My Husband

In my next life....if there is reincarnation, I want to came back as a MAN. I was so sick this past weekend that when I came home from work on Friday I went to bed and didn't get up until Sunday morning. On Sunday I said to my husband (who is currently laid off from his job) that I need to try and take a shower so I can get up and get some things done. He asked me what I needed to get done, I told him laundry. I swear to God, he looked at me and in his sweetest husband in the world voice he said to me, "Well, just take it slow." If I would have had the strength I would have knocked him out. I thought if I married a younger man I could train him. Boy was I wrong. Husbands, ya gotta love em, because you can't KILL em.

Six years

Hard to believe it has been 6 years since our Marines were 1st deployed to Iraq. Some will be returning to Iraq this year. It is strange how fast time goes by and life continues to go on when they are on US soil and when they were in Iraq, time seemed to stand still.

Mom is home

My mom came home on Saturday. She will have a nurse come in 3 times a week to take her vitals. A therapist is coming in 3 times a week also to help her get into the shower and to give her breathing excerises to do. I am hopeful that she will be on the road to recovery. Louie was laid off last Friday so he is home with her most of the day. She said he took good care of her yesterday.

Saturday night my granddaughter and I had a sleep over. As tired as I was, I couldn't refuse her plea to spend the night with me. We watched cartoons and ICarly. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I'm not sure what she is doing with the arm thing. I think my little princess may be a Vanna wannabe. I enjoy every moment of her childhood.

Mom Update

My mom is still in the hospital. They doctor said she will be there for a few more days. When she comes home she will have a nurse come in a couple days a week to check on her and take her vitals. Her heart rate is up because she is working so hard to breathe, but she is improving.

Louie found out yesterday that he may be losing his job at the end of this week. His company is cutting 18% of their workforce. I didn't tell mom because I don't want her to worry. He is very talented and has many skills. I am hoping that somewhere there will be a company that needs a great employee and he won't be unemployed for long. Everyone say a little prayer.

Times passes quickly

I found this photo card last week. I must have misplaced it and forgot all about it. It has pictures of Mercy & JT when they very little. I LOVE the pictures of Mercy playing in the dirt, and JT and Papa. I can't believe how much they are grown.

Lucky New Year

I am already considering 2009 a lucky year. My mom got sick with the flu last Monday. She called the doctor and he sent her out a Z Pac on Tuesday. On New Year's Eve she thought she was getting better. On New Year's Day I cooked a big Turkey dinner and the kids came over. She didn't even get out of bed. She said she had a bad headache. On Friday morning when I was getting ready for work, her light was on in her room. I checked in on her to see if she thought she was getting any better. She said no. She has COPD, so I was afraid that this would lead into pneumonia. I told her I was going to take her to the emergency room. I went and got dressed and then I went back into her room to tell her to get her shoes and socks on. She told me that she couldn't. I told her fine, I would call 911 and have them send an ambulance and they would take her to the ER. She said ok. Then I knew she was REALLY sick. My sister Robyn and I followed the ambulance to the hospital. When they let us go back to her room, they told me that I was lucky that I had got her there when I did. Because she was so sick and weak she was not able to exhale the carbon dioxide (not sure I am spelling that correctly)in her system. Normal counts are 20 to 30 and hers was over 100. They didn't know how she was even awake. This could have killed her. They admitted her to the ICU. By Saturday her count was down to 54. Today they got her blood work back and she was overdosing on Tylenol. For her headache she was taking Tylenol, and Day Quil for her flu, and Darvocet for her aches and pains which has Tylenol in it. They said she will be there for a few more days until they nurse her back to health. I am so glad we had put a lighted ceiling fan with a remote in her room. She was able to turn her light on even when she couldn't get out of bed. If her light had not been on, I would have probably left for work and not checked on her and she may not have made it until I got home at 5 pm.