Eventually....

Eventually I'll get back to writing about our trip, but we've been tied up with Gramma this week.  We spent the night with her last night, and another sister-in-law will be there all this week.  Then after that we'll have to figure out who can stay for the next go-round.

She doesn't sleep much, and rambles on and on about things from 20 or more years ago.  She doesn't remember me.  She said, "I love you!"  "I don't know who you are, but I love you anyway!"  She called for my father-in-law, gone for twenty years, and today she told me she was fishing and caught a whole bunch of fish.  Later she told my sister-in-law that we had to do something with the fish in the garage so they wouldn't spoil.  A friend who has done a lot of care alongside Hospice told me this is all very typical.  It's kind of like she's rewinding her life.

She loves it when I read Scripture to her.  Her favorite verse is John 3:16-"For God so loved the world that He gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  She's got one foot in heaven and is waiting to get the rest of herself there soon.  One time during the night, I was sitting by her bed and she asked me who those people were behind me.  Dreams?  Hallucinations?  Angels, waiting for the signal to take her home?

This really is a privilege to sit with her while she makes the transition.  Just think, she gets to see Heaven soon!

Henry van Dyk, an inspirational poet from the late 1800's wrote this.  This is what it feels like watching her make the journey:

A Parable of Immortality
by Henry van Dyke

I am standing by the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch
until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, 'There she goes!'
Gone where? Gone from my sight - that is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the places of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
'There she goes!',
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
'Here she comes!'

We're Back!

We're home safe and sound, and had a fantastic time.  Jim and Millie are ready to move there, and since I want to also, it seems right somehow!

I'll try to show you day by day what we did.  First day, after getting up at dark:30 in the morning we boarded a 6:00 plane in Belgrade.  We transferred in Minneapolis (I know, huh!?) and flew directly from there to Mazatlan.  I will say all our flights went smoothly-they left a bit late but arrived early.  So we were in Mazatlan by noon.  When we touched down, the entire plane erupted into applause.  They were ready for spring break!

We managed to miss the gauntlet of timeshare salespeople on our way out of customs, and went directly to our shuttle pick-up spot.

Then on to the resort for check-in, lunch and that important first walk on the beach.

 

That smile says it all!

We stayed at the resort for the rest of the day.  We took in happy hour, amazing Imperial Shrimp at the resort restaurant and a wonderful sunset.

We did come home to some bad news.  Gramma fell twice on Wednesday, and now is bedridden.  She has to have a family member stay with her 24 hours a day, and the doctor says it's just a matter of time.  I know at 94 it's expected, but it still makes us sad.

Spring!

The wind is blowing, the sky is blue.  The snow is gone, a farmer on his four-wheeler just ran through the subdivision to his other fields, and the teens across the street are playing basketball in the driveway.  I have the windows open, even if it's only 54 degrees, and I can hear my wind chimes singing.  Tomorrow it might snow and there is always a chance for really cold temps, but for now we have springtime in the Rockies.

This will play out until late April when things really do start greening and growing.  But this is what we get here for now-the hope for something better.

My Shop

I usually don't remember, but this time I did put my Etsy shop on vacation mode, hence the blank on my sidebar where it usually shows up.  Now I just have to remember to take it OFF vacation mode!

Since I forgot my list the other day, today I have to make that dreaded Walmart run.  Gonna stop by Gram's apartment too.  She has started declining a bit-the pain from the cancer has increased quite a bit and she's having more trouble breathing, so we put her on Hospice care yesterday.  Now I'm shaky about leaving her, but she really isn't in a life crisis yet, so I think it will still be OK to go.  Brother and sis in law are coming from Helena today, too, so I want to be there when they are.  We have been invited by the church youth group to a Senior dinner tonight-I have my doubts that Gram will be going now, which is too bad because she was really looking forward to it.

Thanks, New Friends!

Thanks to some new friends in Mazatlan, all my DIL's fears and questions were answered and she is happily anticipating our trip.  I can't believe the kindness of people I have never met.  And they tell me that most people who live in Mazatlan are this way.  I love that place!

Tick tock-five days!  If I just didn't have to get up at 3:30 AM to catch our flight!  I always say I'll sleep on the plane but I never do.  Nap?  Maybe-if it doesn't interfere with my fun!

I'm Getting Noticed!

In the last two days I have gotten e-mails from two different health websites that have posted links to this blog and my cooking blog.  How flattering!  They want me to post links to their sites, and I will carefully consider it for a few days.

In the meantime, preparations continue for the Mazatlan trip.  Today the suitcases come out.  Since the guest room is full of people, I'll set up a small table in the office for the bags.  I can pack the backpack for "La Vina" right away, but I think some of the spiral notebooks will make it to the big suitcase because it might make the backpack too heavy.

We have a small concern.  My daughter-in-law's mother is panicking over the news reports of violence in Mazatlan.  She is begging them to reconsider their trip, to the point of offering to pay the difference for changing their plane tickets to someplace "safer."  I know things aren't perfect there, but we know the area and know where and where not to go.  We would never put our children in jeopardy, and I think we will have a grand time there and come home safely.  People still go to Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc. even though there are VERY unsafe places in those cities that a person should avoid.

The resort is gated with 24 hour guards, and we are never out and about past 10:00, although I have seen some people arrive back at the resort (noisily) in the wee hours safe and sound.  Not for me, but I fall asleep in front of the TV at 8:30-no party girl here!

Prayers for our trip are solicited-from safety, to plane connections, to avoiding the dreaded time-share salespeople.