Two Pilots & an LSW: Life

Saturday, November 07, 2015

Life

Last night I took Kaylee to her school's talent contest. This was the contest in which she had worked on, memorized, practiced, and planned on doing a duet with a girl who then dropped her without telling her until the day of try-outs, leaving her no chance to learn something else or audition as a soloist, meaning she was out of the show totally. Meanwhile, the other girl had gotten together with a young man and was doing a duet with him instead. I wondered why Kaylee wanted to go to the show at all, but she did, and wanted to go with her friends, so I took her. Every other year I've stayed with her, and she wants me to, but this year we had other things going on, so I just dropped her off. When I picked her back up, she told me in a quiet voice that the girl and boy who did the duet ended up flubbing it and didn't perform very well. She had to admit to a small amount of satisfaction in that. But then she said that the girl's solo did go very well. I was glad for both things--that the other girl didn't win the competition after behaving unethically and displaying rather low personal character, and that Kaylee was still trying to be the right person and not get too smug. You know what happens when you get smug? You're the one who gets taken down a peg, that's what. At least that's how it's always worked for me! :o

While Kaylee was at the school show, Steve was bringing Richard home from the hospital. He is now home and set up with hospice care. He has very good doctors who have done everything they can for him, and while he has a very strong heart in spirit, in the flesh it is wearing out, and there is nothing more they can do. When you go from home health care to hospice care, it requires a bunch of very specific paperwork, and they have very specific rules. One of them was that they changed out his bed, from the hospital bed he had, to another hospital bed that was the same model. Whatever works for them, I suppose. When they left, they left us with a "Care Kit", which was a box that is currently sitting on top of my baked spaghetti in the fridge, consisting of whatever medication he may need in the future to keep him comfortable, from pain killers to helping with secretions or constipation or anxiety or respirations, for example. I am a little surprised they leave a box like that behind; you'd sort of think a nurse would be required to administer something like morphine, but apparently not. They gave us a best guess on time, but that's all it is, is a guess, and we know he'll be with us for as long as he's supposed to be with us, and when it's time for him to go home, he will be taken care of and loved both here and there. Right now he is optimistic and leaving it in God's hands.

I talked about it with Kaylee when I picked her up from the variety show. She said "I knew something was wrong when you drove me out here. I'm not stupid you know, I can tell when you're hiding something from me." My wise girl.

Meanwhile, things continue. Kaylee went to a birthday party today for a friend, and I ended up going to the mall for a few things we needed at home, only to find the mall Packed Out. You'd think it was Black Friday. The lots were all full, the aisles were all full, it was crazy in there. I didn't expect that. I then took a young man out on his night cross country, and we watched the sky lose its color as we headed past Indianapolis. It was a beautiful night to see the stars, and the city lights.

Kaylee had requested egg nog, so on my way home from the airport I stopped off there and got that, along with some food for everybody else, and I was done and home around 9 pm. Kaylee cleaned her room and hung up her clothes, and Steve did what he could here. It was more like a Tuesday than a Saturday, but tomorrow we are scheduled off of work, off of activities, and we plan to make a day at home, maybe not fully of 'rest', but at least home.