“Once Upon ATime…There WAS Time!”

  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..Oh, excuse me.  I nodded off for just a second there…Well, what can I say about this week that would fully explain it?  Maybe a few well chosen adjectives would suffice…Hmmm…OK, how about tearful, traumatic ,satisfying, frenzied, heartfelt, soul-searching, challenging, tiring (definitely), head-spinning, …and finally HARD!  Yup, we actually moved our elders into Assisted Living at The Alden Gardens in Aurora, IL…No, I can’t say that they were “kicking and screaming’..not in a word.  But, they were very reluctant and spiteful to be there.  MacGyver and “moi” loaded up a few belongings of theirs and started getting them moved last Wednesday.  We couldn’t actually move the bed until Friday morning because Aunt Jeanette was still sleeping in it at home. They had to be in there Friday afternoon by 1PM, so needless to say Den and I were hustling our buns off to get them there in time…and we did.

 

 

This is the only picture I will show you taken from their new diggs.  They are not quite feeling comfortable about any photos of their “jail cell” (as Jeanette calls it), but I am hopeful that within a few weeks they will adjust.  I took this photo from a screen porch just outside their room on the second floor.  My apologies for the screen, but you obviously can’t have a patio on the second floor without screens to keep everyone who WANTS out from trying to escape. Truth be told, I don’t see too many who are NOT happy being there.  We can only hope our elders will settle in within a couple weeks.  They will be there one week tomorrow..and tomorrow is Jeanette’s 98th birthday. Den and I are going up to have “High Tea” with them in the afternoon. This could go either very well..or very, very bad.

 

Last Saturday Den and I went to a 40th birthday party of a good friend who grew up with our kids.  They live out in the country and have a lovely home that totally reminds me of The Walton’s….with one big exception…the huge pool in their back yard…

 

That young man in the cap and yellow shirt in photo on left is Tom Hohmann, the birthday boy.  What a great party it was!

I took those last 2 photos from this porch…Checkout that looooong table!! “Good Night, John Boy”.

Other than the “storm” going on in Aurora , we also had a Heck of a storm here in Sandwich last week!  It started off with rain and lots of it..and then we heard the pitter patter of …nope, NOT Rudolf…WHAT THE HAIL??

We were beginning to get a tad worried about our Hiker …and our house windows.  The tornado sirens went off, but by the time they sounded it was about over…What Den and I didn’t need was any more drama this week.

With all of the stuff going on between here and Aurora..and Montgomery, I nearly forgot about Den’s EMS experience in our garage.. NO, Dennis was NOT the patient..It seems a very young Cardinal wandered/tried to fly into our garage and couldn’t find his way out.  He was getting stuck up above the bays, and it was a really hot day.  Den tried to catch him, but couldn’t quite get him.  Finally,the little guy got so tired that Dennis could grab him…

“This long-legged gray haired dude is certainly persistant..NOW LET ME GO!!! I WANT MY MOMMY!”

Rest assured that no Cardinals were harmed in the capture of this youngster, but the mother bird was calling MacGyver some choice words..and giving him “the bird” !!

Yesterday was opening day of the Sandwich Fair (DeKalb County Fair).  Usually we go out a couple times, this year once is enough.  Besides, our daughter Chris (triathlon girl) and her hubby, John (Boston Marathoner) and their 2 boys, Aiden and Maddox ( the Wolff cubs) are coming in tomorrow night to stay the weekend…I, for one, am anxious to get to play with anyone under the age of 90, at this point…

                                                  Mimi and Papa’s “Wolff Cubs”, Maddox and Aiden..

I cannot bring this blog to a close without wishing a Happy Birthday to our oldest child and only son, Kelly…Forty-three years ago I had a 48 hour labor delivering this kid…and there was a fire in the boiler room of the hospital so there were firefighters running through my labor room…Kelly HAD to become a firefighter!!

HAPPY 43RD, KEL!!!

“The older I get, the more I see there are these crevices in life where things fall in and you just can't reach them to pull them back out. So you can sit next to them and weep or you can get up and move forward. You have to stop worrying about who's not here and start worrying about who is.” 
                                                                                                   ~ Alex Witchel