Weekend Update: To New Beginnings

 

This Bitmoji has been cracking me up for weeks. 2020. What a dumpster fire! Besides the pandemic and damaged packages, what else has been happening?

Well, there was the baby granddaughter’s trip to the ER for a fracture of her tibia. Besides the heartache of watching a tiny child crawl around with a cast half the size of her body, my daughter was subjected to an investigation. I won’t even go there. Suffice it to say, it’s over and done with.

After breathing a sigh of relief, we learned that the sibling my husband is closest with had her cancer come back. She had to have surgery to remove her female body parts and then go through chemo. Due to the nature and aggressiveness of the cancer, it was recommended she get genetic testing, which indeed revealed a mutation of a cancer suppressing gene. It also meant my husband had a 50% chance of having the mutation and therefore, our children also had a 50% chance. It took a month until my husband was able to get an appointment with a genetic counselor and get the results of the blood test. Thank God he didn’t have the mutation and could not have passed it on! Some of his other relatives have not been so lucky. The family drama that has accompanied this tragedy is par for the course with this group. I’m just trying to stay supportive of my sister-in-law, who just can’t seem to catch a break in life.

A few days after the good news of my husband’s blood test results, I began having vision problems in my left eye. Weird flashes of light when moving from light to dark rooms and then scribbly vertical lines when I blinked. Of course, it was Thanksgiving week, so I wasn’t able to see my eye doctor right away. After a week of unknown worry (because I promised myself I would NOT research it on the internet), my doctor told me I had vitreous detachment from the retina. Nothing serious, unless it tears a hole in my retina (thanks for mentioning that, doc), and just another check on the long list of aging afflictions. Eventually, my brain will learn to ignore it, but driving with snow on the ground is maddening, because it’s most noticeable on white backgrounds.

Then the week of Christmas, we received news from the nursing home that my husband's aunt, who he has taken care of for the past decade, was in her final stages of life and should be put on hospice. It's been extremely difficult with Covid, since visits are forbidden. We did a window visit for her 99th birthday over the summer and my husband and his brother were able to do an outdoor visit in October, but that's been the extent of contact with her this year. She was not able to talk on the phone because her hearing was so poor. Then, the week after Christmas, we received news that she had tested positive for Covid. Knowing that the end was near, hospice set up a facetime call so that my husband and his sister could say goodbye. Heartbreaking. She passed this week at the age of 99 years and 5 months. She was a biologist and scientist responsible for a breakthrough in medicine that has helped countless people live longer lives. She never married or had children, but lived a life devoted to serving others. We only wish we could have had the chance to celebrate her 100th birthday this year. Next week, we will take a 10 hour round trip road trip for a 20 minute graveside service. My husband won’t stay in a hotel due to the pandemic. I am seriously worried about finding  bathrooms along the way. 

In other news, we are currently bingeing on this gem:

Don Draper, what a sexy bastard! Love him and this series!

Another thing we’re doing in 2021 is a Notebook of Stuff We Don’t Care About. It’s just an idea I made up to let off some steam. It’s NOT a list of things we hate or bother us. It’s merely things we read about or see on the news and say, “Who cares?” Here’s what we’ve got so far:
1. Mars
2. The Grammy’s
3. Snowfall on the I-95 corridor
4. Emotional support animals on planes

What’s something you don’t care about?