Friday, July 26, 2019
I want to back up a few days to give some background that was not included in the blog prior to this. On Monday (July 22), my sister took my aunt to her doctor. After her appointment she was admitted to the hospital. Tuesday when we went to Parsons to take wood to Marc, Dean and I stopped to see her. She was feeling much better. It was a great visit with her as she was "Miss Chatty Cathy"!
On Friday, July 26, I rode to Joplin with Cindy and granddaughter Kennedy to meet her daughter Melissa in Joplin. Kennedy spent the week with Cindy. Melissa had to be in Joplin so it worked well to meet up with her there. After we dropped Kennedy off we headed to Sam's.
On the way to Joplin, I told Cindy I'd like to go see our Aunt this afternoon. So after we returned to Oswego, and had some lunch, we decided to leave for Parsons around 3. I made a strawberry dessert before we left as we are going to play cards with Cindy and Elmer again this evening. Cindy picked me up a short time later. When we arrived at the hospital our aunt was asleep, but after she woke I saw a big change from Tuesday to today. Our cousins (her boys) had been in and out throughout the day. She told us they were going to move her to the Columbus Hospital tomorrow to their swing bed program, so we'll plan to go over there this weekend. We didn't stay too long as she was tired from the physical therapy she had the last few days.
We made it back to Oswego just a short time before Brett, Logen and Emilee came by with Brett's trailer to help Dean move some things. Logen stayed here at Bentley with me while they took care of the moving. She drew me several pictures of dresses while we visited. She's a real cutie with a pretty remarkable vocabulary for a 4...almost 5 year old!
After they left I threw together something for supper and we made it to Cindy and Elmer's a few minutes after six. They recently replaced all of the closet doors in their house. They had three closets with 2 sets of double louvered doors for each closet. Cindy wanted to know if Dean could use them to make shelving for all of our tubs. He said sure, so we loaded them up before we set down to play cards. This will be a great savings to us, so we were thrilled they offered them to us. Thanks Cindy & Elmer!
Cindy and I had a great evening, winning 3 out of 4 games against the guys! The last game of the evening - Cindy and I really skunked them, beating the guys 54 to 0!!!!
It was a bittersweet day - a good time with Cindy, Kennedy and Elmer, and a sad day knowing our aunt is not feeling well.
Saturday, July 27, 2019
This morning was catch up for me. Laundry, cleaning, working on a few blog posts and looking into options for changing our mail service. We haven't been real happy with our service so we are looking at various companies who provide this. I need to make a decision soon as we'll have three months to get changes made before our current plan ends.
It was a busy day but my mind wasn't entirely focused, as all I can do is think about our aunt and her boys.
Sunday-Monday, July 28 & 29, 2019 - Big Loss for Our Family; Visiting with Friends and Family
After church, my sisters and I met at sister Jody's where we had some great conversation and a really good dessert. When I returned to the RV Park, I talked to my cousin, my aunt's youngest son. He told me we really needed to go see his mom. I called my sisters and we spent the next couple of hours visiting with our aunt - and her boys before we left for home. When we went to bed, I had my phone on the shelf next to me, but for some reason I must have shut my sound off at sometime and forgot to turn it back up. I went to bed early because I had a really bad headache. I woke up at 2am because my neck and upper shoulders were hurting. I picked up my phone and took it downstairs. That's when I noticed I had a text message - it was from my sister Cindy - my aunt had passed away around 10pm. We knew it was coming - but you are never fully prepared for it. So many thoughts of her and memories floated through my head. She was the baby of the family. My mom (3rd of 5 children) and Aunt Lil were very, very close. When my mom died 26+ years ago, our aunt stepped up and became "our surrogate mother" for all of these years, a pact made between the two of them many years ago. They agreed if something happened to one of them, the other would step in and "mother" the children of the other. She did that so well and was such a blessing to all of us. I know how hard it was for our aunt to lose my mom, her best friend, and she never, ever let us down! Thank you Aunt Lil for all you did for us. We love you forever.
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| Aunt Lil and her boys |
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| One of my favorite pictures of both of these special ladies - my sister Cindy and Aunt Lil - Aunt Lil told us at the hospital my mom once told her that Cindy should have been her daughter she was so much like her; - she really was her mini-me. |
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| Aunt Lil and her sister, Aunt Wilma |
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| Aunt Lil with sisters, Aunt Betty and Aunt Wilma |
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| Aunt Lil and husband, Uncle Gary |
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| Aunt Lil and brother Uncle Richard. |
I took some Ibuprofen when I first came downstairs. After sitting for a couple of hours my head was not hurting as bad, so I returned to bed and managed to sleep another couple of hours. I told Dean I would be going to the chiropractor this morning. I'm not sure what I did, maybe it was just the stress of the past several days, but I was ready for it to go away!
I was able to get an appointment for 8 this (Monday) morning. Thirty minutes later I felt a little better - but I knew from past instances like this I would probably experience some more pain before the day was over. It is usually the next day before I feel normal. We had several things planned for today though so we kept moving, and I think it helped that we did.
We met our Escapee friends, Keith and Drena at Downstream Casino in Joplin for lunch at 11:30. We haven't seen them since before their visit to Colorado in June. It was great to isit with them. We really appreciated them thinking of us while they were in the area. They have an appointment in the morning to have their tires aligned in Pittsburg, so this is a good stopover for them. We had a great lunch and visited for nearly two hours. Thank you both for your kind words and asking us to join you.
Our next stop was in Joplin to see my step-dad and Verna. We had a very nice visit with them as well, before we needed to head back to Oswego.
We weren't home too long when Brett and Emilee stopped by. We had a nice visit and they shared 3D pictures of the baby they are expecting in January. Yes, we are going to be grandparents again - #14, and with Logen #15. Wow! Six children between us and now 15 grandchildren!
We suggested going to eat, but everything in Oswego was closed (except Pizza Hut - and we just had that Sunday). So, we threw out a few options and finally decided to follow them to Columbus where we had a great meal at Los Lunas, and enjoyed visiting over our wonderful meals.
We had a very full day! It helped for me to keep busy most of the day. I don't think you are ever prepared for the loss of someone that is so special in your life - even when you know it is coming - and; we didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - Bentley Gets Fixed! Preparing Food and Riding with Cindy to Vinita, OK
I woke up with NO PAIN this morning! I am so thankful. It started hurting Friday evening and gradually got worse over the weekend, so it was wonderful to wake up feeling good this morning.
Today is the day Bentley is going to be repaired. Dean and I were up early to make sure things were packed up and ready to go by 8:30 so Bentley could travel to Chetopa to have the actuator for our disc brakes replaced. We are optimistic this will be the final fix.
All of this time, we've wondered why we were having all of these problems - but I truly believe in the power of God, and now I'm certain he was keeping us here for a reason. I would have been heartbroken to have missed the opportunities I had to visit with my aunt over the past week. Now, I am so thankful that we were still here. He has shown me so many times over the past two years that if you trust him he will always be there for you - even when it doesn't seem like it might work out. It reminds me of this song "Trust and Obey - for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey." I am happy in Jesus today that we decided he wanted us here for a reason so we trusted him. With trust, our attitudes changed from being upset with the situation to one of being happy with our circumstances, knowing God had us here for a reason.
Dean took the RV to Chetopa and I headed to Cindy's. My sisters and I are taking food to our cousins later today. I made a spice cake - one their mom often made for them. Cindy is making sloppy joe's and I bought paper products for their family to use over the next several days. Crystal made no-bake cookies (she makes the best) and everyone loves them, and Jody also made a cake.
Dean called me shortly before Cindy and I left for Vinita to let me know he had picked up Bentley. We had discussed earlier he should take the long route back home to make sure everything continued to work. He drove a little over 50 miles before returning to the RV Park and the brakes are working! Woo-hoo! They have usually quit before we hit 50 miles, so this is good news!!
Cindy had an appointment at the Cherokee Clinic in Vinita, so I rode along with her. She was in and out in about 45 minutes. She wanted to make a stop at Walmart, so I picked up a few things while I was there as well. When we returned to Oswego we took all of the food down to Aunt Lil's house, where the boys have been gathering each day. They invited us to stay and eat with them so we did. It was great to just visit with them and go through some pictures and papers the boys had found, sharing a few stories. Dean and I left a little early. I had only been back to Bentley for a few minutes all day, and I really needed to unpack and get things back to normal.
It was an early night in the Peine RV - we were both tired after a very full day.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - Phone Calls; Visit with Friends; Remembering Our Aunt Lil; Mail Call
Dean headed to the garage this morning to "piddle", and I did a few things here at Bentley - including making some calls about mail service, and visiting with a couple of friends (Dennis & Pam, and Joyce) about their mail service. When I visited with Joyce, we also discussed meeting up with them at Yellowstone in a couple of weeks. We have decided to wait until Saturday to leave Oswego. We are meeting Joyce and Frank at Yellowstone where we will spend a week. I am sure it will be a great time. We are hoping to see wildlife and beautiful scenery, with stops at Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Tetons and Flaming Gorge in northern Utah, ending at our main destination of Yellowstone. I'll be glad for the opportunity to take pictures of scenery and interesting things along the way to share with you all - versus only sharing our daily routine and little side trips.
I fixed leftovers for lunch today - I'm trying to use up stuff in the refrigerator. At 1:00 I met the boys and Cindy at Aunt Lil's house to talk to Rod Monroe, who is going to officiate at Aunt Lil's funeral tomorrow. We shared many memories, shed a few tears and many laughs. Thank you guys for asking us if we wanted to attend.
Dean and I headed to Pittsburg after that to pick up our mail. My new globes for the lighting over our kitchen island had arrived, as well as my new health insurance policy and insurance cards.
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| It's just the angle I took the picture, I guess - they really are straight! |
Dean was looking for a part he needed for the lawnmower and we bought another large plastic tub for more storage. We may have a sale on tubs someday if we ever get them emptied!!!
We made it back about 4:30. I made supper - hamburger patties with cheese, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. Yummmm!
It was a good day remembering so many wonderful times with Aunt Lil and her boys - some of our best friends!
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