So Funny I Forgot To Laugh
So last week was Sam's spring break and my mother graciously offered to fly down and spend the week with him (and various combinations of Jake and Abby) so that Bryon and I wouldn't have to take the entire week off. Even though Sam had a great week, I am a little saddened that I have yet to start thinking like the parent of a school-age child and plan a little better so that our family could've enjoyed some time off together.
But Thursday I called home to find that my grandmother had been hospitalized in Illinois, and the doctors said she was suffering from congestive heart failure. My grandmother is 90 but no matter how old, when you hear congestive heart failure, a few things come immediately to mind. My first reaction was regret - regret that I haven't asked her more questions, listened to more stories, talked a little longer on the telephone. And regret that I have to get one particular photograph - a photo of her, my mom, Abby and me. Four generations.
My second reaction was to get all of us on a plane and home as fast as possible. United Airlines had a different reaction. Apparently they wanted us to wait in a busy airport for 9 hours and push us from flight to flight. (For added fun, they went ahead and sent our luggage.) But over the course of the day we had a better idea of my grandma's condition and my mom had planned to leave the next day anyway, so we gave up. I also realized that spontaneous travel with 3 kids is not ideal.
At the end of the day, we did stop to recognize that if it hadn't been so stressful, if United hadn't been so rude and if the kids hadn't been so rambunctious, it would've almost been funny. Almost.
In the end my grandmother is stable, my mom made it back home, the luggage was returned. The point of the story? Maybe it's just to call your mom and say Hi.
But Thursday I called home to find that my grandmother had been hospitalized in Illinois, and the doctors said she was suffering from congestive heart failure. My grandmother is 90 but no matter how old, when you hear congestive heart failure, a few things come immediately to mind. My first reaction was regret - regret that I haven't asked her more questions, listened to more stories, talked a little longer on the telephone. And regret that I have to get one particular photograph - a photo of her, my mom, Abby and me. Four generations.
My second reaction was to get all of us on a plane and home as fast as possible. United Airlines had a different reaction. Apparently they wanted us to wait in a busy airport for 9 hours and push us from flight to flight. (For added fun, they went ahead and sent our luggage.) But over the course of the day we had a better idea of my grandma's condition and my mom had planned to leave the next day anyway, so we gave up. I also realized that spontaneous travel with 3 kids is not ideal.
At the end of the day, we did stop to recognize that if it hadn't been so stressful, if United hadn't been so rude and if the kids hadn't been so rambunctious, it would've almost been funny. Almost.
In the end my grandmother is stable, my mom made it back home, the luggage was returned. The point of the story? Maybe it's just to call your mom and say Hi.
posted by Romine Family at 3:12 PM
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