Help Us, Click and Clack!

It's a good thing I have the blog because I can read it and remember the happy part of yesterday. Jim and I had spent a nice afternoon at Starbucks in a shopping center. Later, when we went to the car to go to the Persian restaurant with the girls the car was gone. We kept thinking "Maybe we parked somewhere else, and we're just forgetting where." Or "Maybe we've been towed." (Even though we were at the shopping center, perhaps they thought we were hotel guests, parking illegally.) But soon it became painfully clear that the car was stolen. Honda Civics are stolen all the time in San Diego and taken across the border. I'm trying to see the good. Our computers were not in the car. Everyone's safe. No one died. It's just another aggravation added to my life. (I do not look forward to the many phone calls with the insurance company, the car rental agency and the police, among others.) A sad part was that Molly's notes and textbooks from her college classes were in the car, and she has finals in two weeks. Why couldn't the thieves have just left the notebook and books gently on the ground and then driven away? It wouldn't have looked suspicious at all, right? 

I just feel a sense of loss. Someone took something valuable from me, and my thoughts range from anger, to relief that it wasn't worse, to sad, to frustrated to wanting to look again in the parking lot...maybe we just overlooked it. Then I think "What else?" Against the backdrop of the life an death situations I've been facing all year, this is minor, but it still feels like one more papercut, one more insult, one more blow. 

We did enjoy a nice evening with the girls at the Persian restaurant. It is my favorite place to eat. I love everything about it. I love the waitress who is always there and good with a quip, the atmosphere, and the amazing food. I always have fun there and it's become a traditional part of all our SD trips. 

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

The girls went Black Friday shopping at O'Dark Thirty, and then we went to breakfast at Mystic Mocha, a neighborhood coffee shop full of ambience and great food that we have grown to love. My sister-in-law gave us tickets to the SD zoo, so we spent the rest of the morning there. Kelly has a season pass but even she got to see animal behavior she's never seen before. The tiger cubs came right up to the window to frolic. The Polar Bears put on an amazing water-wrestling session. One woman said "This makes the San Francisco Polar Bear exhibit look so sad." I liked the baby Panda, too, and thought of my friends in China. I love all the languages being spoken at a tourist place like this. My favorite "animals" were the little children, jabbering in French or Indian, excited about the fish or the bears . 

(You can click on a picture to see it larger) 

I want it known that it was NOT me who suggested we send this out as the Christmas photo of the three girls. 

My dad was not feeling well yesterday, and sounded terrible when I talked to him on the phone. The good times are tempered knowing that he would get better care if I were home. We are so close that I can "read" him like no one else. I understand him, and am able to meet his needs in a way outsiders can't. I'm so thankful for my dear friend, Jane, the home nurse who took care of Dad before, who went over to his house after I called her. She solved his whole problem, and encouraged me to stay in San Diego and not come home.  Without her I would be in Ventura right now, and my dad sounds better today. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Jim and I are in San Diego to celebrate with Kelly and Molly. Originally my dad was going to drive up north to celebrate with his sister's family, so we made non-refundable hotel reservations in San Diego. (An inexpensive, yet luxurious room in the DoubleTree. Inexpensive because it's nonrefundable.) Now that my dad is out of the hospital, but still recovering I have mixed feelings about coming. On the one hand, it's really fun to be in one of my favorite cities to play in with my girls and Jim, but I feel guilty leaving my dad in the care of my brother and sister-in-law. Dad adamantly encouraged me to come, but I worry nontheless. It is good to be out of the stress for a little bit, and recover emotionally. Before I came I was unraveling at the edges a little. Now my happiness bank is being filled up with riding the trolley with Molly, and seeing Kelly's 450,000 pictures of baby Cole, and thick hotel towels that I can throw on the floor instead of hanging up. I have so much to be thankful for including my many treasured friends, and my good family. 

Waiting for dinner outside of Mimi's .

Everyone in my family does Sudoku except me. 

Skyping with Brenna. We really missed her, but she was the Project Manager of the Thanksgiving dinner in El Salvador. I think she had a fun time cooking a big dinner with her team and celebrating the holiday in a new way with new friends. 

Jim may need a lot more practice to be a  Guitar Hero, but he'll always be a hero in other ways to me. We all had fun playing with Kelly's Wii. I had heard of the Wii, but never seen it in real life.

Hooray! They're Letting my Dad Leave!

Today has been a great day. I LOVE the Sabbath--to follow a religion that gives me an excuse (no, COMMANDS me) to lie around and rest is just TOO COOL! I also like how church gathers many of my amazing friends together each week to laugh, sing, share burdens, and encourage each other. I don't have to do any of the planning, cleaning, or cooking, yet I get to be with these wonderful people. Then I went out for coffee with my best friend (Jim). I feel that our marriage has a deep foundation that gets richer as the years pass. We may have surface issues, but the depth of our love is unquestionable. Then Jim and I went to one of our favorite date spots: Trader Joe's. We love that place! It's the great food and the dreams of good meals and snacks ahead, but also the fact that we always see so many of our good friends there. It's like the village well of the 21st Century. The rest of the day I slept, read, surfed the net, watched the last half of a movie, (Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2), and slept some more. I just got the word that Dad gets to leave the hospital. I am SOOOO happy. I hope he's home by Amazing Race! (You know how hospitals take two years with all their release procedures...)

A Tale of Two Heart Attacks

I took a time out from my own grief today and along with another friend,  played a good prank on our two newest teachers at school. (One teacher is going through chemotherapy, the other's mother survived being accidentally run over by a motor home. It's a tough time for both.) On the front door of both classrooms was a sign that said "Prepare for a heart attack." Then we covered their desks, drawers, floor and every flat surface with hearts. (I give Brenna credit for the idea.) We had heart chocolates and puns on hearts and even put hearts in ther attendance books and student folders. They will be finding hearts for a long time to come. My partner walked in and said "What now? Prepare for a heart attack!!!???" She sounded like "Don't I have enough on my plate without this too?" but when she saw the hearts she was so happy that she started crying. It was great! She didn't know it was me (and my accomplice) until she found the hearts in the refridgerator only on her food. Drats! I'm not an expert yet at all this covert stuff. The other teacher was thrilled, too, and it felt so good to get my mind off my problems and be able to make someone happy during this trying time.

And what about the REAL heart attack victim? He's in ICU. They were going to release him, but during some routine vitals check they discovered his blood pressure was REALLY low and he was immediately surrounded by ten people and they moved him to ICU. Since then he's had trouble graduating to a regular room--a prerequisite for going home. My head almost exploded the other night when a nurse told me my dad's heart was only functioning at 10% capacity...She had the wrong patient!!! Dad's actual heart is fine...it's the veins leading to the heart. So we were devastated by this new bad news for about 20 minutes before she realized her error and apologized profusely. Mistakes happen, and I don't hold it against this woman, but my heart hurts and this was one time that I just wanted to go home and cry. I don't know how people cope when the medical crisis goes on and on. Mine's only been a month-- October 20 to November 21. I feel like such a whiner. My dad is an easy patient, and most likely will make a full recovery. There's much to rejoice about, but I'm not always good at seeing the tapestry created from life's knots. 

Am I Almost at the end of the Race? Because I'm Getting Really Worn Out

I am so tired and worn out that I'm trying to decide whether to go to bed at 6:35 p.m. or whether I should spend the evening crying, since I haven't had time to do so all day and have really wanted to. Dad's fine, but has a new, interesting scar to add to his huge collection. He had surgery to put a defibrilator under his collarbone. The defibrilator is not like the old pacemakers, which had only one wire, or the pacemakers of a few years ago that had two wires, but this new one has THREE wires, and it does everything except call 911. The doctor was so nice and informative, and thought Dad was the greatest patient he's had in a long time. I think this is about the tenth doctor (cardiologist, kidney specialist, endocrinologist, vein specialist, and who knows what else) and they all have been excellent. After the rough start that I last wrote about, I can say that the doctors have been informative, helpful and caring. The excellent nursing staff is eager to meet Dad's needs before he knows he needs something. I love a hospital with a good union! Dad has three library books overdue that he wanted me to take back to the library. It's not in a convenient location, and since I have so much on my plate I asked "What's the fine?" He said "Oh, there's no fine, but I have a moral obligation to return it as soon as possible in case someone else wants to read it." So he's in the hospital having had two heart attacks, and he's concerned for the people who might want to read the books that he hasn't been able to return. Guess I'll be going to the library tomorrow. 

Dad's better, but Still in the Hospital

When Mom was in the hospital, she wasn't the best patient. I wondered what was the fewest number of times I could visit and still be a "good daughter." Dad is so fun to be around that I find myself wondering what's the most visits I can make in a day. I can't remember most of his jokes, but the following is typical. A doctor came into Dad's room while I was there and asked a bunch of questions and listed to his heart. "Who was that?" I asked when he left. 

Dad: The kidney doctor. 

Me: I thought your kidney doctor was a woman.

Dad: I have two kidney doctors. But, I have two kidneys, too!