Well, this has been a week.  I arrived at my parents’ just after the plumbers used up all of their well water to fix a bad pipe.  It has been up and down from there.

My father is not mobile yet, but the nurses who come in daily say that he is doing well.  We’ll be going to the doctor’s on Monday.  My mother is shrinking and “forgets” many things.  For the first time I see much of my grandmother in her.  It was good to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephew as they passed through the area.  He has been travelling to job interviews in Michigan, Illinois and the Carolinas. 

My days are full of care-taking right now, which is fine, why I’m here:  fixing breakfast, doing dishes, fixing lunch and dinner, doing laundry, grocery shopping, errands, cleaning, reminding my mother to take her medication, trying to understand what they’ll be capable of as opposed to where they are now. 

 
My coast life seems far away, but I’m tied to and worried about my commitments there.  I need to stretch my mind and time to get my own work done, too.  Believe it or not, I’m still feeling the effects of the time change, I think.  There is the added complication, as of yesterday, of my car and the wicked shimmy in the front end.  I’ll find out tomorrow if it’s the new tires that have fallen out of balance somehow, or if it’s transmission/engine related (please, let it be the tires, please.)

 
Last night I dreamed about lots of dogs around me, tails wagging, all different sizes and colors.  I don’t know what that means, but it was a happy little dream.  I don’t know what any of this means right now. Maybe as the days go by, and I get reacquainted with Ohio, life will also become less dreamlike and more focused.