The Past Ten Days

The past ten days have been very difficult. As you know, my mother was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia. I brought her home from the hospital on Tuesday, and she's getting stronger, but I made three trips to her apartment yesterday, and it's been tiring for both of us (for my brother too, since he's been in regular contact).

While my mother was in the hospital, her youngest sister died. My aunt was one of those rare people who was beautiful both inside and out, and this loss is very hard on all of us. My mother had to be told in the hospital because the funeral was Monday, and we had reason to believe my mother would be released from the hospital on Monday. Marci (who my mother now refers to as a doll) would have taken my mother back to her apartment, but there was no lie I could come up with to explain why I wasn't there to do it. So Sunday, my brother told my mother what had happened. Then Monday he and I went to the funeral in New York City and Marci visited with my mother, who was kept the extra day as a precaution.

Tuesday after I'd brought our mother home, my brother called to say he'd just been informed that a member of our father's side of the family was seriously ill. So that's been weighing on us as well.

My hope for today is not to visit my mother, and have some time to catch up with things. I have emails to answer, phone calls to make, even newspapers to read. But, of course, that will depend on how well my mother does without my help. Which is kind of unpredictable right now.

My mother and I want to thank everybody for their prayers and thoughts and wishes. And we want all of you who have family members fighting their own illnesses to know that we're thinking of you as well, and wishing for the best.