Goodbye to Grandma

My dear grandmother, Juanita Mescal Daugherty, passed away on Sunday, April 17th. I was at a Rockies game with some friends; when I saw my uncle Jim calling, I knew what had happened. I spent the rest of the game pretty melancholy; although you know something is going to happen to someone you love in the near future, it doesn't make it any easier when they actually pass.

I flew out on Tuesday where my cousin Brett picked me up. There had been some rough, rainy weather before I got there, so the highways were a little backed up. We took some back roads and a state highway to finally get back into Cincinnati. We headed straight to my aunt Connie's for a beans and cornbread dinner - I was so happy for that meal. Grandma always fixed that for me whenever I visited; guess I'd call it a "signature" meal within the Daugherty side of my family.

That night, we rode out a pretty severe storm system that had tornadoes, hurricane winds and heavy rain. Brett's house is about a block from a fire station where apparently the tornado warning sirens are located; that was definitely a noisy night.

The services for Grandma were nice, although I could do without the open casket - I know Grandma didn't care for that much, either. She didn't look like herself when looking straight at her; they always seem to distort the mouth when they glue it together. I saw so many family members that I hadn't seen in years; we definitely had a full house. We went to uncle Stuart's house afterwards and chatted with people for hours. Their church provided enough food to feed an army, I swear! Being with my family was certainly the most calming thing for me.

I spent time with my aunt Barb (uncle Jim's wife) on Thursday; she had just lost her mother about 3 weeks before, so it's all pretty hard on her. She's been staying at her mom's house since her aunt Helen is in town until July; so I fixed breakfast for everyone and we just hung out and laughed for a couple of hours. We went back that night with pizza's and my cousin Tammy and her family came to visit with us. It was great to spend some quality time with them - if it weren't for the humidity, I would live much closer to all of them. But this dry climate person just doesn't handle the atmosphere there very well.

Now that it's all over, guess I'll concentrate on finishing my classes and mom. I'll send out some updates on her shortly.

Grandma says the Darndest things

From my cousin Brett: "I got such a kick out of this. I visited Grandma on Saturday and listened to her complain about everything, especially the food (she's 95 and in a nursing home). I didn't go back Sunday with Mom and Faith. Grandma is having trouble with her foot, no circulation, so quite painful. The nurse came in Sunday and was checking her foot out, then commented what she needed to do. Grandma said, "you know what would make my foot feel better? A big pile of bacon." Go Grandma!

Dallas - Trip #1

Arrived Saturday at 1:30pm. It was a nice day. Mom and Eli picked me up from the airport; we went from there to an extended stay hotel to check in as apparently mom wanted have me close. When we got to the hotel, I put mom into a wheelchair; she just cannot walk very far, she is so weak. Once we got to the room, I put mom's things away and we left her to rest - where she promptly parked herself into a chair and turned on the TV.


After we got mom settled in, Eli and she showed me the first of two assisted living facility not far from mom's apartment; it was nice, astetically pleasing both inside and out. She showed me the main areas (there was one) and a room that would work for mom. Nice, but seemed a bit impersonal.

We then went to mom's apartment. I knew I was walking into a mess; Eli had gotten a lot done, but there was so much more to do. The bathroom is pretty much unusable; there are tons of boxes and plastic storage bins in all shapes, sizes and types you could think of, stacked everywhere. We moved a few things, took out some trash and a box of books to donate and left. I went out and got mom and I something to eat then went back to the hotel to hang out for awhile. After talking with mom about furniture, I left for a bit to investigate beds; she decided that she wants an adjustable bed so I went on a search for that, a wall power source for my iphone and a battery for hers. Pretty uneventful.

Today, mom was going to go to church but didn't feel up to it so I went with Eli. Its held in a middle school and mostly for people "ages 50 and better" (that's what the church info says, I swear). There were probably 50-60 people there; nice bunch of folks. Met the pastor who reminds me of my cousin Tammy's huChand Jeff with hair combed in a slicked back way and tall (but older and grayer, of course). Eli is holding a dinner at her house tomorrow night with us, the pastor and a few friends from church to pray for her health. That ought to be interesting.

So anyhooo, after church we grabbed lunch, took it back to mom and then got her up and out to check another facility; it was started by a church and is completely

Happy Opening Day!

What a great day for baseball - 1/2 day off from work, beautiful weather (70s), capped off with a loss :( But thats OK - a day at a baseball game, win or lose, is better than spending a Friday afternoon at work if you can make it happen. Especially when its opening day! I left work at 11:30, parked around 10 blocks away for cheaper parking and purposes of exercise (maybe it was 12, I haven't counted yet), picked up some Quiznos and was in the Stadium by 12:30. There were bands playing in the streets, bouncy thingys (not for adults apparently), lots of food and trinkets and people running around everywhere. My baseball buddy (and good friend) Kirsten showed up about an hour later with her son Kenny and brother Mark. Rockies started out great, but faltered about mid game, losing 7-6 in 11 innings. Still an exciting game, but when are they going to get rid of Huston Street? He loses opportunities for us too often; time to think about letting him loose. But all is well in the baseball world - we have tickets to see the Cubs on April 17, Jimenez Bobblehead day :)