OH WHERE, OH WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

Hello there ladies and gentlemen. I feel like I have been absent forever. The fact of the matter is there was this little matter of my mother landing herself in the hospital. She is much better now, however she needs to completely alter her lifestyle or she will no longer have the same digestive system that she started out with in this world due to the doctors removing part of it if she continues to be naughty. And she was very naughty. In addition to maMAH being in the hospital, my grandmaMAH, the spry yet opinionated and demanding 104 year old (who watches Fox News and thinks Bill O'Reilly is just a nice Irish boy), lives with maMAH and needed help as well. I have never washed so many sheets and towels, nor prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday in....well, ever. Bit of an eye opener at what the older two generations are accustomed to, expect and of course need. PaPAH was there, but working most of the time and about to run out of the country for GOD knows what technological contribution.... so the time was mainly spent with the womens.

I also, and here was the cultural eye opener I was not quite prepared for...Apparently in Irish families it is completely appropriate for one to write the obituary for another family member prior to their demise so that said family member can approve it....Prior to said demise. Sooooo, I researched, asked questions, pulled out old newspaper articles, etc...and wrote grandmaMAH's obit. And yes, she approved it after telling me to include the part about her being recommended for the Peace Corp (!?!) I left the year of her demise blank, but teased her that it would be sometime around 2040 at the rate she's going. Her obit of course included the sinking of the Titanic, the Great Flu Epidemic, Lindbergh's first solo flight, the kidnapping of his infant son, the wars: WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam (family, siblings, husband, son, etc present in each), the Great Depression, inventions like the car, the plane, the TeeVee, the Computer...She's pretty much lived through it all, so it was actually quite fascinating that she's still so with it and able to discuss it all in detail. Also interesting to find out that she was a school teacher while she was raising her family, with a two year degree, and that during that career she went back to school to finish her four year degree - the whole while going to school, raising a family and teaching school simultaneously. Did my heart good to know a woman already did something akin to what I'm attempting to accomplish, and did it during a time that was a lot less friendly to a woman trying to have both a family and a career. I don't even have children, so what the foo do I have to complain about when I'm too busy to sleep?

All in all a very valuable week hanging with the women from generations spanning back to 1900, despite the circumstances, and a time I'll treasure for a long time.