Oi vey!  

A Shirley Update!

Well, she woke up this morning calling for Armand.  I came in and got her up, well before he caretaker arrived.  Covered her legs with a throw and placed her in the living room.  She asked where Armand was and why he wasn’t helping her up.  I told her he was gone, for about 5 to 10 years now.  (Shirley in quotes, me without.)

• “Gone?  Where did he go?”
• He’s dead Shirley.
• “How?”
• His body just gave out and he died.
• “Really?”
• Yes, he died in Santa Fe in the hospice there.
• “Does Richie know?”
• Yes, he knew but he’s gone too.
• “No he’s not, I just talked to him the other day.”
• Sorry Shirley, but he’s been gone now for about 4 years.  He had a heart attack.
• “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
• We did Shirley and that’s about when you had your first stroke.
• “I had a stroke?”
• You had 4 strokes, maybe more.
• “Really?  4 strokes?  Why don’t I remember?”
• Strokes affect your memory.
• “I have a good memory.  I should remember all this.”
• I guess I should go for the trifecta here.  Anita’s dead too.
• “Good, I never liked her.  You wouldn’t have liked her either.”
• Marylou now lives less than 30 minutes from here.
• “I know, she lived here for a few days and you got rid of her.”
• That you remember, but you don’t remember anything about Armand and Richie passing?
• “Nobody told me that they died.”
• Shit, I tell you everything, good or bad.
• “Really?”
• and on and on and on

What a way to start the day.  She’s still sure we never told her any of this, but she mentioned that we probably did it so as not to cause her worry.  I could go on and it could sound humorous to some, but she was truly confused and it wasn’t a fun chat.

Nina, I’m not sure how you would have handled the questions or how you had handled them in the past, but I just told the truth.

She’s planning on joining me for dinner tuesday evening at Rialto.  I may just stay home if she insists on coming.

She’s reading now and seems to enjoy the activity.  I like talking to her, but it still bothers me that she’s so confused.

Well, not really, but at night when it counts, I’m A L O N E!  I have the entire bed to myself.  I will be the only one snoring in the room.  I can stretch out and flop my arm in any direction without hitting anyone.  A.L.O.N.E.

Nina is eastward bound.  Heading to Chicago to clean ML’s landfill with Andy and Debra.  Debra?  Are you wondering who Debra is?  To bad, I’m not telling you if you don’t know.

Found out yesterday that Erin’s father has had no driver’s license for 4 years.  Four years?  Hmmm, that time frame sounds very familiar.  Could it be that since Erin was born this dumb ass had no driver’s license?  Four years?  I’m betting he got the D.U.I. that cost him his driver’s license after Erin was born.  Now NM is a drunk driver’s paradise with provisional driver’s licenses and the drunk having the ability of having a D.U.I. expunged after a period of time.  He’s told Tori that his past D.U.I.’s have already been expunged and he has a clear driver’s license, so clear it doesn’t exist!  I swear to God, I don’t know why I haven’t ended his dumb ass already.

Since Nina has made arrangements for Shirley’s care while she’s gone, so much so that I can vacation somewhere myself, I will be hiking a lot while she’s gone.  No, I’m not taking a hiking vacation, just going back country for a bit during the day, each day I hope.  I figure to see what it’s like to walk as much as Beth and Nancy.  I swear they walk insane amounts of steps daily.  Over 100,000 steps weekly frequently.  That’s over 10 miles a week.  Crazy females.  I’m hoping to do some trips to the SF Nat. Forest and hike a few trails Jamie and I walked some years back.  They hit some good altitude and end up in some seriously remote places.

Well, that’s all for now.