apologies

I started this blog all gangbusters and have had to let it sit for the past almost-week.  I haven't been back to my sewing room in that time, either.  I put over 900 miles on my car this past weekend and drove through five states.  I had a lovely visit with an old friend and met her adorable infant daughter, and then went right to visit my dying aunt in the hospital and console her overworked and grieving daughter, the same cousin whose husband was killed in January for whom I made the Tool Shed quilt I pictured in an earlier post.  Apparently my aunt had suffered from cancer earlier in her life - which I hadn't known, because my own mother was sick at the time and she hadn't wanted to trouble her further - and it returned with a vengeance.  Her suffering was brief, and she passed away yesterday morning.

My cousin has her hands full.  She drove through the night Friday into Saturday, bringing her mother-in-law and daughter along, and her brother obtained leave from the military to arrive right before my aunt passed, but the house is full of clutter and both of them live at least a thousand miles away.  My aunt's mind was impaired with painkillers by the time we all arrived - she could remember that she had made appointments, but not when exactly - and the hunt for documents or safe deposit box keys is stressful for my cousin.  My aunt's mother is alive but very frail and also lives far away - my cousin cares for her but arranged for a nurse in her absence - and is another source of worry.

Apparently, my aunt's death causes power of attorney over HER aunt to pass to me.  I had no idea, nor what a mess I'm walking into.  It sounded as though my great-aunt (for lack of a better term) has had Alzheimer's for some time, and no one can figure out who the attorney was who handled her will or assets, and my aunt was having a new law firm become involved and my great-aunt moved to a closer facility when she fell ill.  As my great-aunt is no relation of mine - my aunt was my mother's brother's widow - I've met her only a few times in my life, but she and her husband had no children and I worked in the state court system at the time she was redrawing her directives, so I was named second after my aunt. 

If nothing else, this is a good lesson to get your affairs in order and keep them current, I suppose.

On top of that I had my annual GYN exam yesterday.  The doctor confirmed what I've spend the last few years putting off - it's time for a hysterectomy.  Fortunately, it can be done laparoscopically, and will only remove the uterus and cervix (so I will go through menopause naturally later), but it is still surgery and still another item on my plate. 

My Honey left town with his daughters on an impromptu vacation yesterday, which I didn't know about until the night before when I arrived home from my weekend.  On the one hand, it has been more stressful since my son is now here, and I need to make sure he's dropped off and picked up from camp on time, but on the other it's been nice not to have a house full of people to worry about with all the other junk going on.  I would love to find some time to get into my sewing room and relax in front of the machine for a while, and get caught back up with the Farmer's Wife blocks, or work on something else altogether.  Even though it looks like I'll be driving another 750 miles this weekend for the funeral, I'm hoping to find the time somewhere.