We are heading out to visit my mother tomorrow. As usual, our son will be taking care of our house, which I so appreciate! I cannot stress how much stress this takes off my shoulders. And, every little bit of help is appreciated.
Whenever I look back at all of our family visits up to Colorado Springs, I have such wonderful memories of when our children were little and absolutely could not wait to see Gramps, Maija, and their uncle. Our children absolutely loved visiting them, and of course, seeing Aspen (my father’s Cocker Spaniel) was the frosting on the cake.
Our trips always included a welcome-back lunch that consisted of Margo’s Chicago Style hotdogs – which my father would pick up from a food truck down in Old Colorado City. We would sit out on the patio, gazing up at majestic Pike’s Peak, and enjoy the lazy summer days.
Hmmm… A lot has happened since those happy days when going to Colorado Springs was the yearly family vacation that all of us looked forward to. My father has been gone for a while, as has Aspen. And, my mother is not the same energetic, fun-loving person she used to be.
Instead, our “vacation” trips up to Colorado Springs are spent taking care of business and making sure my mother is well-cared for. We share all of our family time with one of her 24/7 caretakers. She depends on them for everything and I guess I do, too! Without those wonderful ladies to take care of her, she would have had to move from her home, which she repeatedly says she does not want to do. (With an emphasis on the NOT!)
I will continue to post entries that I am in the process of writing right now, since we will be pretty busy taking care of things. It’s a nine hundred mile drive, so I’ve got our books loaded on my MP3 player. We’ll probably start with one of John Mortimer’s Rumpole mysteries. A little humor never hurt anyone!