Just A Few More Days

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Oh how I count the days until I’m out of here…at least for the weekend. We used to take a trip to the beach every year, but the past couple of years have been a little tight for us budget-wise. That’s why it’s so nice to be able to take this trip now.

Hubby and I had a talk tonight. We were making a final list of what we need to take, going over directions since he’s never been to Edisto, and just talking about what we’re going to do on the trip. We agreed that even though we both really want children, we admit we wouldn’t be able to afford this trip at all right now if we did have a baby.  We’d be spending our money on the typical baby necessities like the Maclaren stroller I like, diapers, a car seat, and don’t even get me started on the nursery.

We wouldn’t have the ability to take the dog with us if we had a baby in tow, and we wouldn’t be able to meet up and hang out with friends like we plan to do.  As much as we want children we both agreed we definitely enjoy the freedom we have without them.  We’ve agreed that we’re not going to try to force the beginnings of a family.  It will happen when it happens, and we’re going to enjoy this time we have to do things like this right now.

Tags: beach vacation, children baby stroller, edisto beach, maclaren stroller, travel

Just An Update

I just wanted to throw in a quick update to let you all know Grandma passed away this morning. I don’t feel like pouring it all out again here, but you can read what I’ve written about it on Everyday Randomness.

I haven’t really done much today other than catch a few hours of sleep finally, and I spent a good bit of time with my own grandparents. I always run to them when I’m upset, but today it hit me even harder because I realize how little the amount of time I have left with them really is. I didn’t end up going to court with my cousin, and she totally understood just like I would have understood if our roles had been reversed.

I’m supposed to go shopping with my aunt tomorrow. My aunt needs a new stove top, and I promised my sister in law I’d check out espresso machines since we both want one, but I doubt I’ll be going. It will depend on if Hubby chooses to take the day off work or not. He was going to come home today, but he was afraid he’d have to take a day off later in the week for the funeral, so he chose to work.

He’s just now beginning his grieving process, so I see him deciding to spend the day at home tomorrow. There won’t be a traditional funeral, and services are being postponed until Mother’s Day when the family can meet at Arlington Nation Cemetery to scatter her ashes over her late husband’s grave.

Hoping They’ll Be Civil

I promised my cousin I’d go to court with her tomorrow. She’s in the middle of a divorce, and she’s going in for her first custody hearing. She’s scared out of her mind because she doesn’t know what to expect. She doesn’t know if her soon to be ex is going to cooperate or not, what the judge is going to do, and all that.

I know she’s so worried because even though the divorce has been civil she’s heard a ton of horror stories from her friends about how their ex’s were perfect and then suddenly decided to be a jerk as far as the kids were concerned.

I’m trying to keep her calm and remind her this isn’t all Jerry Springer-like. She doesn’t have DNA testing and all that kind of stuff going on. Her soon to be ex has agreed to share custody, and they’ve even written up what they agreed the terms should be. Now they’ve just got to get the judge to approve it. Her soon to be ex has been great about giving her $200 a week for the kids…way more than most states would require in child support. We just hope things go well with the child support when all this stuff is said and done.

I just don’t want the kids to suffer. I know it’s going to be hard enough on them with their parents splitting. Luckily for me I was almost 18 when my parents separated, but my sister was 15, and even at that age it really made an impact on her life.

Tags: child support, civil custody battle, custody battle, divorce

Coming To An End

No one’s very happy around here today.  Just a few minutes ago my sister-in-law informed me that Hospice called my mother-in-law.  They told her they didn’t expect Hubby’s grandma to live through the day.  Mid-July they told us she could live anywhere from a week to months, they really didn’t know.  She would have a chance of living for a few more years if she could have the heart surgery, but it wasn’t possible anymore.

Last night she had another heart attack.  She’s been sedated for a few days now because of her pain, so she didn’t show any signs of the heart attack but it showed up on paper.  By this morning she’d started to go downhill.

Hubby has prepared himself for this the best he can.  Knowing exactly what’s going on has given him time to prepare himself, otherwise he would be a complete mess.  We both have an understandably hard time dealing with death, but Hubby can’t even bring himself to visit the person once they get to that “death look”.  I understand why it’s hard for him, and we let him know that it’s ok.  His grandma told him not to come visit her anymore.  Just like his other grandma told him, she wants him to remember her in her good days, not the bad.

Now I’m trying to prepare things around here.  We don’t expect her to make it through the night tonight, so I’ve cleared my schedule for Thursday and Friday.  Depending on when she passes the funeral will be one of those days.  She’s being cremated, and she’s asked for us to hold a very small funeral with just the immediate family present.

Tags: death, end of life, family, grandparents