The end of an era

My mother died July 5 in Delaware. Stu and I arrived home from Delaware just yesterday from the family gathering. We saw lots of family and friends at her viewing, and that part was good, but it was a sad occasion. She will be missed by many people.

For two weeks in a row, Stu traveled to Delaware on a Wednesday and home again on a Saturday. I was in Delaware for a visit two weeks ago, but the Tuesday night before I was to return to New Mexico, my mom was taken to the emergency room with pneumonia. Her heath was very fragile, and Friday, before I left on Saturday, as a family we decided to transfer her care to Delaware Hospice. In the meantime, a doc in the same emergency room as my mom confirmed that my stomach ache was appendicitis, so had an appendectomy while I was east. The whole situation seemed kinda surreal. Stu came out Wednesday the 30th (appendectomy day) to help me recover and to get home on Saturday. The surgeon did a great job, and I recovered quickly from the surgery.

My mom died the following Monday, and we were back in Delaware by Wednesday. The rest of the year is packed with travel, but we will squeeze in one more trip to Delaware over the Labor Day weekend to visit my Dad and Kent. They both are handling this with great strength.