What a week!

Dear Mom,

What a week it's been! It started out with a holiday on Monday. Usually we are heading over to Uncle John and Aunt Bertsie's on Monday. They weren't going to do a Labor Day picnic this year, because it is too much work for them as they are getting older. I'm glad they didn't put all of that on themselves, but boy, oh boy, did I miss not getting together with family and friends on the last holiday of the summer. We've been doing that for so many years now. I also hated not having you get out of the house. I did get out of the house,I was invited to a party. Three of my former students (siblings) were celebrating their birthdays together. I went over there for a few hours. It was a nice time of fellowship and good food. There was some amazing barbecue guys that had brisket, ribs, and chicken. I had the brisket and ribs, but was too full for the chicken sadly. I heard that was really good, too. I got home and made sure you had your dinner. Tuesday was back to work, but the thing that made it better was the fact that that night some friends and I were going to see the play Wicked!!!!! I got two tickets when a friend ordered them a few months ago, because I know you like doing that sometimes. The only thing is I wasn't sure if you would actually be up for it by the time it actually came around. Well, you haven't been up for much lately because your legs are bothering you so much. I knew it would be too much to try to have you go. But...then what was I going to do with that other ticket that I already paid for? I didn't mind asking someone, I just needed to find someone who would understand that they may not be able to go if you decided that you wanted to. Just a week or so ago I was talking to my friend Angie and asked her what she thought, and she said she would love to go, but would understand if you ended up going. I didn't even bother to mention it to you again, because you have been in lots of pain, the past couple of weeks. So, Tuesday I told you I would be going out with friends and would be back later. I went and had a wonderful time. That play was absolutely amazing!!!!! It was so incredible, I cried when it was over!! If you were the old you, I think you would have really loved it too, but I think it would have been too loud for you now and you probably would have been a little bit afraid at some parts. Lately, it hasn't taken much to in a sense "frighten" you. We watch kid's movies and you are bothered by the villain characters. I hated that we couldn't go together, but I'm thankful that the ticket was used and you and Bella were just fine. I was able recently to get you an appointment with a physical therapist, so hopefully you will start getting around better. Then hopefully we can go to something else together soon.
Well, Wednesday morning brought about something I never would have imagined would keep me from leaving for work on time. You were up and said you were looking for your wig. You always keep it on a styrofoam head by the closet. It wasn't there, it wasn't on either side of your bed, it wasn't under your covers or under your pillow. It wasn't in the bathroom anywhere. It wasn't in the living room anywhere. It wasn't in the kitchen, I actually even looked in the refrigerator, just to be sure. I think I even looked in the oven. I looked on all the kitchen chairs, everywhere I could think of that you go and did not see it anywhere. Finally, the Lord gave me the idea to check the front hall closet and to check the shelf on top. I found it in one of pappy's hats...thankfully!! That definitely made for an interesting morning. Little did I know that wasn't the half of it. I get to school, teach the couple of classes I do, then went to get some appointments for you. As I was getting one of the appointments made, the fire alarm goes off. It scared me to death, I was almost done with scheduling the appointment and didn't know what to do, so I just finished quickly. I quickly turned the lights off and went to the office, got my umbrella and wasn't sure what else to do, but went outside. Glenda had the keys to her car so we waited in there rather than waiting in the rain. Only then did I realize this was a strange fire drill. The poor kids were all standing in the rain. Even though we try to do different drills on different days, this was a little much with so much rain. When we got in Glenda's car she told me that there was a small chemical spill in the Chemistry lab closet. The fire marshall was called and had us evacuate the building until it could be determined how bad the spill was. About 5 or 6 fire trucks came and some police. The place looked quite interesting! And it was about time for the K-4/K-5 students to be picked up...poor parents. By that time the kids were told that they could wait in the gym until the DEP came to check out the spill. So K-4 - 12th grade were all in the gym together...wow. We just stayed in the car until we were told it was safe to come back into the building...interesting day!! To say the least...
Thursday morning presented another couple of challenges. I got up to take Bella out, it was pouring rain. We only went out for a couple of minutes because the rain was coming down so hard. Bella and I got back into the house and you mentioned that your bed was soaking wet. So, I had to change your bed. I took off the wet sheets, cleaned the pad that's under the sheets, put the new sheets on, then went to bring the wet sheets and pajamas down to the laundry. Then I decided to check the carpet to see if it was wet, and it was. I checked in the little side room and it was very wet in there. So I got the blankets and rugs that I had just finished taking up from in front of that door and washing, and put them back down on the floor. I wasn't able to empty the dehumidifier because I didn't have time. I made your breakfast and made sure you were set with your meds, and then went off to work. Of course by that time I was quite worn out. Made it there and made it through the day, and the sun even came out for a minute or two, after about 4 days in a row of clouds and rain. We were able to get you to the dermatologist to see about the rash, he thinks it's just you scratching, kind of a behavioral thing really. He did give us a couple of medications for you. We'll see how this works. Definitely an interesting week. We made it though! Hope to have many more weeks...maybe a little calmer... together. Love you!