The Light and the Dark

Saturday afternoon was a banner one. I filled a cooler with ice, brought out the beer, and welcomed Norman and his 2 fine boys, future professor Michael and future musical educator (my guess) Benjamin, Mike,Jeff, and Rob, and we all hunkered down in the football room to watch our beloved Canes. Wifey met Rob's girlfriend Monica at the Obama headquarters, to volunteer at the phone bank. This is funny, as Rob is a pretty solid Republican, and Monica, a Colombian American beauty, is as liberal politically as anyone I know. Wifey really digs Monica -- wants to spend more time with her. Rob's take is that it's because they share political views. Wifey's reply: "No, Rob, I like you but hate your politics." Anyway, we ordered pizza after the Canes went down 14-0. The arrival of the pizza and Michael's rally cap seemed to do the trick; our boys took over the game, and won impressively. D1 was at Sunniland Center, selling mezcal for her part time employer, and Wifey and Monica stopped in to buy a bottle. They joined us in the football room, where Mike and Michael sampled the mezcal, in honor of the Canes victory. It was a terrific Saturday -- capped off by my visit to see my effervescent D1 at Vintage Liquors. Then Sunday, Wifey and I picked D1 up and drove to the condo of dark shadows, to see my in laws. My father in law continues his downward spiral -- barely leaving his bed, and becoming more and more needy towards my mother in law. She's finally at her breaking point, but maintains a stubborn refusal to bring in the help she needs. Wifey found her a terrific nursing aid, who will be a tremendous asset, but wants to be guaranteed 15 hours per week at $10 per hour. My in laws have the money, but my mother in law's pride is such that she wants to "leave something for the grandkids," and doesn't want the aide for more than 5 hours per week. After lunch, as we drove her back, I lost it. I called her some unpleasant names -- specifically a stubborn old C word. It wasn't so bad, since she can't hear me, and my words hopefully had the effect on Wifey I wanted: she has to give her mother an ultimatum -- either accept the help and advice, or go it alone. My mother in law reluctantly agreed to hire the lady for the 15 hours, but I'm pretty confident things won't go smoothly. When the time comes that my poor father in law will need to go to a nursing home -- things will get truly ugly. He told Wifey clearly he was NOT leaving. As they approach their 90th year, I see a bad moon rising for my in laws, and, necesarrily, Wifey, their only child. Meanwhile, my ancient Mom remains in the on site nursing home hospital, getting blood transfusions, to combat a life threatening anemia. Since she's not yet on Medicaid, we had to pay the private room rate to make sure they keep her room for her -- $275 per day. It looks life there's going to be a 10 day "pathetic vacation" with the Miami Jewish Home -- so nearly $3k to keep a room empty. My mother would have NEVER paid that much for a hotel room. She loved to travel, but was always practical and budget conscious. So ironically, at the time past when she can appreciate anything, she had to pay Ritz Carlton prices for a sparse nursing home room. Eric and Dana, who after very humble upbringings, DO travel luxuriously, have booked us into a Kimpton Hotel for the Chicago trip to watch our Canes play Notre Dame. The rooms are about $300 per night. I'm not complaining...