A lot has happened in my life this week, though not so much involving algorithms.
Last Saturday, I was in Portland. Liz and I flew out the previous Saturday to spend a week with Erin and Taylor and the boys, or most of a week. We were going to drive up to Seattle on Wednesday to see Nate and Cindy and hoping the new baby would be born by then so we could see him, too. We also set up a meeting with my brother, John, and his daughter, Lily.
The best laid plans. Cindy's due date was September 12. The baby hadn't come by then. Or by the 18th, when we flew out. Or by Wednesday, 22 September. We wouldn't have seen him anyway, because Arlo, the four-year-old, caught sniffles from a classmate, which he generously spread around. Sunday, Crosby had a fever, not high, but he was showing the effects, grabbing at his nose, and being low energy in the evening. Crosby still had symptoms, but seemed a bit better Monday.
We had fun, playing Mousetrap and other games. We ate out or brought food in, and we ate well.
Tuesday, Taylor was feeling under the weather. Erin had planned a trip to the Pumpkin Patch, so the rest of us went, and left Taylor wrapped in blankets in his chair in the living room. We went through a corn maze, saw a few cute little animals, and got pumpkins for Erin and each boy. I bought elderberry wine, because I've never tried it before. We went back to the apartment, and Taylor was feeling well enough to join us for dinner at our Airbnb, which is a guest house in back of a house a few blocks from the Clarke's apartment.
Wednesday, Liz woke up with a headache and congestion. She looked wiped out, so I sent her back to bed and texted John and Nate and cancelled our visit to Seattle. Liz slept for over two hours. She woke up when Erin came over with some soup for us. She had another nap in the afternoon, almost as long, but was feeling up to having dinner at the Clarkes'.
Nate told us Cindy had an induction scheduled for Saturday evening, which was two weeks past her due date, and was the day we were to fly back to Columbus. Liz decided to change her flight and stay a couple of extra days. She was hoping to pop up to Seattle Sunday to see Baby H, but Nate said Cindy didn't want any visitors for a few days after the birth. Besides, Liz was still coughing, which was one reason to delay her flight.
Both boys were back in school on Friday. Erin and Taylor took us to the Japanese Gardens, which were beautiful and peaceful, and made for a very nice afternoon. Then we got the boys from school and drove to Salty's, a seafood restaurant for dinner.
We went over to the Clarkes' for breakfast Saturday, then I left at 9:30 to get to the airport. I never learned how to set up direction in our rental car, a Nissan Maxima, but my phone gave me directions through my hearing aids, so the sound was clear, and I got where I needed to be.
Sunday we got an update on Cindy, but with very little detail before I went to bed that night. Monday around 11 EDT I texted to see what was happening. Nate texted a bit later to report the Baby H was born at 7:18 am PDT, so half an hour before I texted. The first information Nate shared was the the baby was "red and hairy". And Cindy was fine.
Liz left for the airport within an hour. We got statistics on the baby, weight, length, positive hearing test. Then sometime later, a name. Alistair Changning Hopkin, welcome to the world.
I got a toothache Monday. The pain came and went, but it was bad enough I was worried about it.
Liz made it home. She was pretty tired when she arrived, so we went to bed pretty quickly after the drive from the airport.
Tuesday we went to work. I still had issues with my tooth. Liz got a nap.
Wednesday my brother sent a text. It said there was a medical emergency overnight, and that that morning, Cal had died.
I stared at the text, trying to make a connection to Cal. Who was that? Then I remembered; my niece had a baby in July, and named him Callum. My two-month-old grandnephew had died suddenly. I never met him, but I had been enjoying the pictures my niece and her husband had shared. He was an adorable little guy, full of smiles. And now he's gone.
I still don't know how to deal with that. I don't know what to say about it. I haven't been talking about my new grandson because I feel like I should also talk about my grandnephew, and I can't. How can I be so happy about Alistair and so devastated about Callum at the same time? My daughter wrote a nice piece about trying to deal with all that.
Thursday, I took our old Camry in to see about the brakes, which suddenly had a lot of play in them. The mechanic said the brake lines were completed rotted, and the fluid was all gone. He said the car would need other things to be driveable, including tires soon. He was estimating about $1,200. This is a '97 Camry, 25 years old. So we needed a new car.
I also called my dentist because my tooth seemed to be getting worse. I got a message that the office was closed for the day. I took some Tylenol that evening, and was able to sleep. Friday morning I called the dentist's office again, and got the same message. I left a message that I had a toothache and wanted to see the dentist. I took meds again Friday night, but couldn't sleep for most of the night. Around 3 am I took ibuprofen, too. I did get to sleep some time after that.
I was awoken by my phone, which turned out to be the dentist's office. It was 7:50, and they offered any appointment at 9 or 8:30. I took 8:30. I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and walked to the dentist. I was 15 minutes early. The dentist came straight in, and we talked about my toothache. He suggested I needed a root canal. So I got one. He found a crack in the tooth that seemed to explain the pain. He said if the crack goes all the way down, I may lose the tooth later, but he recommended trying to save the tooth. I agreed. So now I am recovering from a root canal, with follow up in a week and a half.
While I was at the dentist, Liz and Sharon were looking over cars on the Carmax website. Soon after I got home, they drove over to take a look. They chose an '18 Subaru Impreza. Not long after they got back, they were told the computer systems were back online, and they could complete the purchase, so they went back. We have a new (used) car. We decided to call her Prudence. She is replacing Molly, but kind of displacing our main car, Scooter, an '07 Honda Fit we've had since '09. Sharon is donating Molly to NPR.
So, It's been a busy week, a challenging week. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. As Erin said, we have managed to wiggle through, and will just have to keep going, on into next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment