Hey ya’ll!

It feels like forever since I’ve blogged last. The last eight months have been trying to say the least.

In November, December and January, I lost an uncle. That’s a total of 3 uncles in 3 months. All around the holidays. My dad, bless his soul, took it really hard.

 Really hard.

 

In the 20 years that I’ve lived away from the Pittsburgh area,my dad spoke to me less and less often on the phone. His hearing was getting worse every year and he just didn’t feel comfortable talking on the phone.

This suddenly changed in mid-January

. I called as usual and instead of just saying your mom’s not home, I’ll have her call you back later, he wanted to talk a little. He lamented on how everyone is dying around him. He was very depressed and he was sure that he was next. Then he said something that threw me for a loop.  He asked me to come up to visit so he could see me one last time before he dies.

 

YIKES.

How do you deny a request like that?!?

Of course, you don’t.

I made plans to visit as soon as possible right after I got off the phone. I flew home at the end of January and spent some long-past-due time with my parents. My dad had been tethered to an oxygen tank for a number of years so most of the time we spent together was watching his favorite game shows with him. He really loved the old game shows from the 70’s and early 80’s.

We didn’t talk all that much but he seemed quite content that I was there. I went home feeling good for having visited but already missing my family.

 

Less than a month later, I got the news that no child of any age wants to hear, my dad had collapsed and was in the hospital. He wasn’t expected to make it.

 

I rushed home in a state of shock. I got to say my final goodbye to the man I called Daddy for 46 years. My dad was taken off of life support and passed away the evening of February 18, 2016.

 

I guess my heart really wasn’t in blogging or anything much really. It somehow felt selfish to be so involved with mundane things when so much of my family has been mired in grief for so many months. I held my breath throughout March waiting for the news that someone else had passed.

 

Thankfully, no more family members have passed on since my dad’s passing.

 

I was finally regaining my footing when the company my husband works for went on strike in April. He was immediately sent out of state to work indefinitely. I became a solo parent overnight. Talk about stressful!

 

The strike ended over the Memorial Day weekend and we have resumed our “normal” crazy life. I will be returning to blogging once again. YAY! I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about everything. I hope you’ll come back to read it.