Sunday, August 29
With miles and miles ahead of us today we got up early, finished packing the car, and then got ready for Sophie to arrive to look after Mother for a couple of days while we drove to Lubbock to get Jimmy Clint’s things out of storage in preparation for his transfer to the Lubbock County Courts Rehabilitation and Treatment Center.
Sophie arrived at 7:15 and we gave her some last minute instructions before we got in the Vibe and started the 450 mile drive to Lubbock.
We knew Mother was in good hands with Sophie and that TJ would be by at 10:15 to take Mother to church and then bring her back to the house for lunch.
We arrived at the storage facility in Lubbock around 3:15 and immediately set to work going through all the things we had put in there at the end of April. The rehab center provided a very specific list of what and how much of it Jimmy Clint would be allowed to take to the center with him, so we spent a lot of time picking out the clothes we thought he would like. We picked up a few extras of some articles of clothing, hoping that when Kyle delivered everything to the center, Jimmy would be able to go through them and get exactly what he wanted.
Around 5:00 we went to the Holiday Inn Express near the Civic Center and checked in, called Cathey to make arrangements to see Jaycie for a bit tonight, and then waited a while before going across the street to Walmart to pick up a few things that Jimmy didn’t have in the storage shed.
Cathey and Jaycie caught up with us in Walmart and after visiting for a few minutes, Cathey left Jaycie with us to continue our work. Jaycie was a great help in selecting just the right soaps, shaving cream, and other toiletries for her daddy. She also knew what kinds of tee-shirts and underwear he liked, so she was able to select those for him, also.
When we got back to the hotel, Jaycie went through the things that we had picked out for Jimmy from the storage shed and made some decisions about what she knew he liked and didn’t like.
Then, we went up to the room and visited while we helped Jaycie with her math homework. She is just starting the seventh grade and is already loaded down with assignments.
Around 8:00 we went back to the storage shed to look for a couple of pairs of shorts that Jaycie wanted us to get for Jimmy. Luckily, we found them and then got back across town to have Jaycie back home with Cathey in time to get ready for bed.
We then drove to the Lubbock County Jail and waited until 9:30, Jimmy’s scheduled visiting time. We only got to see him for 30 minutes, but managed to have a very good visit (under the circumstances) and got to read him a letter that Jaycie wrote while we were at the storage shed and driving her back to the house. Jimmy was also very pleased to learn that Jaycie had picked out or approved all the things that were selected for him to take to the rehab center when he is finally transferred.
We were worn out from the trip, the work, and the visit, so we left the jail at 10:00, returned to the hotel, checked email, and then turned in for the night.
Monday, August 30
We got up early this morning, checked out of the hotel, and then met Kyle for a late breakfast at Denny’s and transferred the suitcases and sacks of Jimmy’s belongings to his car so he can deliver them to the rehab center when Jimmy transfers out there. We can’t say enough about how important Kyle has been to us through this time…he has been extremely helpful to us and a true friend to Jimmy!
With breakfast out of the way and the car gassed up, we started the long trek back toward east Texas, but without the sense of urgency that we had yesterday. For one thing, we had already planned a trip for these two days…just not to Lubbock. But, when we knew that Jimmy was going to be transferred, it only made sense to employ Sophie for these two days and get this business taken care of.
Finally, about 5:00 we told ourselves that we were off the clock and no longer would discuss anything serious and anything family related. It was time to relax and pretend that we were off on a real vacation. Therefore, we took our time driving and stopped off north of Gainesville to pay homage to the Chickasaw Indians there before continuing to Durant to spend the night with members of the Choctaw Nation.
Tuesday, August 31
Enjoying our break from the usual routine, we took our time getting around this morning after a good night’s rest at the local Microtel. It's always amazing how we can meet such interesting folks in the breakfast bar at the motels. This morning was no exception when we wound up sharing a table with an elderly (yes, we realize we're getting up there in age ourselves...but this was an elderly, elderly) woman from Allen, TX. She shared much of her interesting life with us in basically a short amount of time! Fun and mindless!
We left Durant at noon and were back in Mineola by 2:30 to unload the car, start the laundry, run a few errands, and get settled in at Mother’s house…not a very exciting day, but some days are like that.
Wednesday, September 1
Can you believe it…September already…where has the year gone?!!!
It was busy around here as we had visitors throughout the day. The morning was pretty much the usual routine…breakfast and some routine cleanup chores. Roger Green, TJ’s handyman, called to say that he would be by sometime this afternoon to help remove the old kitchen range and begin the cutouts on the cabinet. That worked out well for us, giving us the use of the range, such as it was, for breakfast and lunch.
At-Home Healthcare sent out two people to see Mother. Kendra, an LVN, came by to introduce herself and get Mother’s medical history and vital signs, and Stan, a contract physical therapist, came in for an hour or so to do an evaluation. Both folks were friendly, very personable, and very professional, strengthening our belief that we had made the right decision to go with their company.
This afternoon I went ahead and removed the range from the kitchen. I had planned to just help Roger with it, but the longer he took to get here, the more important I thought it was that he be able to start to work on the cabinetry as soon as possible. Besides, I had helped Ernie pull the range out once upon a time, so I felt certain I could do it without causing any damage (to me or the kitchen).
It took Roger a couple of hours to do all the cutouts to the right size for the new range and after he’d cleaned up his mess and left, I started wiring the new outlet, a job that took much longer than I anticipated because the wires were very heavy gauge and didn’t cooperate at all in the small space that I had to work in. Finally though, the job was done and the outlet was mounted on the wall, just waiting for tomorrow morning and the delivery of the new range.
Barbara occupied her time during the day by taking care of our first of the month business, handling the routine household chores, and cleaning up some of the messes that Roger and I made as well as taking care of Mother.
Barbara: After we went to bed around 10, my cell rang which is a clue that I’m probably not going to like what I hear as family members know not to call after 9. Sure enough, Leah Renee’ was calling to tell me that Arnold Robbins, a very dear friend and former fellow teacher in Lubbock, died today of cancer. She had just found out on Facebook and knew that I would want to know.
Arnold was the kind of science teacher that could make the most disinterested students love the subject. One walk into his room was like walking into an experiment waiting to happen…rocks, animals, (I found his snake in my classroom one day and believe me I wasn’t a happy camper until Arnold took him back to his classroom.) and who knows what else could be found in his domain! But…Arnold’s real joy was in his after school program with rockets. He and the kids would spend hours just preparing, shooting them off, and discussing what happened right…what went wrong.
Together we coached Odyssey of the Mind for years and built teams that were definitely competitive in the big state of Texas.
But, the greatest thing about Arnold was becoming friends outside of school with Rosie and him. When he first started at Wheelock, he and Rosie were just a young, footloose, and fancy-free couple; but during the years my family got to watch his family grow with the birth of each of their three daughters. I even got to teach Alisha, their oldest, in the sixth grade before I left Lubbock!
When Henry was dying of cancer, Rosie and Arnold were there. And, after his death, they continued to walk with me.
Though the years since I left Lubbock and the miles have separated us, I still consider Arnold and Rosie some of my dearest friends and my heart is heavy with the loss.
Thursday, September 2
Jim: It was a big morning today as we awaited the arrival of the new kitchen range. We went over the floor and the place where Roger cut the cabinet out to make sure everything was going to be clean and okay once the delivery was made.
The Sears truck showed up in the driveway promptly at 10:00, and within a half hour the new range was installed and working…not only that, the door worked…easy to open and easy to close and lock…hallelujah!!!
Other than the excitement of getting the new range, it was a fairly calm day with just the regular chores and errands…get the mail, order refills on some of Mother’s meds, call Dr. Bankhead to request a referral for a neurologist to give us a second opinion on Mother’s conditions as it relates to Parkinsonism, go to the bank, pay bills, and make a Walmart run so it could be an official day.
All in all, it was just another day in Mineola.
Friday, September 3
This morning was taken up with getting Mother ready for another trip to Tyler; this time for a follow-up visit with her neurologist, Dr. Drew. Dr. Drew changed a couple of medications last month and wanted to see how things were going. Mother got a very good report this morning…some days are better for her than others, but her general mental acuity has shown marked improvement in the last month and for that, we are very grateful.
We returned to Mineola to find a great meal that Barbara had worked on while we were gone. TJ passed on it to go home and do some other work, but the three of us enjoyed it very much and then took time off for our afternoon rest.
I made the executive decision this afternoon to find a way to take the rolling pallet that I had made out to our lot if at all possible. I checked with Ladd about borrowing his pickup, but didn’t get any answers at the house or their cell phones. Barbara suggested that I call Bob Royar, but that would mean a couple of trips out to the lake, so I nixed the idea at first, but then gave Bob a call just to see what the possibility might be.
When I explained to Bob what I needed to do, he immediately said to come on out to the lake and get his pickup, He and Mary were getting ready to drive the golf cart down to the clubhouse for the Friday night burger special and wouldn’t be using the truck.
I told Barbara what Bob said and then we mapped out a plan for me to drive the Vibe to Bob and Mary’s house, bring the pickup back to Mineola and tie the pallet on it, both of us ride back to the lake where I would drop Barbara off at the clubhouse and let her order a couple of burgers for us while I unloaded the pallet at Big V, then we would eat our burgers and visit with folks for a few minutes before taking the truck back to Bob’s house, trading it for the Vibe, and returning to Mother’s house. So we did. Dr. McCray, my first graduate school professor at USF, would have marked that sentence paragraph with all kinds of red ink, but maybe my short story professor at ENMU would have been more generous. Anyway, that’s our story and we’re sticking with it!
When we got back to the house, I sat down to listen to the web broadcast of the Artesia Bulldogs and Hobbs Eagles football game from Hobbs. It was another high scoring affair with Hobbs winning in the last two seconds when Artesia attempted a 2-point conversion for the win, but didn’t make it and came out on the low end of a 48 – 47 score.
While I was busy listening to the football game, Barbara was editing pictures for last week’s journal/blog and catching up on some correspondence.
Saturday, September 4
Today was just a basic housecleaning day, although we did have our exciting moments this morning. I was working in the kitchen when Barbara called me out to the garage to show me that a hummingbird had gotten into the garage and couldn’t find his way out. We had both the main door and the outside door open, but the little feller was so disoriented that all he could do was skitter around the ceiling.
I got a broom and tried to shoo him toward the garage door, but that didn’t work at all and I was afraid I might hurt him. John came over from across the street and tried to scoop the bird with a leaf rake. That worked a couple of times, but we just couldn’t get him close enough to the main door to see his way free.
I took Mother to the style shop at 10:30 to get a permanent. Her regular stylist is out of town for a week, so we arranged for Leslie, the girl who cuts our hair, to do the perm. It took until noon to finish, but the result was outstanding. Mother really looked great when I went back to pick her up!
Tonight we had Sophie come in to stay with Mother for a couple of hours while we drove out to Holiday Villages for a concert in the clubhouse. Josh Setser’s sister, Amy, was performing an encore concert for the property owners and guests. The first concert was a tremendous success and tonight’s presentation brought just as much satisfaction to those in attendance.
From Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
