Ok, I know I have been MIA from JCFaith. Were you worried about me? Did you miss me?

Well, lots been going on. I have done another stint as Agape Lady for the last Men's Kairos. We started having unity meetings in May and the weekend was Father's Day weekend. Before that was the close of school stuff which has become more and more complicated as the years go by. I have been SO tempted to call Florida and ask for my years from there so I can retire sooner.

Anyway, I had 4 different packets to complete for end-of-school. There was one from special ed, another from my headquarter school --AKA "AnalRetentive-USA"-- and a 3rd from just the visual impairments section of the special ed department. It's like incidental that one also has to actually teach children sometime during the day.

Making things more difficult was that my mother went to St. Louis to see her only remaining brother who had a double amputation of his lowere legs. While she was there I went over to help my sister with my dad and he wasn't looking so good. So we had to take him to the hospital. He has a history of strokes. Did I say "history?" I should sat QUITE a history as he's now had nine.

My dad was complaining of not being able to pick up his cup to drink his favorite pineapple soda.  I told my sister that I didn't like the way he looked and I thought he should call his doctor.

"Let me know what the doctor says and I will meet you guys at his office," I said on my way home to deliver th elaundry to my husband. 

Then he fell asleep at the table without eating a thing on his plate. So my sister packed him in the car--not an easy task--and drove him to the emergency room, calling me on the way to meet them there. The nurse who virtually lifted my 200+ dad out of the car by herself admonished my sister for doing that--saying she should have called an ambulance.

My dad stayed in the hospital for about two weeks and we took turns spending the night in his hospital room. We told my mother we had everything covered so she didn't have to rush back. But I think she did cut her trip a day short.

Meanwhile my dad was talking non-stop for hours on end. Most of it was coherent although a bit slurred from previous strokes. Sometimes he'd go back to 1963 near the time we first moved to Louisiana but he seemed to know where he was. Then sometimes he's get off the subject btu one subject segued into the next rather seamlessly and I wondered how he did that. My dad is a talker but I'd never seen this before. He usaully talks my husbands ear off just from sheer  joy of having another man to talk to in the family. Came to find out that he was not sleeping properly and that would cause him to mildly hallucinate and talk incessantly.

I went in one day right after school to stay with him and I got him to stop talking a bit by pointing out to him that one of his favorite shows 'American Idol" was on TV. My sister arrived to relive me and spend the night about 9PM. The next day he mentioned to me that he'd been to the theater for free and that he was able to see "American Idol" the live show. It was so nice, he explained that that nice little girl Jordyn Sparks won and that the people in the theatre were nice ebnough to pro his hospital bed up near the bleechers so he could see the show. "Then,"  he said, "at Nine-thirty, Oprah Winfrey came out on stage." Actually, Oprah came on TV at 9:30 after Idol.

We could laugh about his sleep deprivation then. My brother came from Florida and spent the night and got no sleep at all with him because my dad kept him awake all night from either talking or trying to get up from the bed. He said one time, "I beleive if I had to I could get this tube thing off me and go to the bathroom by myself!"

Well, the battle's not over. HIs swallowing went back to how it was after stroke #8 which meant he had to be tube fed until they completed a swallow study. That revealed that he was aspirating a lot of what he swallowed so the doctor considered  another G-peg in his stomach.

Since then the tube site became infected  and he's been back in the hospital and now he's home. He has this machine that feeds him 24/7 so my mother doesn't have to stand over him with a bag. My daughter has beemn staying over there. My brother stayed a while longer to help. The rest of us try to do our part to let my mother lead a life outside the house--go to sorority events, church, etc.

It's not easy. I go straight over after summer school. I'm working this summer with exceptional kids. Two are autistic and two have learning disabilities. I love it but I've had to wrestle with the  bigger autistic kid to keep him from harming himself, the other children, my assistant and myself.

I was asked to work at Leadership Institute the other half of the day. I did that for about a week and a half--not including the two week days we went to Kairos Weekend at the state prison. I was coming home and falling asleep on the sofa by 5:00. My husband David asked me if this was worth it.

"You're working ith the special kids. You love doing that. Do you need this other job? WE will make it on my income and your health is far more important. I will support your decision to quit the leadership thing."

So I did. A burden was lifted. I have had a bit more time to work on the 'HOneymoon-Ten" whihc is located on my hips and thighs. You ladies will know what I'm talking about.

Well, that is why I have been MIA from JCFaith.