Not So Busy and Not So Hot

The week is ending with cooler weather and everyone is really enjoying the change. It was cool enough that I pulled some weeds out of the front rock garden one evening.
Gerald has picked our first tomatoes. With a motor that Gerald had repaired, we have been riding on the lake in the metal boat Gerry used to use for hunters on the ocean. Twenty years ago today our granddaughter Leslie was born, and she is in our thoughts today, and I managed to get her birthday card to her on time and in the right city since she was not at camp this week. I haven’t tried to do too much but enjoy our company this week.

We are delighted to have our granddaughter Erin still with us. She first said she was leaving Wednesday since she has to get organized and packed for the summer of softball with the Austrian Sharx. She will be meeting up with three other American players in Philadelphia next week to fly over. But she ran into her friend Toni’s parents in town and they told her Toni was coming in for the weekend and persuaded her to stay here longer. Since all the rest of her family is at a softball tourney in Colorado and she would be going home to an empty house, staying here for fun at the beach with dear friends she hardly ever gets to see was too enticing to resist.

She had an unusual experience when she planned time with her other grandmother on Monday. Since her grandmother had a doctor’s appointment, Erin said she would take her and they would have lunch afterwards and enjoy a visit that way. The appointment was with a specialist the primary doctor had asked her to go to as they have been trying for much too long now to find the root cause of some medical issues. Although her grandmother had not felt good on Sunday, I enjoyed imagining how much fun the two of them were having at lunch. I have seen them talking before at a restaurant just like two bubbling teens even though neither is a teen any more. And Erin said it was fun, and she was going to bring her grandmother home out here in our rural community afterward.

However, her grandmother wanted to watch her bat at the local Future Swings, where Erin had taken lessons with Todd Poe for many years. Erin cut it short to just 30 minutes out of consideration. When Gma Shirley stood to leave, she was not well at all. Erin had to decide what to do. Despite her grandmother’s protests, she did the right thing and took her to ER after a call to the primary doctor and to Erin’s mom down in Georgia getting ready to take a plane to Colorado. Erin’s mom called her two brothers here, and soon the family was gathering at the hospital, where Gma Shirley was admitted after an exhausting wait in the ER.

Meanwhile that same day, Erin was getting texts and photos of a horrible car accident resulting with a dear friend having the first of six surgeries to reconstruct her face before she will be able to play softball again. And then another friend had to text her of one of their friends’ mother dieing of an unexpected sudden massive heart attack. Erin was a very tired and sad young woman when she arrived back at Woodsong. She was back to the hospital the next morning.

After two days of tests and a regular medical treatment that makes her feel better—but still no answers—Gma Shirley was discharged with her sons and their wives and grandchildren all hovering over her. Erin has been spending time with her, and last night they had a big family dinner down there to celebrate Gma Shirley’s release and Erin was able to see all her Johnson cousins.

Erin and long-time friend Candace have been fishing with Gerald on the lake, and life did get better as her grandmother returned to normal living. Today Mary Ellen came down with Bryan, who was here on farm business, so that she could have a good-bye visit with Erin before she returns to Georgia and her packing responsibilities. Erin had us laughing over all the funny things young girls said at softball camps the last two weeks. Some things weren’t so funny—like being puked on in an elevator crammed with little girls the very first day of camp. She told the girls to just shut their eyes.

Before the two camp weeks were over, it sounded as if there were not too many things that could happen that didn’t. No wonder Erin arrived here tired. She is just now getting her voice back from supervising those camps! Mary Ellen has a talent for getting people talking, and I enjoyed this afternoon of anecdotes and laughing before Erin took off to meet Toni and friends at the beach. And I was glad for Mary Ellen’s help in the kitchen and our mother-daughter talk after Erin left.  

They couldn't hang very long though as they had to travel home to take Brianna to cheer a friend in a local pageant at the community 4th of July celebration.  Trent, who had always done scientific experiments in their kitchen when he was a little boy, is now conducting his various projects in their garage. . She left hoping her house and her son were still intact.