{{{{{Drew}}}}} Much ~ma to you and your mom.

{{{Kristin}}}. Sorry I don't live closer to Miami. (wave you fly over tomorrow?) Spending time with you today would be much more fun than getting ready for the first day of school tomorrow.

Oh, Drew. All the {{{}}}s you and your mom need. My grandfather lost part of one foot due to similar injury (though much less severe than your poor mom's)/circulation/skin issues, and it was just... it was just hard and sad. I know your mom is grieving and letting go, but I (interrupted by Matilda hitting "post") just wish it were physically easier for her. Despite the awful sadness, my grandfather's recovery did go much easier after that hard decision was made, and he was able to go home sooner and be in familiar and comforting surroundings with all his beloved people and things and memories, and that part was very good. I'm vibing hard for a similar outcome or better for your mom, for ease and peace and home.

It's just a lot of hard options. A big part of this is that mom really isn't mobile. She doesn't have the strength in her limbs to even push herself up in bed at night. This is combined with the fact that she's a large woman means that caring for her and moving her has been a problem, and this will make it a larger problem. I know she wants to come home, but I don't think that's the best place for her. Alas, I'm the only person in the family who has this opinion. I think she needs to be somewhere that we can have skilled care for her. Everyone else in the family associates anything like that horrible treatment, akin to throwing her into a jail cell. So yeah, lots of hard decisions ahead.

vw's Spanish question reminded me of a conversation yesterday. Joe and I were at the theater about to see a movie. He asked me what I wanted and I responded, "pipoca" and then I realized that was the Portuguese word. So I asked him the Spanish word and he thought it was "palomitas" but he asked the person behind the counter to check.

"Como se dice popcorn aqui?"

She looked at him like he was retarded. "Popcorn."

Drew, I am so sorry all this has happened. I hope everything gets worked out as smoothly as possible. And shit needs to stop happening.

She looked at him like he was retarded. "Popcorn."

HA! I'm loving discovering which words have no translation. Like "surfing" and "MP3" and "popcorn" and well, all of them. It kind of cracks me up. I wrote about music this morning, and since I have the awful taste of loving country music, I went looking to see how you say "country music" in Spanish. It's "la música country," which makes me laugh and laugh for no apparent reason.

Crikey, Drew. I don't begin to know what to say. All my -ma are belong to you, and the universe really really needs to back the fuck off, before I find I'm obliged to doff my customarily reticent demeanor, and cut a bitch.

It would be nice to get a little respite from all of this. I'm dealing fairly well so far, my big concern is that I don't really have much in a way of any days off until December, so I'm going to have to be very careful to make sure I'm getting enough sleep while I'm running back and forth to San Diego and keeping my business running. Fall is the busiest time of year for me, and this year is no exception.

Drew, I've been thinking about you quite a bit over the last couple of days. I know you're going to need to rely on me a lot for a lot of things over the next couple of weeks, so I've been trying to prepare for that as best as I can. And you know, anything and everything I can do to help, just let me know.

And Kristin, I just sent you a text message, but if I can, I'm happy to come get you at the airport tomorrow.

I'm working in Pasadena for about 4 to 6 hours tomorrow, from about 9 or 10, but let me know, and I'll do my best to make arrangements, or whatever needs to happen.