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That is horribly sad, Sarameg.

I hope your parents can find a way through all of this, Tommyrot.

Anyone ever been friends with someone who's very wealthy?

My sister's best friend from Jr and Sr High was the grand-daughter of one of the wealthiest people in town. The thing was, her parents never mentioned anything about the family's money and she didn't find out until someone teased her about it in Jr High. She was mortified.

I didn't see sara's and tommy's posts while I was writing mine.

Sorry for the inadvertant insensitivity.

Ugh, sara, that's so sad.

That's awful, sarameg. I can see why Taylor would be freaked out, this'll be scary news for her, I'm sure.

And your news is also rough, tommyrot, my best wishes to your family for coping.

Among other things, the wealthy spend a lot of effort making sure they and their children are not kidnapped. Like, that sort of thing happens a lot. Way more than we hear about in the press.

One of Lori's friends was a nanny for the family that owns the Venetian. This was a late in life baby born via surrogate. Everywhere they went Nanny + Baby were accompanied by two security guards.

That might be a uniquely Vegas situation, but it sounds pretty daunting.

In other news, Grace decannulated for the first time since she's been home. It was an accident and she was angry that I was trying to stuff the trach back in. I wasn't particularly worried about sterility so I hope she doesn't get sick (but I was gloved, so that's a bonus).

Scared the shit out of me, but she didn't turn blue at all. She was mad, but not panicking. I am reading this as a positive sign towards removing the trach. Sigh. Still scary.

sara, I heard they found her body on NPR this evening. Oh man. How awful.

Everywhere they went Nanny + Baby were accompanied by two security guards.

Wow, that's scary, to live your life believing that's necessary! I haven't known anyone rich when they were young/had kids, so I had no idea kidnapping was such a fear (provided you aren't living in a country where that's a big thing)

And sara, that does sound scary! Poor Taylor. FYI, I bought Hatch green chilies at Trader Joe's and thought of you.

Nah, it wasn't insensitive. I'm so hit or miss these days, I'm sure I'm skipping something and posting something that seems to totally miss stuff. Unless you post LMAO!LOL!!!sara, I'm unlikely to take offense...

TLDR:

I've been emailing my uncle fairly regularly since my aunt died. It's funny, or not. I barely managed to call my aunt, my dad's sister, once a year before, rarely talked to him. They got together about 25 years ago. And I have to delete half his forwards without reading, as he's kinda of the right-wing-loonies bent (and my aunt was not a right-winger, I guess they never talked politics...) But he's got a huge heart and is hurting so bad. He totally wears his heart on his sleeve, possibly with a spotlight pointing at it. Big, burly, bald dude who watches Rush and tells me " I still have daily episodes of grief about Carol, I miss her so much. I never realized how much a part of my life she was and I am richer for being with her for 25 years." and talks with joy about inviting all her quilting girlfriends over for a brunch to go through all the supplies she had that weren't already designated to go to someone in particular. Him! Girltalking! Telling me about breaking down and crying on the shoulder of a teenage neighbor girl who they sorta pseudo-grandparented.

He's a big broken heart. And I feel like it sucks that it took losing my aunt to discover his huge heart, and get to know him better. But thanks, Aunt Carol.

Gracie!

I'm glad she went with pissed rather than panic. Blue would not have aided your state of mind. But I'll take it like you, as a positive sign for a trachless existence....