Rain, Rain: Go Away

When Shannon told me that Mama called today before I got home from work, I knew it wasn't a good thing. Any time she calls when she knows I'm probably not home, someone's either dead or nearly there. She has my office number, but doesn't have it on her cell phone, and she doesn't want to call me at work with bad news.

The long and short is that my grandmother, her mother, may not make it through the night. So I very probably will be taking my happy ass up to Tennessee some time in the next few days. It'll be a short visit: I can't be away from home too long right now.

We're finalizing audit at work, and Shannon's sister-in-law had her uterus taken out today. I have responsibilities and obligations 750 miles apart from each other, so it'll be tightrope meeting them all. If Daddy were still alive or Morgan (my niece) would be there, I wouldn't worry so much about going home. But he isn't, and she probably can't be.

My little sister is showing herself to be insane, once again, and my older one might or might not go. And if she shows up with her herd of ill-behaved dogs, it'll just make things worse.

For Mama, it'll be something of a relief to see Grandma go, I think. She's been in a nursing home not really knowing who she is for too many years. And as Mama told me tonight, " She's had a long, long life."

But at the same time, I can't imagine that it's ever easy to let go of a parent under any circumstance.

We'll go see Shannon's sister-in-law tomorrow evening, assuming that she's up to it. Then I'll probably start making preparations to be gone for a few days. I don't see an alternative right now.

It's a long trip, but I seem to cycle from one NPR station to the next up the line the whole way there. I'll be caught up on the news, if nothing else. Then I'll come back and finish up loose ends at work. There aren't too many, and if I need to, I'll go back tomorrow evening and tie nice, neat little bows on them.

It don't seem to rain when it don't pour. And right now, I'm desperately in need of a towel and some dry clothes.