Interview with the Omega

I have spent a lot of time with my sisters in the last week.  We had some great talks   Sometimes you just talk and talk and talk but if you listen you might hear a good story or two. 

  A few years ago I was in one of my favorite places, the Book Cellar in the public library where they sell books at incredibly low prices with an eclectic selection. One afternoon  I was shown a first edition of Anne Rice's' The Vampire Lestat.  I purchased it.  It was in wonderful condition, only a little wear and tear on the dust jacket.  At one time I was a huge Anne Rice fan.  Read everything she wrote and stood in line several times to have her sign books. My sister "Omega" is a fan too.  I was telling her about "Lestat" and she told me that I was so lucky, that Lestat was her favorite Anne Rice book. 

That Christmas I gave the book to her.  It was so rewarding.  One of the best gifts I have ever given due to her astonishment.  I totally caught her off guard. I could not believe I was giving away a first edition Anne Rice...but, that's love.

 Last year we had a huge ice storm in Kentucky that knocked out the electricity in several neighborhoods.  Omega was moving into a brand new house.  For some reason their basement flooded.  Her husband Karl had placed the boxes of books in the basement and the worst happened.....the book was ruined.  It took Omega months to be able to tell me, and when she did, she cried. She was so angry with Karl, angry with herself, angry with Mother Nature.  The book meant a lot to her, and it was destroyed. 

This Christmas morning she received the most wonderful Christmas present from the most wonderful guy.  Karl had found another first edition on E-Bay ("don't even ask me how much he had to pay for it!!!!!!") and gave it to her, surprised her with it. Told her how much he loved her with it.  

Too Much Time on My Hands

Actually I am sick.  I have some type of respiratory infection and so I am taking a breather.  I should be in bed, but I have not been on the computer for such a long time that I am just going nuts!

Omega is giving a party tonight for her husbands brother.  They are expecting a child and are huge Rolling Stone fans, especially Keith Richards.

These are the invitations...aren't they clever and hilarious.

Thoughts on Family

A collective sigh of relief comes from my entire family.  Mom will be coming home on Monday.  She has been making excellent progress and the healing journey will continue at home with friends joining in with family to ensure a speedy and uncomplicated recovery. 

As everything in life, the goodness in the flip side of the situation is the amount of time I have been able to spend with my siblings and their spouses.  Especially my sisters.  Each one of us has our own families, extended families, commitments, and obligations.  We get together at least once a month to celebrate a birthday, a graduation, christening and all the other occasions that weave the tapestry of family life. 

The monthly gatherings are usually noisy, boisterous, rollicking good fun.  That is the scene when you gather 25 people together.  People talking all at once, kids running everywhere, food preparing, men gathering around the beer cooler and firing up the grill.  It is great to be engulfed in the pleasure of belonging, but to have honest heart to heart communication is practically impossible. 

There was a lot of engaging dialogue this week. 

I love my family and this is the second time a tragic event has brought us together in the past six months.  This one struck us in the very heart of our being.  The Queen Bee was ill. 

 The out pouring of love and concern for my Mother from the people she has touched humbles me.  She is one of a generation that survived the Great Depression, she was an immigrant kid, she is one of the mothers of the Baby Boom generation.  There will never be another generation like hers and my Dads.  Once they are gone ....It's gone.   

Good News

Mom was in surgery for over five hours yesterday afternoon.  The hospital sent us progress reports through out the operation.  Around 8pm they sent a nurse who requested us to wait in a conference room for the doctor.  All afternoon the doctors had been entering the waiting room and speaking with the families.  Or leading them into the conference room.

It was an intense five minutes waiting for him.  I was on the verge of tears and could not articulate my fears to my brother and sister-in-law. 

He came in and told us she was in recovery and had done marvelous.  They fixed her leaky valve and did a quad by-pass.  The breathing tube was to came out around 5am. Now we wait for evidence of stoke.

Thank you everyone for your concern and prayers. 

Unbelievable Development

 I must have just posted the entry about my mother yesterday when my cell phone rang and it was "Omega" telling me my Mom was on her way to the hospital and had suffered a heart attack. 

It was a mild one, but on Tuesday she will have triple by-pass surgery.  She has a valve that is leaking and they will determine how to fix it once they are in. She has a 95% blockage, an 80% blockage, and the last at around 90%. 

 "How did that happen?" she asked in amazement.  "Cookies" my other sister, the middle one, retorted. 

We are very concerned about my Dad, as he suffers from dementia.  He is handling it all very well.  He asked first thing this morning, "How is Theresa?" 

We were able to take him to see her this afternoon.  He walked in with his walker, sat in a seat across from her (they had her up sitting in a large chair) and said "You had a heart attack?" in this totally concerned, incredulous voice. "Can you believe it!" she replied. 

I have faith she is going to be fine.  Her guardian angels were looking out for her. Literally.  Her friends at the Stamp Club she has for the grammar school kids knew something was wrong with her.  When she slipped away, they tracked her down and found her almost passed out in a bathroom.  They literally are her guardian angels God sent to watch over her yesterday

The woman who gave me life (and the man...c.1975)

Yesterday was the big day...my birthday.  So it was no surprise that my Mom called me to wish me a happy birthday and to remind me she was in labor for 33 hours etc.etc.  Then she told me the latest news regarding her health.

 That afternoon, right after lunch she was sending Pop upstairs for his afternoon nap while she had plans to attend a memorial service and ....she could not get up.  The pain was excruciating across her right thigh. 

The Lord above has a way of looking out for my Mom. She was able to reach friends (retired Nuns...?) who came to her assistance and took her to the Doctor.  Diagnosis?  More than likely bursitis or tendentious.  A shot of cortisone was given and some new miracle drugs and she is much, much better. 

A while back my youngest sister (15 years my junior, the alpha and the omega) and I were having a discussion about my Mom and the noticeable changes in her (as she is in her 70's). I began to realize that my sister did not venerate my Mom like I do.  She even went so far as to say that she felt somehow cheated ......because Mom had so many interests, obligations and hobbies outside our family.  P. went so far as to say Mom was not a great role model for her.

 I was flabbergasted!  When I came of age in the 1970's and women's lib was a big thing, it was already accepted in my family.  Mom  had a career outside her family.  She has a Masters Degree in Library Science and was running the county library and the Catholic School library. She was involved in everything that was important.  Civil Rights, Children's rights, Catholic issues, poverty just to name a few.

She is my hero.  I need to thank her more than just on my Birthday.  The biggest gift she gave me after life, was the knowledge that you can do anything.  If a first generation Irish kid like herself could realize her dreams, I need  to understand she paved the way for me. And all women who came after her.

I wish my sister could see it that way. 

Galavanting in the Knobs

Sunday we took a road trip to the Markers Mark Distillery.  The ride down there was beautiful even though the dogwood and daffodils have not yet begun to bloom.  The sun shining and the warm weather was proof enough that it will be soon. 

Markers Mark is located in a small community nestled in the "knobs" called Loretto Kentucky.  Which incidentally is also the home of the Trappist monastery, Gethsemani where Thomas Merton resided for five years.  

 Bourbon and Monks?  Ironic in a sense.

 The Internet claimed the distillery was open every Sunday with the exception of Easter.  They lied!  It was not open to the public and we realized it as we drove into the parking lot. Only a few pickup trucks were parked at what appeared to be a receiving area.  The weekend keepers of the corn mash. 

A security guard affirmed our realization....and we must have look pretty disappointed because he decided to give us his own personal mini tour of the Fermenting house. The smell alone could blow a legal intoxication.   The cypress vats were 12 feel deep and bubbling with sour mash.

 The memory of a childhood trip came to me with great clarity.  I was about five years old and we were on a tour of the Old Crow Distillery in Frankfort.  I was leaning over the side of one of the vats and began to fall in!! My Aunt Pat grabbed the back of my dress and pulled me out.  

The security guard was named Robbie and he was so accommodating and would not take the money I offered him.  Two car loads arrived as we were leaving.  He firmly told them Markers Mark was closed. I cannot wait to go back and get the full tour. 

This area of Kentucky is full of history that will take more than one sunny afternoon to explore.  The monastery, a civil war museum, the birth place of Abe Lincoln, and several other Distilleries. There are people who travel around the country visiting all the Major League Baseball Fields.  Joe and I have decided that we will visit all the bourbon distilleries in Kentucky