OK, I just have to say this: pro-life people are fucking disgusting.

I'm elsenet in an argument with anti-choice assholes who refuse to admit that women are now actually dying as a consequence of anti-choice laws. (See the sad story of Amber Thurman.)

I'm trying to get him to drink water & rest as much as he can. He is, of course, stubborn as fuck & it's like pushing a wet noodle around.

He's also still discombobulated from the hospital stay. New meds on board, new condition, all that - it's hard staying in a hospital, it disrupts your routine bigtime. He got great care, but dude is worn out, no surprise there.

He's home now. He gets soooooo tired so fast. It's scary. He's usually been pretty spry and active.

Didn't break a hip, thank Athena Asclepia, but he was dehydrated when he went in, & confused. It took a couple of days to stabilize him while they tried to figure out what was going on.

Meanwhile I got him signed up for LifeAlert, because what got him into the hospital in the first place was he fell & spent 9 hours on the bathroom floor.

We haven't heard from them yet. I plan to call the team tomorrow and ask where they sent referrals so I can call those places & ask what happens next & what we need to do.

He's 80. Right now I'm staying at a family property about 5-10 minutes away from his house. Supposedly his care team sent referrals to home care services to get folks in to visit him several times a week.

When it rains, it fucking pours.

Welp... mom died in July, & now dad is ill. He just spent over a week in the hospital. Diagnosis: congestive heart failure (CHF).

Y'know how they say that people don't quit jobs, they quit managers?

Yeah. That.

I took that as a sign that I wasn't emotionally ready. I'm on LOA now at least through mid-September. And honestly, I might not go back to my job anyway.

A bit over a month after mom's death. I tried to go back to work after some days off in July, but couldn't do it. Everything seemed petty and stupid. & that isn't usually how I approach my job.

Anyway. I'm at a family beach property 5 minutes away from my dad right now. The tide is coming in & the sunshine outside is warm & amazing. I'mma get a swimsuit on & maybe go lie on some warm rocks.

Just... if you got people in your life you care about, do what you can to say whatever it is you need to say to them. Even if it's "fuck off you asshole".

Mom's sibling visited the morning she died, so that was good. Perfect timing.

Anyway. We'll be OK. I'll be OK. Sibling will be OK. It'll all be OK.

I mean... none of us are getting out of this alive, right?

I'm worried about my dad. They were married for something like 57 years. He's off getting a haircut today - doing the mundane things keeps him grounded, I think.

So as far as God is concerned, she was ready to go. All wrapped up, neat as a pin.

I'm a wreck. I guess that's normal.

2 days before she died I had the hospital call in a priest. Mom was Catholic. We're not, but it was something that we knew would've brought her comfort. He was a lovely young man - did an Anointing of the Sick & a Viaticum for her.

She wasn't a good mother. She knew it at the end. In fact, when the Parkinson's took the awful parts of her, it uncovered some of the good parts. She was more kind & loving the last 6 months of her life than she had been since I was a very small child.