It's been an extremely busy couple of weeks! On 7/30, my friends from work, Cheri and Gina, took me out to lunch to celebrate my birthday. On Friday, 8/2, my friend, Susan Mosley, took me out to lunch to celebrate my birthday.
At around 5:20 p.m. on Friday, 8/2/2019, our lives changed for ever. My brother, Mark, called saying, "I need you, please come". His wife, Mary, had fallen and was unresponsive. He called on our way to their lake home to tell us that his efforts and those of the EMT's had proven to be unsuccessful and that Mary had passed away. Ron and I had taken clothes, etc. and stayed with him Friday night and Saturday, helping him make phone calls and arrangements. Their oldest son, Joe, was working when he received the call but arrived later that night, around 11 p.m. Tom, their younger son who lives in NY, NY, arrived the next day late morning.
Ron and I came home Saturday night, and Amanda met us in Clinton to spend the night and to help me try to wade through some of Mark and Mary's paperwork which she had been too ill to take care of over the past few months, and Mark didn't know anything about their finances. Amanda was extremely helpful and patient, finally obtaining access to Mary's e-mail which contained a lot of information needed to get his bills caught up-to-date. We worked 4 hours Saturday night and 4 hours on Sunday morning before Amanda went back home - after we ordered lunch from Smith's Restaurant.
Ron and I went back to their lake home on Monday morning, and Mark and I spent most of Monday calling their mortgage company, car loan people, met with their bank, etc. We made a lot of progress. Joe's girlfriend, Nicole Nash, joined us at the condo Monday.
Mary's memorial service was Tuesday, 8/6/19 in Laurie, Missouri at the Kidwell-Garner Funeral Home. It was attended by about 50 people - about 30 people came to the condo for lunch afterwards. Amanda, Chad, Peyton and Garrison came to the funeral and the lunch which made me very proud.
Ron and I stayed at the condo through Wednesday afternoon. Mark and I made calls to his company, life insurance, etc. on Wednesday. Nicole went home Wednesday afternoon and Joe went back to St. Louis Wednesday night. Tom stayed through Sunday when Mark took him back to the airport in St. Louis.
On Thursday, Ron and I went to Overland Park for our planned Garrison/Grammy and now Grandpa Day. We crammed a lot of fun into the day - Scheels, Pinstripes for bowling and lunch, Dave and Busters and Freezing Moo. We waited for him to finish baseball practice at 8:30 p.m. when we brought him back to Clinton with us to stay two nights - and more fun.
Friday morning, Ron and Garrison played golf. Mark and Tom came to Clinton so that Mark and I could meet with our accountant and do some more paperwork. They stayed for lunch of BBQ meatballs, rice and corn - cherry pie and ice cream. We had a good visit. Garrison and I visited Miss Esther/Sippie and Miss Debbie/SaraSue - he had a blast. He had a Happy Meal/picnic for dinner and loved it.
Saturday morning, we took him back to Overland Park because he had a birthday party to attend both Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. Ron and I went to church Sunday morning. On Monday, I met with Gary Cover, our friend and attorney about Mark's situation.
Tuesday, we drove to Overland Park to have Peyton/Grammy and now Grandpa Day. We shopped at Kohl's first and found a few things. Then we went to Justice where Peyton found a few things, then as we were leaving the dressing room, I tripped over a box by the dressing room and fell flat, scraping and bruising my knee. It was very painful and more so the next morning. Then we went to lunch at Olive Garden - to Target shopping - then to Freezing Moo for ice cream before going home to watch a movie. The kids went with Amanda to school for Meet the Teacher Night, where Amanda was working with the PTA. We all went to Garrison's baseball game at 7:15 p.m., then we spent the night.
On Wednesday, we took Amanda and the kids to breakfast at McDonald's before Ron and I went to my genetic counseling results appointment at KU - no remarkable information to be reported - yay!
Wednesday morning, the bruise had spread on my knee and I had pain up the back of my leg into my hip - very painful - and my right arm/shoulder were also sore and hurting.
We miss Mary - she always enjoyed reading my blog - but - we are still very blessed. Rest in Peace Mary.
