Bear
So, my mother said they moved the Bear to the hospice today. He was much more lucid, so I'm hopeful I'll get a chance to see him as Himself again, although the doctors say it's probably a matter of days now, as his liver is failing. The place looks very nice, if their website is any indication. My mother said they told her she can stay there with him, even sleep there if she wants to.
My brother is driving down from Virginia, so he should be there tomorrow, and I'll be flying down on Thursday. I could have left earlier, but the flights were more expensive and this gives me a better "window" of time to be there for him and, probably, the funeral. My reservation is for a week, but US Airways said that if I needed to change the return date, all that they would need is some kind of official notice that the reason was for a bereavement and they will refund the change fee. I'm fortunate to live in a time when I can get updates at the speed of light, plan travel on the Internet, and fly over 1300 miles in a single day. We live in an incredible time, although we may be both the first and last generation to be able to do so. But enough of digression...
My employer, Wells Fargo, offers 40 hours of bereavement leave, so I'm not even losing any vacation time: good gods, I work for a good company. My manager told me to take what time I needed, and they'll manage (that's a little unnerving: I don't want them getting the idea they can get by without me {grin} )
Morgan and I had a cry this evening in the kitchen. She's getting the idea that she won't see him again, and she loves him very much. I reminded her of the good memories she will have of him, and that he loves her back very much. I explained to her that Christians believe they can see us from Heaven, which consoled her for a moment until she started to cry again and said "But I want to be able to see him, too!" I wanted her to see him again, but we can't afford to fly all three of us down, and she can't afford to be out of school, either. The hospice does have video linkups, so we may be able to give them a Skype conversation or something (although when I told her that, she wept again, saying she wanted to see him "for real." It will depend in part on how compos mentis he is: if he's not aware, there's no point putting her through that.
My brother is driving down from Virginia, so he should be there tomorrow, and I'll be flying down on Thursday. I could have left earlier, but the flights were more expensive and this gives me a better "window" of time to be there for him and, probably, the funeral. My reservation is for a week, but US Airways said that if I needed to change the return date, all that they would need is some kind of official notice that the reason was for a bereavement and they will refund the change fee. I'm fortunate to live in a time when I can get updates at the speed of light, plan travel on the Internet, and fly over 1300 miles in a single day. We live in an incredible time, although we may be both the first and last generation to be able to do so. But enough of digression...
My employer, Wells Fargo, offers 40 hours of bereavement leave, so I'm not even losing any vacation time: good gods, I work for a good company. My manager told me to take what time I needed, and they'll manage (that's a little unnerving: I don't want them getting the idea they can get by without me {grin} )
Morgan and I had a cry this evening in the kitchen. She's getting the idea that she won't see him again, and she loves him very much. I reminded her of the good memories she will have of him, and that he loves her back very much. I explained to her that Christians believe they can see us from Heaven, which consoled her for a moment until she started to cry again and said "But I want to be able to see him, too!" I wanted her to see him again, but we can't afford to fly all three of us down, and she can't afford to be out of school, either. The hospice does have video linkups, so we may be able to give them a Skype conversation or something (although when I told her that, she wept again, saying she wanted to see him "for real." It will depend in part on how compos mentis he is: if he's not aware, there's no point putting her through that.