Dad and Oma, Charlotte and Septa
So Mom called tonight. She took Dad to a cardiologist appt today - his heart had been functioning at about 70% before all of this silliness, and now it's at about 30%. He was in septic shock at the start of this - something that less than 50% of people survive. This was the cardiologist's first case of pasteurella and his suggestion is to put the cat in the microwave (he admitted he's a dog guy). Recover will take months.
AND my mother had to make the unbelievably difficult decision today to move my grandmother to hospice care at the nursing home instead of into the hospital for tests and poking and prodding. Her 99th birthday is in September. She hasn't been eating right. When my mom went to visit last week she didn't even recognize my grandmother. She asked at the nurses' station where she was and turned out she was right in front of her. :( She goes about twice a week, so something changed pretty quickly. She wants me to get some pics of Oma from Jeremy so she can give them to the funeral home...
On a brighter note:
Me: Is that how you ask?
Charlotte: Please!
Jeremy: I think you should say, "Pretty please with sugar on top."
Charlotte: Please can I have sugar on top?
She was funny with Jessica tonight. I was *trying* to get Jessica to bed (Jeremy was at the dentist) and Charlotte had to keep coming into the room, distracting the kid. I told Charlotte to go back into her room and she slipped on some paper in her doorway and landed on her butt. Jessica laughed. Charlotte turned around and laughed maniacally at Jessica who just laughed and laughed right back. Not helpful, but cute. And then I put Jessica in her crib anyway, thinking I could put Peppa Pig on for Charlotte and buy myself some time to settle Jessica back down if she started to cry - and she didn't. She cooed and gurgled a bit and then silence.
Speaking of silence - two ladies behind me on the train on the way home today. I've taken to riding in the quiet car, because, well, SHUT UP ALREADY. So the one gets on and is waving to someone behind me, then sits with her and says something about oh, I have a book if you don't want to talk, and they proceed to talk, quite loudly. A few people gave them the angry over-the-shoulder look. The conductor announced 3 times (twice over the PA, once standing right NEXT to them) that it was the quiet car. By the time we reached Temple and I'd been reading the same paragraph for 10 minutes, I turned around and said something. The reaction to, "This is actually the quiet car" was a rather stunned, "It is??" That's the problem with announcing that it's the quiet car - folks are too loud to both hear and process. They did shush and the resounding deafening silence merely served to prove my point. Victory was mine.
And I needed a victory on the train. This morning, my free ride guy wasn't there (he assumes I have a pass or that he's already taken my ticket and I've had a lot of free rides over the last 4 weeks or so). The woman who was in his place seemed to be on her game, so when she got close, I took the ticket out of my book and held it up. She stopped next to me and just stood there. I looked up and she said, rather agitatedly, "Whenever you're ready." I looked at the ticket (and it was indeed a ticket) and said, "It's right here." She said, "I'm not gonna reach for it." Isn't that her JOB? To reach out with her arm and take tickets? I had one ticket checker who plucked the ticket from my book - I didn't mind. Her elbows worked, she used them, all was well. Can't wait to see if she's around tomorrow morning. Please let it just have been free guy's vacation or sick day..