And the Loved Ones Shall Gather Behind Him,
and As One They Shall Shore Him Up:

"I'm in. And honored."

"Love is on the way... in many, many ways."

"I find it gratifying, in this very selfish world, to know someone who is willing to put his own life on hold in order to do something so very 'unselfish'."

"Your words grabbed us and wouldn't let us go."

"How do we sign up for the $12.95 per month plan? I love the idea of self-controlled old-age insurance."

"I applaud your efforts to keep her out of the nursing home! You have taken the "bull by the horns" in a way many do not have the courage to attempt."

"I come from a family that has taken in and taken care of relatives who at life's end needed help. I feel it is part of the learning to give that gives some meaning to our lives."

"You must have balls the size of Jupiter..."

The dozens of letters and cards have been an incredible help to us. Quotes above were lifted from: David Belkin; Robin Simmers & Frank Butrey; Debbie & Dick Robertson; Sylvia & Dan Skea; Karen Dodson & Joe Popp; Kristin Reed; Julie Hauser & Matt Ferguson; and one very succinct Rick DiBello.



Cats'n'Grammers

We've always had cats. Now we have cats and an old woman. The other day it dawned on us that with the cats we get to plan for replacements. We lost a cat in early December, got a new one a few days later. But we can't do this with the old woman, right? I can't imagine what the hell we'll do, how we'll fill that void.



More of That Goooood Medicine [...and her gentle cackling begins.]


I'm walking her out of the doctor's office last October, moving through the waiting room, and she spies a kid's play area off to the left. The people are all turning to look ("aww, how sweet") as we move past, and she peers down at a wee plastic chair and says "ooohh, look at that, how cute," and I bend towards her, pushing her along: "Keep movin' lady—no way your fat ass fits in that chair..."


At bath time, while undressing her, there is that vulnerable moment when her sweatshirt is hoisted above her shoulders, her arms in the air, her head and limbs trapped in a mess of thick cotton cloth, and while she sits there blinded waiting for us to free her head, we calmly discuss leaving her like this: "Sure, we could just sit here and slap her tits and shit..."


R- "How do you catch an elephant?"
G- [shrugs her shoulders] "Idunno."
R-


 "Well, you dig an enormous hole, and fill it with ashes.
Then you go hide in the bushes and wait 'til an elephant comes by,
and you run out behind it and you kick it in the ash-hole..."

I later learn that she tells this one to everyone at the senior citizen center and her high-rise apartment building. Makes me proud.



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