My first night back at my mom's house went well enough, but there were a few issues. First, mom lives right by a creek and her house is damp. Texas is dry and I am acclimated to Texas, so the mildewy, moldy, dampness of her house is tough on me initially. Also, she tends to use older down pillows and I am allergic to down. She never seems to remember this, even though I have been coming in to visit and stay with her for 20 years.
By the time I got up I was stuffy and congested but some sinus/allergy meds were in my bag so I took a dose with the fresh coffee mom made. Her coffee used to be so weak that you could see through it but over the years it has gotten stronger. She still drinks it black but she makes sure sugar and creamer are handy for me (even if it is powdered cheap stuff...at least she tries).
We chat and I watch the news while mom reads the morning paper. Being Sunday, we would be going to church in a few hours. Mom is a member of a little tiny country Baptist church with a membership of 60 or so and attendance of maybe 15. It is even tiny compared to our little country church here in Texas.
After church, many of us go to McDonald's for lunch. This is the first time I can remember since I have been coming in that I have gone out with her church friends for lunch. She tends to go out with them every Sunday after church and she appears to look forward to it. I got the feeling that she felt she had to come home with me instead of going out with them, so I invited myself along. In the end, it turned out well. We had some good conversation and I learned a lot from her friends.
We came home and changed into some lounging around clothes. I did not have an agenda but since I had been driving for two days I wanted to get out and stretch my legs. I figured I would go walk some at the park on the walking trail and grab a geocache that had been recently placed there. I found the cache pretty easily and decided to grab a couple of more in the area.
I came home and had a light dinner and chatted with mom for a while. My friends Rob and Brenda wanted me to come over and hang out with them when I had time so I figured tonight would be as good a night as any. I grabbed my laptop and headed over, hoping to get caught up on my e-mail (and some of my geocache logging) as well as catching up with old friends.
I stayed over at R&B's until 2 AM or so...a common habit when visiting them. I tend to spend a lot of time with them when I come in because they are such nice people. They will invite me over any night I am free.
The next few days were a bit different than they had been during past visits. Normally I spend the day with mom, helping her with things around the house that she cannot (or will not) get done by herself. However, this time I had been asked to go Geocaching with the friends who got me hooked on that hobby in the first place. While I had planned to go out once, maybe twice wit them, we ended up going out three times during the week. I am not sure that it made my mom overly happy, but to be honest, she is becoming such a hermit that it is maddening to sit all day at home with her and do...nothing. She rarely leaves the house and most of the time she watches QVC, reads, or knits. If it was not for her dog I bet she would never leave the house at all. I love my mom but she does not lead a helathy life.
During the week mom did do some "El Gee" specific things that meant a lot. She made a home made applesauce pie that turned out very well. She also made some home made pepperoni rolls with pepper jack cheese. The rest of the week (in the food department) was pretty much "fend for yourself". It is a pity mom does not cook anymore. At one time she was a pretty good cook. I especially liked he hot dog chili. It was sort of like what "Texas style" chili is supposed to be like (meat, spices, no beans) and all the kids in the neighborhood loved it. I just realized that I did not have any hot dogs while I was visiting, although I did have more than my share of pepperoni rolls.
I visted Rob and Brenda a couple of times and my sister once. My sis and I have a strained relationship centered around the man she married. There is no love lost between him and me. I have never been able to find any common ground with him. It surprises me that my he and my sis ever clicked.
I still have not seen my younger brother. I managed to talk to him a couple of times in the past but it was rather impersonal. My family back home is crumbling apart and it breaks my heart. While I admit that we are so different that any real time together would result in an explosion, it would be nice to see them now and again.
On Wednesday I was able to go to the local library and get caught up on e-mail and geocache logging. The head librarian knows my mom and let me use the system for a couple of hours while it was slow. I did not get a chance to check my e-mail or log any caches until Saturday evening after I got home. I am truly amazed how fast things pile up.
On my last night in WV (Thursday) I went out to a new Mexican place with the gang. After spending a week together, there was not a lot to say, but we managed nonetheless. It was good to see them all again. We still have a lot of the same interests and we all appear happily married. I only wish that my wife and I could come in together, but until we get the extra money to stay in a hotel (my wife refuses to stay at mom's), that just isn't going to happen. We did not stay out late...everyone had a busy day ahead of them...so we said our good bye's and went off on our way.
Since my vacation had a lot of geocaching in it, I will update my geocaching blog with all those details later.
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