Good Visit

Today, Riley and I went for a very long (3 hrs. 45 mins. each way) ride to go see my dad and step-mom. Riley is a wonderful kid to travel with -- a hot wheel car, a few action figures, and he's good to go. If you throw in a kid's story on cd, he's really happy!!!

I have talked to my folks several times since my brother died, but I hadn't seen them since right after I had surgery in June. I decided that I really needed a visit to see how they were doing. Neither of them are in good health, but my dad's health is definitely deteriorating faster. He also has dementia, so his memory is a bit erratic at best.

I took a computer copy of my brother's obituary to Dad. He looked at it, read it, then put it down with no reaction at all. About 1/2 hour later, he did the same thing. 20 minutes after that he picked it up and asked Riley who's picture that was, when Riley told him it was Uncle Bob, Daddy put it down, but a little while later I found him crying. Betty, my step-mom, was in tears a lot today. She said that it was all starting to be real to her and she was having a hard time.

Needless to say, this has been a very hard day emotionally for me, but I'm glad I was able to go and be with them. I'm also very glad that Riley went, because having him around helped me to keep my emotions in check. I don't think that it would have helped Dad or Betty had I broken down, too.

I'm tired! (8 hours of driving is exhausting!!!) I'm going to find a book that I don't have to concentrate too hard on, and go to bed and read! Hope you all have a wonderful evening!