news from home

[luciab]

Mother called last night. She said Daddy, who is now 86, was trying to change the ceiling fan last night and slipped and fell off the ladder. He got up and after a bit fixed dinner, sat at the table and ate it. When he started to get up from the table, he fell again; said he got his feet tangled up. Mother said "He has such big feet and he wears big old shoes, so I can see how that would happen." Which I thought amusing because I never noticed anything about his feet being big. Whatever.

This morning during class I got a call from my brother. Seems when Daddy fell last night, he broke his hip. They are apparently planning to do surgery today sometime but Mother didn't know when. And of course, Mother either doesn't have her cell phone with her or doesn't have it on, so I can't call her.

Danny is seriously torn up because he fears the worst-- Aunt Susan and her mother both died from complications after broken hips, and my other grandmother never really recovered from hers. Danny's honey, Daniel, is a nurse and is short-tempered with Danny for being so pessimistic about it. Daniel also mentioned something about fracture versus breaking, and neither Danny nor I knew there was a difference. I'll have to look that up online.

When we moved down here twenty years ago, 500 miles seemed about the right distance away from them. I wasn't close to Mother and while I adored Daddy, we never talked much (Mother talked for both of them,) and everybody was healthy and I lacked the foresight to imagine otherwise. I think I also figured that we'd get tired of living down here and move back before anybody got really sick or old or anything. Now this is home, and I don't want to live there, and 500 miles is way too far even when everyone is healthy.

I don't know what to do. I have a paper due Monday but I'm going to have a hell of a time trying to concentrate on it. (Not that I was doing all that well even before this.) I don't know whether to just go to Kentucky even if I can't get Mother on the phone to tell her I'm coming, or wait to at least talk to her. I really hate the idea of her being there alone the first couple of days. Problem is that she doesn't drive, so she'll have a hell of a time trying to get even to the hospital and back, never mind the grocery store and such. I know that a lot of people there, including fellow church members, seem crazy about them and will help a lot. And even if I can help out for a couple of days, Daddy won't be able to drive for months at best. I am just realizing that I always imagined that Mother would be the one who was sick; Daddy can take care of things when he needs to. It's not happening that way.

Everything just changed and I feel like I'm knocked cock-a-hoop. Yep, that is the perfect description. Cock-a-hoop.

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