About 5 years ago, we found ourselves in a situation where we each had to travel separately for a while. At that time, I wrote a couple of posts about life on the road, how stuff happens, and you deal with it. Well – as you may have already guessed – deja vu all over again.
In 2019 we were on the west coast when Sue’s parents ran into some problems with health and healthcare. I brought Sue to the airport in Salt Lake City so she could fly to Florida and help them out, and I headed towards home. That was the middle of October, and I couldn’t arrive home before Nov 1. It wasn’t clear how long Sue would have to be in Florida, so I had a little time to do some route planning and sightseeing. I even took a few days off to chill, and I did end up returning to VT on November 1st.
To close the loop on that incident (5 years ago), while Sue was in Florida her parents moved to an assisted living facility and her father ultimately died of complications from the problems he was having. Sue was able to return home early the next year after spending some time with her mom and helping her get her affairs in order – just in time for the COVID lockdown. Since then, Sue’s mom has moved into memory care at the same facility. Sue flies down a few times a year to visit and we try to drive once a year in the motorhome so we can both visit and take our time.
Anyway, about a week ago we were in SoCal (like, Los Angeles!) and we were trying to arrange a meetup with a few of the folks we were with in Albuquerque (jam time!) when Sue got a phone call from the memory care unit where her mom lives. Her mom had fallen, injured her hip, and was on her way to the hospital emergency room. That night we learned the hip was broken, so… the next day we drove from LA to Phoenix, and early the following morning I dropped Sue at the airport so she could fly to Orlando. Five years and 5 days after Salt Lake City… Then I headed east on I-10 with an itinerary that would get me to Melbourne in five days.
No time for sightseeing or chilling on that little dash, although there was plenty of time for reflecting. As I re-read my posts from before (links here and here), I find that most of the emotional and philosophical stuff I wrote back then still applies, which is another way of saying that during all that reflection I came up with no profound, epiphanic new insights to share. It got me all the way here, though!
At this point, the day after my arrival on the Space Coast, Sue and I are back together at our favorite campground in Melbourne. The surgery to repair Sue’s mom’s hip went smoothly and she is recovering well. We’ll stay around as long as needed until she is settled back in, then we’ll decide where to head next.
