We snuck into Illinois during the pandemic to visit my mom this past week. She's probably done more traveling than us, having been to Missouri with all her sisters. Anyway, Jane, myself, Carrie, and her kids loaded up the van and headed to Buda Thursday.
It had been a while since I've ridden in the van with all of them. It's also been a while since any of us have been to visit my mom (since February). It was an uneventful drive there. We arrived Thursday late afternoon.
We had supper with mom, then we all headed to Dr. Tim's house in the neighboring town, and the cousins had a great time playing together. Tim's dad (Jane's brother) also came over, and we had a nice visit.
My mom is doing good, though not getting any younger. She could probably still outwork all of us even at age 82. She did have me straighten up her flag on the backyard flag pole. I always smile inside at the irony of me doing this.
Friday I spent part of the morning on the phone with my mom's tv/phone/internet provider. Her wifi was not working, and apparently hasn't been for some time. She only uses her phone for internet, but is on it quite a bit. Apparently she has unlimited data, so it didn't matter all that much. Still, in talking with the lady, my parents have used this same company since 1985. The lady on the phone was very nice, but they're going to have to send a guy on Tuesday to look at it. He is also bringing a new modem.
In the afternoon we started trimming the 17 bushes my mom has around her house and garage. Ugh. It wasn't terrible, and fortunately they are all fairly small, but I/we still worked up a pretty good sweat.
Friday night we had a big domino game, and Jane's brother Mark came over for that too. The kids played too and were actually pretty good. The 9-year-old granddaughter legitimately won!
We dinked around Saturday before leaving a little after lunch. We planned to stop and see my dad at the nursing home on the way back to the Fort. We hoped right after lunch but before his nap would be a good time. My mom drove her car over too. Unfortunately it started raining (we have to stand outside his window), and when we got there he was already asleep anyway. I'm not sure it was a bad thing that we didn't get to see him. It probably would have only confused him.
So we headed for Indiana. There were two areas - around Lasalle and again before Joliet - where we drove through a torrential downpour. It was as bad as I've ever driven through. It's simply would not let up! There were a lot of motorcycles pulled off the road and under bridges.
We finally made it home Saturday evening. The kids were super good the whole trip. I'm glad we went. I think it helped me realize I CAN go back into the world and not freak out. That should help when I have to return to work Tuesday.
The pic is some random shots from my mom's garage, Main Street, and dominos.
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