Daily Archives: October 15, 2007

Riding With Mary

Monday and not a moment too soon. Last night, came home a zombie and wrote last night’s blog. Bill and I spoke, he was taking his mom to see his dad across town at the Village Nursing Home. Nothing out of the ordinary, everything going nicely. I spoke on the phone with my sister Annemarie about our brother Brian, being Mr. Tight Lipped. I also told Annemarie that Brian’s old friend from the seventies, John Monetti was living up in Brian’s neck of the woods, helping Brian out with some odd jobs, here and there. John used to be quite the hottie when we were all growing up, beefy, swarthy, the right amount of testosterone which stirred something within me but I didn’t know what then. He now weighs 360 pounds and can’t wear a seat belt properly. Too bad, though I still have some photos somewhere of guys that vaguely remind me of John in his prime. Guys that I imagined incorrectly that John had grown into.

As I was talking to Annemarie, Bill phoned in. As he and his mother were leaving the nursing home, she complained about feeling ill, then she collapsed. Luckily they were in a nursing home and the staff were able to spring into action and dial 911. There was a lot of commotion so Bill got off the phone with me and dealt with his situation. I got back on the phone with Annemarie and told her what was going on. I figured they were going to take Bill’s mom to St. Vincent’s hospital since that was the closest hospital from the nursing home. I feel so bad for Bill, I wish there was something that I could do, but apparently just staying around, waiting by the phone and lending whatever support he might need.

I was fortunate when my father was fading away, I had my brothers at the front line which made sense since they were closer, both in regards to distance, and they got along with the old man a lot better than I did. My fortune was in the fact that they dealt with the issue at hand. Even Annemarie came in towards the end and handled the situation better than I could have. The guy thought I was incompetent and I generally became incompetent around him. I spent a good part of my life loathing my father.

Bill’s been handling his situation on his own and it’s certainly a terrifying experience and he’s doing the best that he can. His cousin lives nearby but she’s dealing with her mom who’s older than Bill’s mom, and she also has a husband that sometimes works, and two boys, 10 and 6 years old that are a handful, so she can only help Bill so much. So I sit by the phone and wait for Bill to call, to ask for help, or just needing an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on. That’s why I’m here I guess.

Work was work. Nothing special. I was busy though, bank runs, office supplies and a visit to the post office where it was as crowded as it is during the holiday season. I left work early so I could drop off Carla the ex-receptionist’s check since it wasn’t signed on Friday when she was expecting it. It was the least I could do and it allowed me to leave work an hour earlier. That’s about it. Juan has a stalker. Spoke to him for the first time in weeks.