Back from a week in Asheville, visiting the parents. Despite the fact they're old enough to be my parents, they're in pretty good shape (they're still able to live on their own, which is good, although dad's got a tremor, and mom's getting more and more forgetful [although her memory was probably made worse by the stress over having us all visit - me, my wife, and my sister and her husband - mom wants everything to be perfect, which, of course, none of us needs it to be]).
Parents and I have had some stress in the past (the usual parental stuff, and then some other stuff a few years ago when they didn't think I visited them frequently enough), but recently we've been getting along well. Dad gets all fussy about us knowing where the money and other valuables are in the house - but it's my hope that they'll be able to use that for their own care when they're no longer able to live on their own. They've made it clear that they want to stay in Asheville if they can; all their friends, their church, and their lives for the past 25 years or so, are there, so they should stay if they want to.
We do Christmas at Thanksgiving (my sister Sue, or her husband, came up with the coinage of "Chranksgiving", which is an awful-sounding thing, but it is what we do... presents in the morning, and dinner in the afternoon). Got a TV from the parents that they had won in some raffle (our first flat-screen, and the best in the house; we can attach it to the PC for streaming Netflix movies), and Sue and I gave 'em a sculpture that Sue had commissioned for their 80th birthdays. (She did the whole thing on the sculpture from top to bottom; I just paid for my half, though I'm happy to take the credit - but it's more than I deserve).
My wife Regina and I do the drive each way in a single day. It's gruesome, but it saves us both an overnight in a motel, and a couple days of vacation time, which she can ill afford (although I have more than I know what to do with - well, that's not really true, but I hate taking time off, because 1) no day off goes unpunished, and 2) I have such an anxiety problem about work, being away for several days makes me lose sleep and get sour stomach; I'm looking forward to retirement for that reason, among others). The drive down was OK, but I was exhausted on the drive back, and Regina did most of the driving. Makes me feel like a lazy slug, but it's better than driving off the road because I fell asleep at the wheel.
And now we're back, sleeping in our own bed and drinking our usual coffee. Tomorrow, not to show favoritism, we're off to Regina's parents for Thanksgiving leftovers.
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