THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME
84
MAY 2013
Dear Readers,
April flew by thankfully as it was a
very cold, wet and dreary month and May was ushered in with a record
breaking snowfall which almost broke my gardening spirit. Fortunately
we finally have sun and warmth and my garden is in full bud just
waiting to bloom forth – rather like Coryn. We are now just about
four weeks away from her due date of June 12th.
Leslee-Ann and Craig visited us in
mid April for a few days. Josh picked them up at the airport on a
Thursday morning and decided to have a little fun with mother on
their drive home. They were running late so I called Josh to ask if
they had stopped to eat or something. When Josh answered the phone he
sounded as if death was imminent. He didn't know if they had arrived
as he was still in bed, too sick to move. I immediately went into
full mother in a crisis mode. I told him that I would call Leslee and
Craig to see if they were waiting curbside for him, explain the
situation, then find someone to stay with Norm while I raced to pick
them up or see if one of the kids could take a long lunch hour to
fetch them. I also assured Josh that I would be flying down I435 to
take care of him once Leslee and Craig arrived to stay with Norm. His
voice sounded so weak I was convinced that he was terribly dehydrated
and probably on the verge of lapsing into a coma – all my fears of
the nasty bugs he might have picked up on his travels came flooding
back to me. Then as my bowels begin churning Josh had a miraculous
recovery and offered to put Craig on the phone. Why do I always fall
for these stories?
Leslee took over as soon as she
arrived. She, Craig and I headed to the Hen House where she shopped
for all the groceries they needed to fix several meals. Leslee is
very touchy feelie when it comes to the produce aisle: every
vegetable or fruit was poked, prodded or squeezed to test for
ripeness. By the time she had selected her tomatoes I would have
shopped every aisle and been headed to the self checkout. I asked
Craig if she was always like this – Craig confessed that he would
do almost anything to avoid shopping with her. He escaped the
produce aisle by offering to hunt for other items on her list through
out the store .I frankly don't remember ever grocery shopping with
Leslee in her younger years – in fact I suspect she probably made
it all through college without ever fixing a meal. When we made it to
the cash register we had dueling credit cards: Leslee won.
Another interesting fact I noted was
that a butcher behind the meat counter hollered at Leslee and me when
we were several yards away up another aisle to see if we needed any
help. Now I have shopped at this store at least once a week since we
moved to Kansas and no-one has ever asked me if I needed any help!
The same thing happens with Coryn. We went to see a musical at one of
the downtown theaters months ago before Coryn was visibly pregnant
and immediately an usher appeared to escort her to her seat, leaving
me behind to fend for myself! I didn't notice any other little old
ladies getting escorted to their seats either. The same thing happens
on planes – male passengers leap to their feet to heft her suitcase
into the overhead bins while I struggle with mine!
Coryn took Friday off work so that
she could spend time with her sister and Craig. Josh - who is off
work permanently at this time it seems - was also around a lot so we
played a few rounds of the game Bananagrams that Lainee introduced us
to and Quiddler. When Bryn and Sean were around we broke out more
family games. Norm never plays but enjoys listening to all our
bantering and the kids giving me a hard time .One night they all
headed to Barley's – a nearby restaurant /bar. They met up with an
old Aquinas school friend, Josh Dinwiddie and his wife who have
recently moved here.
On Saturday morning the guys went to
play basketball while Leslee and I stayed with Norm. After lunch the
boys returned and stayed with Norm while Leslee and I shopped and got
our nails done. Unfortunately I got talked into gel nails and have
spent over a week trying to remove the polish with very little
success despite following the instructions on the web. I think I am
going to have to pay someone to take the gel polish off! Never again.
As you all know your dad has been
having more health issues of late. We have had several instances of
days of fruit punch colored urine, blood in his underwear and pain.
One weekend I had to irrigate your dad's bladder through his catheter
tubing three times. I never expected to find myself shooting your dad
up with a huge syringe full of liquid! After consulting with a couple
of his doctor's we have decided to move ahead with Hospice care. It
has been a very difficult decision as we have been very happy with
our present home health group but they do not offer in home hospice
care. Hospice does a great job with pain control which has become an
issue for your dad lately.
Mother's Day was very special again
this year. All my children called, sent cards, or presents. The
doorbell rang early Sunday morning so I rushed to open it in my
nightie, thinking it had to be one of my children not having any idea
of the time. It was a delivery guy balancing a gift box containing a
beautiful flower arrangement, a fresh baked loaf of bread and a
cheese assortment. The guy wished me a nice day to which I replied it
would be now as I grabbed my gift and I thought the vision of me in
my nightie had just guaranteed him a nice day too! No sniggers or
comments children!I grabbed my glasses to see who had sent my gift
and saw that it was from Leslee and Craig. I also saw that it was
only eight O'clock in the morning so I decided to go back to bed
since it was my special day. I had just nestled myself in next to
your snoring dad and the purring cat when the doorbell rang again.
This time FedEx delivered chocolate covered strawberries and a trio
of cheese cakes from Marc. Amazingly Marc admitted during a later in
the day phone call that he had been prompted by a radio ad rather
than his boss or one of his siblings into doing something for his all
too soon to be moving in Mom. At this point I decided I might as well
stay up in case another delivery came my way. Towards lunchtime Josh,
Bryn and Sean arrived with bags of groceries to fix a barbecue steak
and chicken lunch which we enjoyed eating on the deck. They were soon
joined by Coryn and Jeremy with the boys. They contributed some sides
and several ice-cream/candy bar treats.
Remember the flock of birds I made
for Coryn and Jeremy's nursery? Coryn decided to check out my supply
of tree branches and espied some she thought would work in a pile of
branches on my neighbors side of the fence so I found myself bent in
two over the fence trying to wrestle her chosen branches free, hoping
my neighbor wasn't watching my antics to steal his trash! Coryn
explained that it was my duty to contort myself into a pretzel as she
couldn't even get close to the fence, leave alone bend over it with
her baby bump. This done we headed out through my new garden gate to
Quivera where she found some just laying on the ground that she liked
better! I made her take the lot home with her as I was not going to
throw the branches back over the fence. Guess who is probably going
to be stuck with the job of hanging the branches and perching the
birds on them?
Kay graduates from Tufts this
weekend with a bachelors degree (Cum Laude) in Chinese and Clinical
Psychology.She will be arriving in Kansas City for a few days in
early June for her orientation into the Teach America program and
will then spend most of the summer training in Tulsa, Oklahoma until
school starts here. We are so excited to have another family member
so close.
Sean has handed in his notice at
work and plans to follow in Joshua's footsteps by exploring the
world. He is also trying to sell his condo .Josh has been helping him
to clean it up and is now helping Bryn ready his house for sale too.
I can only hope that my house will be the next beneficiary of
Joshua's handyman skills. I have lots of projects!Knowing Josh he
will probably take off on another adventure or maybe totally surprise
me by finding a job. I am now the mother of three unemployed sons.
Ming-Jon is very actively looking for a new one so I hope he finds
one very soon. When Coryn goes on maternity leave half my children
will be unemployed! I shall have to hope that no-one asks what you
all do – although I guess I could say that half of my children are
embracing the concept of stopping to smell the roses – preferably
at mother's house where a free meal is always available!
Ming-Lee has been adding a new
floating dock at the Lake House although he may not get to enjoy it
too much this summer as he will be in flight training for a few
months soon as he has to learn how to fly a new plane. I think FedEx
is retiring his usual type of aircraft. Hopefully he and the family
will be able to get together sometimes.
Marc is very busy in court – says
one of his cases made the front page of the LA Times – doubtless
it's a scandal sheet. I just hope he'll net enough for our dream home
overlooking the Pacific Pallisades. Then he'll have enough room for
all his unemployed siblings – wouldn't it be lovely to mooch off of
Marc?With that uplifting thought I must abandon you all to put out my
trash,water my plants and check your dad's catheter bag to see what's
growing in there now! Love your always in the dirt and blooming
mother.
