When I left Ecuador, I promised everyone I was going to get better at posting on Facebook and updating this blog. Everyone wanted to be kept apprised of our Bulgarian adventures. “Okie dokie,” says I. “I can do that.”
Ummmm…. maybe not. But I’ve got really good reasons, I swear! This is a perfect example of the Universe having other plans.
Here’s a recap
Stay with me. I’m gonna move fast. Timeline is approximate.
August 30 – Jeremy and I fly back to Colorado with two cats. This turned out to be the least stressful event of the subsequent three months.
Day 2 after our arrival in the US: Kid One says–looking at me and squinting through one eye, “Ya know, Mom… I’m having trouble seeing out of my left eye. I’d better get that checked.”
Day 10: Kid One gets diagnosed with tumor on the pituitary gland. Tumor is pressing on the optic nerve. Kid One needs brain surgery. People tell me how fortunate it was that I was in Denver when this happened.
Days 10 though 25: Many trips to hospital–which is not, BTW, geographically desirable, and entails about a 35-45 one way drive depending how horrendous traffic is at the Denver Tech Center.
Throughout this time, tumor is removed, determined to be benign, but Kid One has all kinds of physical maladies from the surgery. These have yet to fully resolve. This is Kid One’s issue – she can do her own blog post.
Day30-ish: Kid Two gets a call that the girls’ father, who has been afflicted with dementia for several years and had been living in a facility in Massachsetts, has contracted pneumonia and has been hospitalized and “probably won’t make it through the weekend.” Kid Two flies to Boston. Kid One cannot fly due to recent brain surgery. Kid One chooses to drive to Massachsetts. Mom doesn’t want Kid One driving across the country alone. Hence, Mom goes on an unanticipated road trip with Kid One. Jeremy stays in Colorado with cats. People tell me how fortunate it was that I was here to partake in the wonderful bonding experience with my girls. I secretly start to think most people have a screw loose.
Day 33-ish: Arrive in Massachusetts. Dad rallies and comes out of the hospital. We turn around and drive back to Colorado two days later. Kid One and I are heartily sick of road trips. This one lasted seven days–five of them spent driving.
Days 35 – 55-ish: Period of relative calm where Jeremy and I desperately attempt to make up for lost time getting the paperwork together for our Bulgarian visa application.
Day 60: Kid Two gets another phone call. Dad back in hospital. Come right away. Kid One can now fly, thank the lord. Kid One and Kid Two fly to Boston.
Day 65: Dad passes away. Entire family converges on Massachusetts for the funeral. People again tell me how fortunate I am that I was in the US so I could “be there for the girls.” Grandson Everett makes it clear he is not fond of incense at a Catholic mass. We don’t see him becoming a priest.
Day 70: Flying back to Colorado from the funeral, I start to notice I’m having trouble reading my Kindle. But only on the left eye. (I swear, I am not making this up.) Start to wonder if I, too, have a brain tumor. Also wonder how much chocolate I am able to consume in one sitting.
Days 75 – 77: Visit various opticians, ophthalmologists, and “retina specialists.” I do not have a brain tumor. But I have a hole in my retina. Said hole requires surgery, after which I cannot fly for a minimum of three weeks. We are scheduled to fly to Bulgaria in two weeks.
Day 77: Call Kids One and Two to give them the hole-in-the-retina update. Kid Two bemoans, “I’m at the point where I’m afraid to pick up the phone. My sister, my father, my mother. I’m the only one left.”
I start referring to Kid Two as Caroline Kennedy. Kid Two is not amused.
People tell me how fortunate I am that this was caught while I was in the US. It’s also fortunate that a piano has not fallen out of a 10 story building and landed on my head. I am tired of this “glass half full” mentality and getting really tired of people telling me how fortunate I am when all I am doing is putting out fires.
Day 78: Jeremy and I assume we are royally screwed. Meet with eye surgeon, and he states surgery can be pushed off for up to two months. Jeremy and I say F-it–we’re going to Bulgaria before some other misfortune strikes. I’ll freaking come back to the US for surgery when the time comes.
Day 79: Eye surgery scheduled back in Denver for January 9, 2025. I’ve decided to worry about that on or around January 8th.
Day 82: Fly to Chicago from Denver to submit Bulgarian visa paperwork. That actually goes off without a hitch. Except Jeremy gets a cold from it. This seems like small potatoes given the level of chaos in our lives since we left Ecuador. I do not catch the cold. This is a miracle.
Day 88: Thanksgiving. We all have dinner together. No one gets food poisoning; the turkey is moist, and no one talks politics. We are thankful for that.
Day 93: Board the plane for Bulgaria with cats in tow. Everyone makes it reasonably intact to Bulgaria.
Day 96: That’s today. We’ve begun our Bulgarian adventure regardless of the events of the past three months and the upcoming eye surgery. Scew it. Ya only live once. So what if those ancient roman ruins look a little blurry. They look perfect if I close my left eye!
Sooooo…..
That’s why I’ve not been posting. No one cares about hospitals, doctor’s offices, and funerals, anyway (except the people that are in them). So life just hasn’t been all that blog-able. Now that we’re in Bulgaria, I’ll post updates of us attempting to muddle through Sofia when we don’t speak a word of Bulgarian.
Somehow that doesn’t seem all that insurmountable. 😀
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