Book Club

[debic]

@gardenman  It would be simpler to just sign your real name after your posts in this forum.   No need to beat the ban.

[LoriLori]

 @gardenman, sorry to hear about your mother.  Hope she's mended.  I know two people with Lewy body disease and it's bad, poses problems on many fronts.

The good news is your books!  Today?  Yay!

Just start a thread with the title and anything in the body of the message and we will know.  You've already said "The Contest" (and even after I deactivated my Kindle in preparation of giving it away, the sample remained on it, I never understood that).

[LoriLori]

Just saw the book and I'm starting threads here and in the TV forum.  They can put me on time out LOL but it would be awfully mean-spirited of them.

[gardenman]

Lori. Thanks for noticing the book's out! Yea!

I'm afraid the news isn't so good on the Mom front however. She died at 8:24 Tuesday morning. It's been a tough couple of weeks around here with my brother dying on December 28th and now Mom on the fifth. I kind of feel like I've been clobbered, but I'm staggering back up to my feet.

She was pretty good early Tuesday morning but was worried that she'd wrecked the car. I reassured her she hadn't, and that everything was fine. I gave her thyroid medicine to her then sat in her wheelchair alongside her bed and watched a half hour of the morning news with her. Then it was time for her breakfast and she requested creamed chipped beef on toast, so I made that up, moved her to her wheelchair, fed her a few bites of that, then she said she wanted to lie back down. I transferred her to her commode first to change her diaper then put her in bed. I then went out to do the dishes. I came back in twenty minutes later with a glass of ice for her 7-Up and poured her a glass of that. I turned around to ask if she wanted a drink now and thought at first she was asleep. A closer look revealed she wasn't breathing. I grabbed a flashlight to check her pupils and they were fixed. She'd died in those twenty minutes.

Things have been a bit strange around here since then. Getting the books out is giving me something to do and keep my mind off the sadness. With any luck "To Rise or Fall" will be out sometime next week.

[lovescats]

I'm so sorry to hear this.  My prayers are with you.

[gardenman]

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@lovescats wrote:

I'm so sorry to hear this.  My prayers are with you.

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Thanks lovescats.

It's funny that for as long as I can remember I've had it drilled into my brain to always have a mental checklist of who you can call in an emergency. When you're young that list goes on forever with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, older nephews and nieces, neighbors, etc. I've now reached a point where my mental checklist has just one name on it and that name is mine. I've somehow outlived everyone else which is really ironic as I nearly died four times in the eighties (twice from a bleeding ulcer, once from a torn abdominal wall, and then a pulmonary embolism.) You could have made big money if you'd bet that I'd be the last one of us alive. It seemed like a near certainty that I'd be the first to die among us. Somehow I've outlived everyone else.

I suspect everyone eventually reaches a point where the majority of the people we know and love are gone. I just never really thought it would happen this soon. It's an odd place to find yourself. Your life goes on, but it's a whole different life than it was before. 

[LoriLori]

Gardenman, just so this and OMG, deepest sympathy.

Your brother, was he ill?

Your mom, you have been so devoted to her for so long, has ever a son taken such beloved, careful, loving care of a mother?  No I've never met you and never will but you could tell by the things you wrote, you can also tell from the way you speak of her death.  You gave her that one last glass of 7-Up; she was gone.

So sorry, words can't cut it.   

[dancingwoman]

So sorry GM to hear of your moms passing and your brothers passing....DW

[lainey1]

gardenman, I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your mother and brother. Wishing you peace to bring comfort, strength to face the days ahead and loving memories to hold in your heart.

[CLHS68]

Gardenman just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the loss of your Mother and Brother. What a terrible time you have had. I know you were a wonderful son to your Mother taking such loving care of her. You will never be sorry for that.

Looking forward to reading your book. Your friends here will be here if you need us.