On Monday morning, Dawn and I walked over to Sunrise Cafe for breakfast with cousins, Jonnie, Mary, Sue, Lori, and Erin. I had an embarrassing memory blunder with Lori when I asked her how her husband Jim was doing and she reminded me that he had passed away last November. I guess this is just the way it's going to be and I hope that I don't offend anyone.
I drove to Sun Prairie to meet Leslie for lunch at Buck N Honey's - she came in from West Allis. We had a really nice visit, keep in touch on a regular basis, but it's always nice to meet in person. I thought that some of the other Milwaukee and 'the land' friends would us join but I learned that Jane has knee problems, Nancy is living up north, and Linda is apparently not in very good health either.
Back to Pat & Tracey's but it was an early night as he had to work the next day and I was heading to Pat and Roger's.
I was off to Pat & Roger's on Tuesday morning after taking my time having coffee and doing laundry so I could remake the bed that I slept in all week. Dawn is so good about making me feel welcome and letting me stay when I come to Stoughton and we always have a good time together.
I got to the Hoovey's house and Pat and I took Chloe for a walk and later in the afternoon we headed for Cimaroli's for some delicious crab dip and crispy bread and an Old Fashioned - my first cocktail since mid-June - I watered it down a lot but still felt the buzz.
We all went for an early walk on Wednesday morning and then I packed up, said goodbye to my good friends, and headed home. It was a 5 hour drive with a few stretch, snack, gas, and potty stops along the way.
I got to Ben's around 1:45 and as we were catching up, he got a call from Jill for him to pick up the girls at school and go to hospital to say goodby to papa. His major organs are starting to shut down and he said 'no more'. He has fought it for a long time and tried everything possible to lengthen his life, to no avail. My heart goes out to their family.
After my walk on Friday morning, I made a pot of potato and ham soup to take to Ben's in the afternoon as they are still spending quite a bit of time at the hospital. Dennis is in mostly a medicated sleep state right now, his family has all been here and they are just keeping him comfortable. Ben called to say he was heading to the hospital so TyI offered to meet the girls at the bus stop and get them to swim practice. That was perfect since and I hadn't seen them in a while. Charlotte had a party to go to, so Ben took her while I was at swim practice. The girls asked what kind of soup I brought and I got an 'I love that kind' response, so that made me feel good. Just as I was leaving, Jill pulled in, so I got to talk with her for a bit. I feel so bad for what they are going through, I know it well although Dennis has suffered for such a long time with various chemo treatments and this last stay in the hospital has been over six weeks.
