"Ordo Ab Chao"

Good Afternoon;

Yesterday started confusing, got nuts, and eventually worked it's way into full bore gonzo.

Someone on the bus stop looked at me trying to juggle calls and call waiting on my phone, (which I still seem to hit the wrong key on EVERYTIME I try to use the feature...which is why I mostly don't!.....lol!), AND the pay phone, AND try to text on the borrowed phone I had for messages, AND talk to the driver of the car who had stopped to talk to me...(she saw one or the other of the stories and recognized me)...AND look up a phone number in the phone book, all at the same time........I just looked at him for a minute and then said,....."Thank you Captain Obvious....Here's Your Sign.......!".

After finally coordinating with Monkee, I was down by Johns Hopkins Medical Campus trying to catch a bus when I got calls from the the case worker of the case mgmt. firm who will be assigned to me, and Jenn, and Paul. I was talking to Jenn and being asked if I could come over immediately if not sooner, as Tom's father was being transferred by ambulance to the hospice right away, and she needed me to watch the kids again. Liz, my new case manager was calling to introduce herself and set up an appt. to meet, and Paul was calling to do exactly what I was trying to text him to do...(reschedule..lol,). So I worked out with Jenn that I would be over there within an hour and a half at the latest to watch the kids, and she reached her cousin Sydney to come watch the kids 'til I got there, after I passed by Monkee's. Paul and I touched base and will hook up next week, and Liz went to voice mail, and I ended up setting a tentative appt. for this Thursday on her voice mail. For once the buses and subway were semi-coordinated and I got there quicker than planned. We fed the kids and Sydney left , and I threw about 200 pounds of assorted toys back in the toy box. Jenn and I texted back and forth through the evening...as I got the kids washed, changed, snacked, rewashed, and (teeth)brushed, and finally settled in their beds with a DVD..(Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, it's a reasonably new movie...they've only seen it 120 times....lol)...and I got a chance to finish picking up the apartment for Jenn and did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Things kinda went awry in the past few days, with me not there and Tom's dad being found on the floor of the nursing home on Thursday, and rapidly going downhill Friday.

He is suffering from Vascular Dementia/Alzheimers, exacerbated by his Marfans Syndrome, which had also left him nearly sightless. Needless to say Tom is going through hell now, having to deal with this and trying to take care of his mom, who basically is of the generation that relied 100% on the husband for everything, and is now having trouble coping. Add to that his employer dissolving the company, and all the related financial difficulties, and you can imagine his stress level. There is a bright note though, Tom's dad got to see him get clean and stay clean, over a significant time, before he got sick, (about 6 months ago, he began to 'leave'), and got to meet and know his grandchildren. I wish i could have given that gift to my father before he died in 1994 of the Pancreatic cancer, but by being clean now and being available to Tom and Jenn to deal with the household chores and supply planned or 'moments notice' child care, I am trying to make my amends in my own small way. I know the pain Tom is feeling, and at least I can help to see that he does not have to go through it alone like I did. And by giving Jenn the freedom to spend time with her husband I can hope to make amends to her also.

Luckily, most of the places I go and things I do are in the neighborhood, so i am only one phone call and a bus ride away. I have told the folks at the case mgmt. firm that any appts. we make are conditional upon the possibility of an immediate departure, if need arises.

Tomorrow afternoon, I have tentative plans to take Rachel and Edward to the library together to see the little presentation by the Maryland Zoo and the Zoomobile Crew. This should also give Jenn and Tom a little breathing room, it's still fairly easy to incarcerate Devin in
"baby jail", ...aka..the crib...lol!..., but Ed is a handful when you need peace.

Jenn just called and she wants to hop on the train to the hospice, so...

later................Dave