So I have not blogged in a few weeks mainly because I am still recovering from going home for Thanksgiving. So with that I bring to you: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the Holidays.
The Good
It was good being in my hometown and seeing all my folks. My parents home was the same as was when I last left. The poach still sagged in middle, the plants were brown from over watering and the brown from not watering enough. The house itself was hotter than the Mojave Desert in July. Thank God for the cold draft wafting through all the cracks my father (Wo-wa), failed to fix. Mom, I swear, was in the same gar-animal outfit from seven months ago and Wo-wa still eating that same cereal he left on the counter so it could get the right amount of sogginess. One would think they would change clothes and eat faster.My mother was still ornery and curmudgeonly.Wo-wa, was just plain antisocial and grouchy. Both seemed to want attention but did not anyone speaking to the other. So as long as I paid equal amount of attention to them then they were okay. But still everything was as I remembered. That in itself was comforting. Even the in-laws were doing what they were doing the last time we saw them, which made Bob very happy. It seems more and more that we have changed but Sacramento hasn't. It is like leaving your home to go on vacation and returning to find that everything is where you left it. That is a good feeling.
The Bad
I had planned a gathering my parents house, hoping my siblings and various nephews and nieces would all show up so we could commune both verbally and foodstuff. Of course most failed to come and there was way too much food which those who did show up did not eat. My parents are old. I never really noticed how much they have aged in the last few years as I did that day. My mother is slightly hunched over and gray in skin and hair. When did Wo-wa become shorter? Both were more cynical and misanthropic than usual. Wo-wa comes out of the room when we decide after 3 hours to leave and head to a more festive affair in the Bay Area. Of course my parents have always been somewhat unsocial and strict but now they are beyond what anyone could have predicted. Even when they dish out the rare compliment it comes with such rancor that we children don’t get it until hours later when rehash the moment with someone else. In the meanwhile, my in-laws were busy appearing as if their world was so together that they looked upended. Nothing was together and everything ran extremely late. There was not set program or agenda for anything and no one gave anyone directions of what was happening next. So we haphazard our way to reunion events that were planned at the last minute or thought about but never thought out. The most disturbing was the obvious absence of key family members. We asked about some of them and guessed on others. Sometimes I think it is better to just say where folks are and what they are into instead of not saying anything at all.
The ugly
I had a Multiple Sclerosis attack while I was in Sacramento that proved to be mild for me but obviously disturbing to others. The worry on their faces showed that they were concern beyond what they should be but, as I was told by my mother, they are allowed to worry. My mother was so concerned she started washing dishes in the dark and my father just stared in disbelief at my uncontrolled tremors. I tried to explain that this wasn’t as bad as it looks but to no avail. So I am left feeling sorry for my folks as I battle this ever increasing bothersome disease.
