Family and Friends

Its been a tough few weeks. My 88 year old mother went into the hospital at the beginning of January to cure an infection but because of some recent problems with her kidneys there were complications. Unfortunately after a couple of weeks of treatment there was nothing more the doctors could do and my mother passed away. I am sad, of course, but grateful that she was herself and pain free until the last few days.

In times like these it is good to have people to support you. My family is not one of those that get together a lot but we get along with each other well enough. My parents live with my younger sister (the one on my mothers lap in the picture) so she was the one who really took charge and had to deal with the day to day problems. I did what I could to support her and my father and think it was good that we could help each other through this crisis.

I also had a couple of friends reach out and offered their support. It was a simple email that just asked if I was okay and told me to hang in there. The content of the message wasn't important the fact that there was some one out there that cared was.

This past week I had to stay in New York city for a set of meetings for work. I was thankful for the distraction. It also gave me the chance to get together with a lot the people who I only see on web conferences. I enjoy working with most of my colleagues and it was good to see their physical persons instead of a head bobbing on a computer screen. We had some fun happy hours and dinners.They had heard about my mother and expressed their support which was comforting.  

I did manage to get a ride in before heading to New York, this past week. I did Jim's Sunday ride from Blackwell mills. I wasn't in the best shape for the ride and cramped at the beginning but it was good to be around my friends and share what happened with my mother.  It felt like group therapy and helped relieve some of the tension I was feeling.

I am definitely emotionally bankrupt and physically tired after the last couple of weeks but am thankful for the family and friends that help make getting through these crises a little easier.