Juniper and Big B rolling Lil ‘B to parenting class

Well, a lot has happened since my brief sojourn as an Uptown Girl. Lil’ B was welcomed into this world by  the gathering of both of his birth clans who eagerly and joyfully passed his little bundled self from arm to arm so that all could inspect and confirm that he was blessed with the expected amount of appendages in good working order. Big B was allowed a precious three days away from his baseball team to participate in the birth of his son which he did by cutting the umbilical cord and sleeping overnight on the pull out couch in Juniper’s maternity room so as not to miss a single one of Lil’B’s diaper changes or cuddles.

Lil B came home to the townhouse a scant 30 hours after he was born. Juniper allowed herself three days to settle into her new motherhood role, and then summoned the realtor to start showing the townhouse again. The next week was  a blur of feedings, showings,  closet purges, and interviews with movers. Lil B’s nursery was packed up and dispatched to climatized storage with the rest of the family furniture, while he and his mama flew to Ohio to spend a glorious summer following Big B’s baseball team from stadium to stadium.

I came home to catch my breath and regroup. I had been gone so long over winter and spring that I had to be re-introduced to my home and community. Where did I keep my spatulas? Which roads would take me to my hair salon?  There was some cool bric-a-brac in the dining room that I had completely forgotten about, so I patted myself on the back and acknowledged that I really loved what I apparently did to the place. My re-orientation didn’t last long; by mid-summer it was apparent that  Mom’s melanoma infusion therapy was taking a toll and she had fallen into a state of severe exhaustion, so I found myself flying back to Montana. My retirement from homemaking was officially coming to an end with the beginning of my new responsibility  as care giver.

Mom’s Yervoy infusions that were meant to stabilize her existing melanoma were not only unsuccessful, but also failed to prevent the growth of a brand new 4 inch tumor. She was released to hospice care and advised that there might be other treatment available to her at MD Anderson in Houston. I closed Mom’s house up as best I could while McGator made arrangements to have her admitted to MD Anderson. We brought her down to Houston in a fog of numbness and with heavy hearts, for we all believed that she would not survive to see Christmas.

The biggest challenge is making room for everybody’s stuff

Our empty nest became a multi-aged  assisted living facility  almost overnight. We moved our stuff out of the downstairs master bedroom and settled into our corner of the upstairs. Two other corner bedrooms were occupied by Shooney, who  had moved home from North Carolina, and Bo, who had settled into his new job and was concentrating on personal  asset building. Big B, Juniper, and Lil’ B temporarily squeezed into the fifth bedroom while the finishing touches were being put on their new house. Baseball season was over, and they had come back to Houston for the winter.

McGator and I have put travel plans on hold for awhile, but in exchange we are totally embracing the roles of grandparents while Lil B and his parents are in town for the off season. We babysit regularly, and since Lil’ B’s parents have not advanced their culinary skills much, we have been hosting lots of big family dinners on a regular basis.We missed Bo and Shooney for several years, and now they are back under our noses. We like having them around, and appreciate the positive attention they give their ailing grandmother. Miraculously, Mom’s new Keytruda infusions have been shrinking her tumor and she is slowly regaining strength. We are daring to imagine she will win this battle and are making tentative plans to take her home to visit her house and garden this summer. As harsh as this situation has been for everybody, there could not be a better place to deal with it than within the heart of the family.