'RevD is alive and well and living in Wisconsin' [Confessions of a Liberal Puritan]

Okay, so it's been six months since I last posted anything, anywhere, pretty much. And I'm sorry for that.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights:

Following my mother's sudden and totally unexpected death in early February, I decided to move back to Wisconsin (where I haven't lived since the 1980s) to be near my elderly father (who relied on my mother for a LOT, including bill-paying, financial planning, social life, food procurement and preparation, managing medications, driving further than a few blocks from their apartment, etc.).

My brother and sister were both surprisingly helpful in joining with me to take care of our father, and in helping me to finally pack up or get rid of the contents of my house in Tennessee, so I could put my house there on the market (after some repairs overseen by the real estate agent, it sold in a day and a half, so it's possible I under-priced it, but it's been great to have those mortgage payments off my back).

Moving into my sister's little house in Milwaukee has proven to be a surprisingly healthy change for me. My sister has been great about making room for me and what remains of my 'stuff', even going so far as to rearrange the living room and kitchen to include some of my favorite pieces of furniture, cookware, and wall hangings. Together, we put in quite a bit of garden this year, and we now have tomatoes of various colors and sizes coming out of our ears. (I hope to have pictures to post soon.)

I've particularly enjoyed the fact that there's an Aldi's food store AND a budget (two-dollar admission) movie theater within five minutes' drive of my new home, plus a county-wide library system through which I've been able to borrow all the seasons of TV shows like Dexter and True Blood and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on DVD.

I don't have a job yet, but I'm doing some substitute preaching (though after falling from a raised pulpit at the church I was serving this past Sunday and finishing the rest of the service on what turned out to be a broken ankle, I may not be physically capable of doing much subbing for the next couple of weeks).

So, except for the broken ankle and current lack of mobility, life is going okay for now. We all still miss my mother every day, but we've drawn closer to one another and made some positive changes in all our lives as we deal with our loss.

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You are a good daughter, coming to your dad's aid like that, and your sister sounds awesome as well. It sounds like you are settling in very nicely and I'm sure you'll find a job very soon :)

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Thank you so much for your encouraging words! :)

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So glad to hear you are doing well! I'm sorry to hear about your mother, but pleased the relocation seems to have been healthy for you.

Thanks so much!

It HAS been a healthy move for me in so many ways, and I doubt that I would have made this much-needed change if something drastic hadn't happened to blast me out of my 'stuck' mindset and living situation.

Out of tragedy, my family seems to be moving towards hope and a healthier relationship with each other.

Glad to hear you're doing well. I enjoyed the photos too.

Thank you! :)

I'm glad to hear that you're doing well, in spite of all the changes.

I'm so sorry to hear about your ankle. Been there, done that. I hope it heals cleanly and quickly.

Thanks, Miss M! One careless mis-step down from the pulpit dais (stepping where the steps WEREN'T), and I can no longer pick tomatoes or tomatillos or peppers or raspberries or anything, and my sister's stuck cooking and running errands for me for weeks to come. Bummer!

So good to hear that you aren't looking after your father alone. And allowing you to put your stamp on the house may sound like a small thing but I know from personal experience it is not. Very glad to hear it. But very sorry to hear about your ankle. How did you come to fall from the pulpit. Preaching a bit too enthusiastically? :)

May you find the perfect job soon.

I was just stepping away from the pulpit after finishing my sermon and was looking at the sermon manuscript in my hand rather than picking up the hem of my robe to check on the placement of my feet in relation to the TWO steps down from this raised pulpit (rather than the single step I was used to in other churches), and I stepped off the wrong part of the platform, into empty space without any steps between me and the further-away-than-I-expected floor of the rest of the chancel.

Result? I fell down rather loudly, full length, and twisted and/or banged my right ankle, which DIDN'T leave the dais until after the rest of me had fallen off it.

I just felt bruised and very embarrassed afterwards, so I stood for most of the remaining 20 minutes of the service, and only discovered when I went to walk down the aisle to the back of the sanctuary at the end of the service that my right foot and ankle became suddenly much more painful when I tried to move it that way. I limped to the back of the church, stood to shake hands while my ankle continued to swell, and then oh-so-painfully drove myself home (right foot really did NOT like being flexed at the ankle at all, and it's hard to operate the gas and brake pedals without doing that).

Three hours later I was in enough pain to let my sister take me to the Emergency room for x-rays, and they found some breaks and cracks and put me in a padded boot to immobilize the ankle and foot. The Orthopedist on Monday ordered a CT scan of my ankle, just to make sure, and that couldn't be scheduled before this coming Wednesday, so in the meantime I keep wearing the padded boot and trying to stay off it.

My sister had broken her ankle last winter, so she'd already figured out the best way to get around this house on one leg (sitting on a rolling office chair, pushing off with the good foot and using hands to fend off collisions with walls or furniture, since the halls and doorways are mostly too narrow for a real wheelchair), and she's been doing a good job of taking care of me whenever possible, to limit the number of times and the length of time I have to get myself from the recliner to the office chair to go to the bathroom, kitchen, etc..

And this just proves how time gets away from me. I kept thinking I needed to wait and reply when I was at my home computer or some such and thus, never got to it.

I was going to yell at you for being a silly woman, not taking care of yourself, when the husband pointed out that he's absolutely certain I would have done the exact same thing. We had a bit of an argument about it and he won. :) Severe independent streak not always a good thing.

I'm very glad to hear you're getting around the house without too much difficulty. The perfect time to catch up on reading, although crochet seems to be your therapy of choice. :)

I was going to yell at you for being a silly woman, not taking care of yourself, when the husband pointed out that he's absolutely certain I would have done the exact same thing.

Yep! :)

Thanks so much for your good wishes. I'm limping around a bit now, since the results of the CT scan (which I finally got this past Wednesday, a week after the test itself) seemed to confirm that the only NEW break (not counting old breaks that I apparently walked on -- or not -- and let heal not quite right by themselves, rather than seek medical attention at previous times in my life) is a crack in the distal tibia, and as long as I keep my ankle in the immobilizing boot I'm only limited by how much pain I can stand when I try to stand on my right foot. But I'm supposed to keep the boot on for another three weeks, minimum. :(

Hey Lori - Miss M told me about this entry and your broken ankle. Really sorry to hear you've busted it. Glad to hear you have your sister to look after you so you are not dealing with it alone.

Saw Frozen, Divergent and Captain America I and II on the plane to and from America. I think Frozen was the pick of the bunch, though none of them really benefitted from being shown on a 9 inch screen!

Yeah, 9 inches is great for some things (nothing 'dirty' implied!), but NOT for movie-screens. :)

I missed you and glad to hear from you very much! Sorry for the broken ankle, let's hope it heals well.

Sorry again for your loss. It's nice to see you posting (I've been away, myself, due to computer loss, but back now). You know, I went to Aldi's a few times when I was visiting my hometown in PA. I really like some of their interesting stuff. Though I missed my precious Trader Joe's as the nearest one was a bit of a drive. :)

Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

'RevD is alive and well and living in Wisconsin'

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October