Seasons of Life spent between hospitals, rehab and assisted living

I am currently experiencing my 5th trip to Oklahoma in the past 9 months.  That is in addition to trips to Seattle, Chicago, Florida and abroad to Italy, France, Spain, Greece and Turkey, Honduras, Belize, and a couple places in Mexico.

For a girl who had not made it out of the state of Utah until age 17 when I went to Elko, Nevada to the horse races with my dad and then a few months later, on a group tour where my claim to being out of the country was a side trip to Tijuana, I think we can now safely say, I am becoming a bit more well traveled than I used to be!

I still marvel that I am as familiar as I am with Lawton, Oklahoma.  I've lost count of the number of trips here over the years!  The last 9 months, I think the majority of my time has been in and out of hospitals, rehab and assisted living facilities.  This trip, we are dividing our time between the Rehab Facility where my father-in-law has been since just after Thanksgiving and the hospital where my mother-in-law was admitted 5 days ago.

It has been at the back of my mind, since my father-in-law was given 6 months to live last October, that when the phone rang, we might need to hop a plane for him.  Last Sunday, when the call came, it was in regards to my mother-in-law due to complications with Congestive Heart Failure.  They are both with us for now, and we are nearing another end to the latest visit.

Home is figuratively calling me.  It takes 6 people to fill in for me in getting my children where they need to be. I'm missing my 11 year old's maturation program - a rite of passage I have always been present  for the older three.  My poor mother filled in for me there, and then is off to deliver to the orthodontist, and pick up two from choir, then piano, and two different dance classes on opposite ends of the valley.  As I give the list to her, I can't deny how insane it is that this my usual chauffeuring schedule.

It looks like my mother-in-law is on the mend from the latest hospitalization and dad is soon to return to the assisted living facility and we will return to our normal day to day life with plans for trip 6 to Oklahoma at the end of school in June.

Until then!

Valerie & Trent