This Week’s Highlights . . .

I had Wednesday off this week to get ready to go down to my vacation house to prepare for some family to come for dinner. My brother said he would bring dessert, so I didn’t have to make that this year.

I got a text from my son while I was traveling down to the vacation house saying that my grandson caught COVID, and that he, his wife, and my grandson wouldn’t be coming down for dinner. Great, now I had more food than I knew what to do with. (When we got back home, I brought all sorts of leftovers to my son’s house as I didn’t have enough room in my refrigerator.)

My mother (90 years old), brother, and his wife got to my vacation house around 2:30 PM on Thanksgiving Day. That time was a lot better than last year when they didn’t arrive until 5:00 PM when I had told him that dinner was going to be at 3:00 PM.

I asked my mother to give the blessing this year. She said that she only knew one and that she had to sing it. After dinner, I asked her about what she had written in the journal I gave her for Christmas last year. I have two young grandchildren, and I want them to know a bit about their great grandmother. The journal is a about 100 pages, and she has only written two and a half pages. It is set-up with two questions per page about various subjects. I talked about a question and she stated that she wrote about it. NOT! She gave an excuse that she wants to finish an afghan for my nephew. I encouraged her to finish the afghan, but to then write more in the journal, even though she believes that she already stated information in the first two and a half pages.

I also asked her about what she wanted for her funeral arrangements. She stated that she had a will. Well, that is only part of it. She said that she wanted something simple, just a visitation, as she believes that she has out lived all of the people that knew her except family members. She wants to be cremated and buried in the plot next to her second husband in the Iron River, WI cemetery.

I also found out that my sister (three years younger than me) has cancer. It is a type of blood cancer. My mother told me that my sister blames her for my sister getting cancer because our maternal grandfather had colon cancer at 29 and died when my mother was two weeks old. I told my mother that my sister getting cancer is totally not her fault and not to feel one bit guilty. Our bodies wear out. When our immune systems become so compromised, that is usually when cancer cells find a grip and attack the weakest parts of our bodies.

Then there was the Green Bay Packer fiasco. My mother and brother wanted to watch the football game. We don’t have a satellite dish yet. We can get Roku and Tubi, etc., but not local channels. My brother said that once he signed up for a free trial on Fubo and then cancelled it after the game. That’s what I did. I ended up having to put in a credit card number. It seemed like it took forever clicking in one number at a time on numerous tick tack toe screens, but I finally did it. The game ended at 11:00 PM. I had my brother help me cancel the trial subscription.

The next morning, I made breakfast for everyone. I had several selections including yogurt, bacon, spam, blueberries, instant oatmeal, fruit cups, etc. One last topic I wanted to discuss with my mother was if she wanted a birthday party in August 2025.

Earlier this year, my sister did a texting tirade accusing me of various incorrect, mean, negative, untrue, and hurtful statements including that I “never did anything” for my mother. Further, accusing me that I didn’t want my mother to have a birthday party and that I had to make arrangements for one for family members to attend in Racine, WI. It was up to me and my brother to make sure that it happened. It’s bad enough to send me those texts, but she copied in all of the other family members. To me, that is inexcusable. I haven’t personally spoken to her for a couple of years, and because of this incident, I don’t think I will be talking to her for quite some time.

How wonderful to be so harangued. Under duress, I finally found a restaurant in Racine that could manage 20 or so family members. When the time came for my mother’s birthday, I sent her a gift, flowers, and telephoned her that I would not be attending. I didn’t want to be around my sister and her antics. Guess what? I found out a couple of days after my mother’s birthday that the restaurant reservation was cancelled and the “party” was held in the backyard of the B&B that my nephew had rented. Wow. Then why was is necessary for me to be treated so badly when my arrangements were thrown out the window?

After breakfast, I told my mother that I was upset at how I was treated and that if she wants another “party”, that I was not going to be making any of the arrangements. I would send her a gift, flowers, and be giving her a telephone call. I stated this in a tone so that she would realize that I was a bit angry and stated that I wasn’t going to tolerate any more of the type of behavior that I endured.

My mother later texted me that she enjoyed being at the vacation house for dinner and enjoyed seeing me. About a couple of hours after my mother, brother, and his wife left, we got our delivery of an entertainment center. About 10 minutes after the delivery truck arrived, a contractor that we called about doing some trenching for our sump pump hose showed up to give us a quote for work to be done in the spring.

To round out the excitement for the day, we went to our favorite restaurant, Melody Gardens, for dinner. We stopped at Walmart for light bulbs, and then went home. I did homework until 11:00 PM and called it a night.