some news

Started out as a really nice day, full of pleasant surprises. @ and I went to the Zoo today and we ran into a good old friend and her son. Nice surprise as they had just moved to IL. We were able to visit and catch up some with the added bonus of our boys seeing the zoo. Even a train ride. Really how nice is that.

Got home, @ napped like a champ. I got some down time. Then remembered that I hadn't found @ medical records and we're going for a check up tomorrow. I needed to find his shot record and really didn't have a clue as to where to look. I've been slowly looking all week trying really hard not to get to panic mode, knowing it had to turn up. Finally found it right as I was knocking on panic's door.

Phone call from mom, Uncle Geo. died. Good news really, but still sad. He's been in terrible shape. Not the way he should be. I don't know that he has really known himself the last month much less anyone else. He's had cancer and brain tumors and strokes and his body was tired. And that isn't a way to live for a man who had led a good life. Some things I remember fondly of Uncle Geo:
- He was a meticulous bookkeeper. He was self employed hauling rock and water (doesn't sound like a big business but he made an honest living at it) and so he was always careful about his record keeping for tax purposes. It tended to carry over to other parts of his life too. which leads to...
- He played rummy on a pretty regular basis (as often as he could talk people into a game) and throughout all of those games he kept the score. He kept the score in a spiral notebook for all the games he ever played. All of them. Something like 50 years of Rummy scores. Which is both silly and pleasant. He typically insisted on a fresh deck too but sometimes he would play with a second time around deck. Lots of decks of cards. Lots of happy pleasant memories laughing and generally blaming the world on our bad hands.
- Typically the focus of the blame was on the state gov't. Strange pick yes. Uncle Geo lived along 51 here in IL and the state was forever telling him that they were going to seize his land and his house to widen the highway. It was something like 20 years they were telling him that any day now they were going to seize it. Makes it hard to feel really confident about keeping your business going that you run off the property the state keeps saying they are going to take. Finally they did take his house and land and as yet the highway hasn't been widen and I think now its been 4 years. State budgets you know.
- Uncle Geo. taught me to drive in a huge yellow Cadillac. 1976 Cadillac. It took up the entire country road we were driving on and of course the lesson came in Febuary when there was ice on the road. We fished everywhere and then we filled up the tank. Ridiculous gas mileage.
- When Uncle Geo. was coming we got to have lemonade. Geo. didn't drink tea only kool-aid and coffee. Geo coming also meant carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Always a pleasant treat.
Those are my most prominent memories of Geo.