Right now, at this moment, I'm sitting in a hospital room watching my Granny sleep. On Friday, Mom and I had just gotten back from getting groceries. We had most of of the put away when my cousin, Cody, called and said to come up there asap.
Mom was freaked, of course. When it comes to her Mama or her kids...or her grandkids... OK, all her family. And her friends. She's gonna read this and give me a hard time. I don't panic. I can hear her now.
Anyway, Granny had fallen and was in alot of pain. She didn't want to go to the hospital and I told Cody to call the ambulance anyway.. but no, he wouldn't until she said so. It didn't take me long to convince her after I had checked her over. I just knew she had a broken hip. He finally called, and I sat there with her, holding her hand and talking to her.
When we got to the emergency room, she sat in a bed in the hall for close to three hours before she was finally moved into an exam room. It was another 2 hours before the doctor saw her, and another 4 hours before she was admitted. Yes, they were that busy. Mama and I stayed until the had her in a room and settled in before we went back home. I crawled into bed a little before 3:00 am.
We were back the next day for her surgery. She had to have her ball joint replaced. She was taken for surgery around 6:00 pm, and we were shown to the surgery waiting room. At around 6:30 pm, Dr, Hamidian came in to let us know that surgery had to be put on hold for around 2 hours. Why? Well, there was a hair over the scalpels and stuff. They didn't know if it was there when it was sterilized or if it had happened afterwards, but either way, they weren't taking any chances. They send their stuff out to be sterilized, so we had to wait 2 hours for it to get done.
So... We sat there and waited. Mama, her husband Mike, my husband Mike, Aunt Sis, Aunt Rita, Unc, and his wife, Christine. Oh, and me. We all sat there talking, eating dinner, and waiting. My Mike and I caught heck because we had our laptops there playing games, or just goofing on the Internet.
There's a little black phone in the waiting room. They call from the operating room to let you know when they start. After that, there's an hourly update. Once surgery had started, we got two updates, and then about 30 minutes after that, Dr. Hamidian was back, letting us know that she came through great and was in recovery.
Mike and I left shortly after that because we knew she had lots of people to give her loves, and that the sooner everyone cleared out, the sooner she could rest. We've been here about two hours now. She wakes up off and on, talking. Sometimes it's coherent, other times, I feel like we're trespassing in her dreams.
Granny, Mama, and I have a unique bond. We are all twenty years apart. Granny was born in August of 1941, Mama in June of 1962, and me in November of 1981. This year, Granny will turn 70, then I'll turn 30, then Mama will turn 50..... eventually. I can see Granny in me sometimes, and I can see her in my mother. We're all stubborn, intelligent, and amazing.
Fun fact before I go... When my grandmother was a teenager, she was a belly dancer and a snake charmer at the fair. Seriously.
Where every you are, I hope you can look at your Granny, or your Mama, and thank your lucky stars they are in your life. I can't imagine one day without either of mine.
Love to all,
Allie
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
New Toy
I say toy... but it isn't really. I finally decided I will be going back to school this fall, and I desperately needed a new computer. Seriously, my computer is 5 years old. I got the new one for a steal, because I'm cheap and won't buy anything unless it's on sale. So.. I brought it home, plugged it in, and fell in love. This thing is so much faster than my old laptop. And it's red. My favorite color is blue, but red is a close second. Probably because I'm a red-head and partial to red. ( Are blonde's partial to yellow? Or brunette's to brown? Just wondering.
Anyway, I'm hoping to post more often than I have been. There is a reason I've been incommunicado... My old laptop had to be reformatted... and I couldn't get online with it because someone... who I will not name, changed the wepkey for the router. Strangely enough, Mike's tiny little net book could get online with the old password, but I couldn't. Net books are cute and all, but I seriously can't handle it for posting. My new one, though, well.. it has an actual number pad. Yeah, I know, I'm strange, but it's the little things like that that make me proud.
Anyway, I'm off to move files from old to new. It's cold and I don't want to do anything besides pile up, watch cartoons, and continue my love affair.
Love to all,
Allie
Friday, May 6, 2011
Hold On, I'm Coming.
God only knows how people are gonna take that one. Everybody is talking about what happened on 04/27/2011. On that day, our lives changed. We'd been paying attention to the weather since about 6:30 that morning. After one tornado went through the Pisgah area, it cleared up. Damn, but that was deceptive.
Mike and I were at Mom's house later that evening. Our dogs were at our house, because it had started raining again. We were watching the news, trying to keep an eye on everything that was coming in, then the power went out. So there we were, in a dark house, trying to find batteries for the weather radio. We finally found them, and then.. we couldn't figure out how to program it for certain counties, so it would go off for everything. It went off for a tornado warning in Rainsville, so I started watching out the back windows up towards Granny's house, my house, and the barn.
I can't remember what Mama was doing, but Mike was sitting on the couch playing his PSP. My dad called, and said that he and Rita were in Rainsville, trying to get to her son and his family in Sylvania. I remember him saying that it was bad, and it had just went through Sylvania when I glanced out the window. I said, "Daddy, I've gotta go, it's here."
Behind my grandmother's house was a wall of black clouds. Mom went out to the back porch to see if it was just clouds or what. Mike was behind me, waiting. I went out the door to get Mama. It was a tornado, no doubt. I tried to focus, but it was massive. I thought there were birds, in it, but when I looked again, I realized it was debris. I was holding Mama's hand, and she tried to let go, kept crying for her Mama. I asked her to come inside, telling her we needed to get in the bathtub. (Why do we always get in the bathtub? Just wondering.) She kept pulling away, trying to get to Granny. Somewhere in my heart, I knew that if she left, she'd die. I picked her up with one arm, and closed the door with the other. I screamed for Mike and he was right behind me, helping me fight Mama, struggling to keep her in the bathroom with me. I put her in the tub, and she was kneeling there. I knelt behind her, holding onto her with all I had. Mike stood just outside, leaning over me. For the next 5ish minutes, I cried and I prayed. I don't know who I prayed to, but damn did I pray. It was a litany... Oh God, please spare my family. Over and over again.
Once the wind died down, we all ran outside and got in Mom's car. When I looked up that way, I couldn't see the barn, and I began to panic. I looked further to the right, and saw my house.... and my Grandmother's house. Ahhhh. Sigh of relief. Momentarily, anyway.
As we pulled up, my cousin, Cody walked through Granny's door... OK, good, they're ok. I walk around the corner of her trailer... and there is my house. It had been picked up and moved completely off the foundation and turned sideways. I went into panic mode again, because my babies were in there. Mike, Cody, and I ran up to the house, and tried to go into the door. It wouldn't budge. The dogs were jumping up on the door, whining and crying to be let out. Cody tried to kick the door in, but that was a no-go. So, while I'm hyperventilating, Mike walks around to the other door, and it opens with ease, kind of. One of my bookcases had slid in front of the door. Once it's opened, Mike calls them to no avail. All I have to do is call their names and out the door they trot. Cody slipped through to get their food bowl and the food container.
After everything calmed down, and I settled down, we all went back to Mom's house. No power, no water. Oh man, does that suck. We went out the next day, to see the damage. Oh my god. We were so fortunate. Yes, we lost our barn and 400 chicks. Yes, my house is all kinds of jacked up. The drive in that is like... 100 yards from my house? Gone. Houses not even 1/4 mile from my house? Smashed. Completely devastating. We didn't lose a single family member. I repeat... So very fortunate.
Cody, the idiot, helped my Granny into the bathtub, put a mattress over her, and went back to watch. He said it picked up my house and then stopped, as if it had changed it's mind, and went towards the barn. Again, I say, so very, very fortunate.
I don't know what to say, to express my gratitude for everyone we didn't lose. All we lost were things and things just don't matter.
My mom asked me today... "Why were you holding on to me? Why weren't you holding on to Mike?" All I could think to say was, "He was holding me, and I held you."
My heart is with you all tonight. Everyone effected by what happened that day. Everyone who lost someone near and dear. Those who lost everything they owned. You are in my heart, now and always. You are in my thoughts daily. So... Hold on, I'm coming.
Love to all,
Allie
Mike and I were at Mom's house later that evening. Our dogs were at our house, because it had started raining again. We were watching the news, trying to keep an eye on everything that was coming in, then the power went out. So there we were, in a dark house, trying to find batteries for the weather radio. We finally found them, and then.. we couldn't figure out how to program it for certain counties, so it would go off for everything. It went off for a tornado warning in Rainsville, so I started watching out the back windows up towards Granny's house, my house, and the barn.
I can't remember what Mama was doing, but Mike was sitting on the couch playing his PSP. My dad called, and said that he and Rita were in Rainsville, trying to get to her son and his family in Sylvania. I remember him saying that it was bad, and it had just went through Sylvania when I glanced out the window. I said, "Daddy, I've gotta go, it's here."
Behind my grandmother's house was a wall of black clouds. Mom went out to the back porch to see if it was just clouds or what. Mike was behind me, waiting. I went out the door to get Mama. It was a tornado, no doubt. I tried to focus, but it was massive. I thought there were birds, in it, but when I looked again, I realized it was debris. I was holding Mama's hand, and she tried to let go, kept crying for her Mama. I asked her to come inside, telling her we needed to get in the bathtub. (Why do we always get in the bathtub? Just wondering.) She kept pulling away, trying to get to Granny. Somewhere in my heart, I knew that if she left, she'd die. I picked her up with one arm, and closed the door with the other. I screamed for Mike and he was right behind me, helping me fight Mama, struggling to keep her in the bathroom with me. I put her in the tub, and she was kneeling there. I knelt behind her, holding onto her with all I had. Mike stood just outside, leaning over me. For the next 5ish minutes, I cried and I prayed. I don't know who I prayed to, but damn did I pray. It was a litany... Oh God, please spare my family. Over and over again.
Once the wind died down, we all ran outside and got in Mom's car. When I looked up that way, I couldn't see the barn, and I began to panic. I looked further to the right, and saw my house.... and my Grandmother's house. Ahhhh. Sigh of relief. Momentarily, anyway.
As we pulled up, my cousin, Cody walked through Granny's door... OK, good, they're ok. I walk around the corner of her trailer... and there is my house. It had been picked up and moved completely off the foundation and turned sideways. I went into panic mode again, because my babies were in there. Mike, Cody, and I ran up to the house, and tried to go into the door. It wouldn't budge. The dogs were jumping up on the door, whining and crying to be let out. Cody tried to kick the door in, but that was a no-go. So, while I'm hyperventilating, Mike walks around to the other door, and it opens with ease, kind of. One of my bookcases had slid in front of the door. Once it's opened, Mike calls them to no avail. All I have to do is call their names and out the door they trot. Cody slipped through to get their food bowl and the food container.
After everything calmed down, and I settled down, we all went back to Mom's house. No power, no water. Oh man, does that suck. We went out the next day, to see the damage. Oh my god. We were so fortunate. Yes, we lost our barn and 400 chicks. Yes, my house is all kinds of jacked up. The drive in that is like... 100 yards from my house? Gone. Houses not even 1/4 mile from my house? Smashed. Completely devastating. We didn't lose a single family member. I repeat... So very fortunate.
Cody, the idiot, helped my Granny into the bathtub, put a mattress over her, and went back to watch. He said it picked up my house and then stopped, as if it had changed it's mind, and went towards the barn. Again, I say, so very, very fortunate.
I don't know what to say, to express my gratitude for everyone we didn't lose. All we lost were things and things just don't matter.
My mom asked me today... "Why were you holding on to me? Why weren't you holding on to Mike?" All I could think to say was, "He was holding me, and I held you."
My heart is with you all tonight. Everyone effected by what happened that day. Everyone who lost someone near and dear. Those who lost everything they owned. You are in my heart, now and always. You are in my thoughts daily. So... Hold on, I'm coming.
Love to all,
Allie
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