So much has happened since my last entry. Of course I've been accepted to law school so I've been working on financial aid and trying to figure out all that I need to do. Mario and I are also revamping our personal finances and are praying for a loan modification on our home mortgage. Someone asked me (in context of a heart-to-heart discussion) yesterday if I was worried about losing our home. After thinking about it for a minute, I honestly answered "no". As long as Mario and I are together, I don't care if we're in a tiny apartment. I mean, I'd be really sad if we have to move but it would be all right.
On July 23, 2011 my great-grandma (my dad's grandmother) went to the hospital feeling nauseous, dizzy and quite ill. On or around July 26th, they finally diagnosed her with viral meningitis. I had seen her that day and though she really couldn't speak to me, she acknowledged me and Mario. I spoke quiet peaceful words to her and held her hand. Then I kissed her on the forehead and left to go teach music lessons. That night I thoroughly researched viral meningitis online. Most people recover fully from the viral version and that gave me some hope. But I also knew that being 96 years old, Grandma was tired.
On Thursday, Mario & I headed down to Ohio for a wedding we were Djing and providing a photo booth for on Friday. We were pretty relaxed though it seemed a much longer drive to Akron this time around. Friday was a logistical nightmare for us and it was dangerously hot for this outdoor wedding. We were offered one glass of water by the hall staff and were then left to fend for ourselves. Because they had no seats for us and we had to work away from the kitchen, we were also unable to eat. Whenever I had a chance to get to the bar for water, the pitchers were empty and no one was there to help. But we still pulled it together and the couple along with their guests had a fantastic time. Me, not so much.
We had decided to drive all the way home after the reception because we had another wedding (for a family friend) with photo booth & DJ the next day at home here in MI. Of course we couldn't find an open gas station at that time of night for about 30 minutes, driving on fumes. But we finally located one and got on the road. Soon we discovered that the freeway was blocked off to one-lane. Highly unusual in OH and especially at 1am. Turns out there'd been a police chase and about 5 cars were seriously smashed up. If we hadn't gotten lost and spent time at that gas station, we would have been involved in that mess. I repented to the Lord for my horrible attitude and asked Mario for forgiveness for having been witchy all day.
As Mario drove, I checked my facebook account on my phone. Scrolling through the news feed, I noticed a few status updates from my family that weren't specific but lead me to believe that my great-grandmother had passed away that Friday night. While I was busy whining and complaining and being a brat in general, the most amazing woman I've ever known gracefully passed over to heaven and began rejoicing. Humbled and saddened for my own selfish loss, I bawled for about 15 minutes. Then I shut it off and put my mind forward to the upcoming wedding later that day.
We arrived home at about 5am and fell exhausted into bed. Waking up at 1pm, we immediately got ready to head out for Saturday night's wedding. Praise the Lord that we had hired our friend, Nathan to help us that night! It was still devilishly hot that day and he helped with all the heavy stuff and with the photo booth. That was an incredible blessing. Because this was a family friend, I made sure that everything was as perfect as I could make it and worked well with the hall staff. I had lots of fun at this wedding. Once I was done with my portion of the job, I danced the night away with my friends and family. I had a blast!
We arrived home after 2am, I took a shower & was in bed by 3am. At about 5, I woke up feeling extremely ill. I couldn't tell if it was because I had had a few glasses of wine at the wedding or what was going on. I didn't think so because I'd felt just fine when I went to bed. But I spent a lot of time in the bathroom and when the vomiting started I knew I was not doing too well. Rather than waste a lot of time, I decided I need to go to the ER. Trying to wake Mario up failed miserably (poor guy) so I drove myself to the nearest hospital. When I arrived, my blood presssure was 71/62. Not good, I guess.
So I got rehydrated for the next four hours and suffered through many panic attacks. Alone. But yet, I wasn't alone. I was too weak to concentrate much but I did talk to the Lord a bit. And He sustained me. I was unable to call anyone from the hospital room (no reception in there) and even later I only told one aunt of mine (which I vaguely remember). It was my mom's birthday and coming so quickly on the heels of my great-grandma's death, I didn't want to ruin her special day even more. So, I came home and laid around the whole rest of the day. Since then, I've been on a toast, cracker, broth diet. Until last night when I ventured to have a chicken sandwich and ate the whole thing!
On Monday, my family came into town and we had an afternoon and evening at the funeral home, greeting all the people who have been touched by my extraordinary great-grandma. She certainly was amazing. Made very person feel special to her and had a unique relationship with each one. Tuesday, August 2nd we had the funeral. April (my sis) and I were honored to sing two hymns, "Trust and Obey" (Grandma's most common phrase) and "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (a song she told me meant much to her). I did not go to the cemetary because of my recent health but went home with my sister, her children and with Mario.
Though my parents left that day to go home, April & Paul stayed one more night with us and I really enjoyed just sitting around relaxing with them. On Wednesday & Thursday I was able to somewhat get back into a normal routine and on Friday got to chill with my Mario.
Today we have another outdoor wedding. I'm not looking forward to working outside in the heat again but thankfully my cousin, Jessica is coming to pick me up early, bring me home & sit around watching movies. Mario insists he can close the reception out & tear down perfectly fine without me. I'm glad for that.
I realize that this is just a summary of all that's happened this week but it will open the door for me to delve into good, happy memories in the next few weeks. And I'm looking forward to that.
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