So it's been...

...a pretty lousy week.

First the update on Mom, since I know that a good chunk of people come here to find out what's going on with her. She spent the week following her surgery unable to talk or move. She was being fed through a tube and her breathing was assisted. The doctors weren't sure at first why she wasn't "snapping out of it," but they finally figured out her electrolytes were out of balance. Last Saturday she spoke again for the first time. She's still very confused and gets tired very easily. I have been really sick lately, so I finally got to go see her today for the first time in a week. It's sort of like walking into a horror movie. She's aged thirty years in the past three months and talking to her is a challenge. She speaks, but it's a mixture of English and German and often doesn't make any sense. She doesn't realize when her actions or her speech are inappropriate, which is embarassing around the nurses and the kids. She's actually been getting worse and more confused as the week has gone by. We can see my dad starting to crack a bit, too. His speech patterns have been a little strange lately, which tends to indicate an upcoming breakdown. My sister and I are keeping a close eye on his behavior so that we can intervene before it gets out of hand. I could say that I don't want to deal with any of this any more, but that would be both obvious and futile.

Other reasons this week has sucked: I've been sick. I have a nasty chest cold that has been keeping me up at night and kept me from finishing the 5K race on Thanksgiving. I had been looking forward to this race since I started running in May, so it was really dissapointing that I had to stop. I ran the course last Saturday, so it's not a matter of me not being able to finish it under normal circumstances. I just wish I didn't feel so disappointed over something that was out of my control. If I can get to feeling better over the next week, I'll run a 5K in Rochester next weekend so that I can get one more in before the end of the year. Mike is going to come out to see me next weekend, so he's being extra sweet to take time out of his trip to cheer me on. While I'm sure he'd much rather sleep in Saturday morning, his encouragement of my goals at the expense of late mornings is just one of the countless things that reafirm how lucky I am to have found him. (Even when things suck, I can count on Mike to be a bright spot.)

I spent Thanksgiving alone at my house. After the failed attempt at the race, I was too sick to head out to my sister's house. Even if I had wanted to, the roads were in terrible condition from all of the snow. My dinner consisted of two frozen burritos, and dessert was a Tootsie Roll pilfered from my son's trick-or-treat bag. Other than that, I napped a lot and tried not to be too depressed about the race.

But things are looking up. I'm back to being pretty much caught up at work. My birthday is in just over a week. Mike is coming out to visit. I've been able to do quite a bit of housecleaning during the long weekend. I'm bound to start feeling better any day now. I have some crazy (but attainable) goals for running next year. I'm going to be married to an incredible man in less than two months. My kid is doing great in school. My tiny new nephew put on a whole pound last week. I'm still making progress on my bass playing. I need a belt for my new jeans. I got an amazing deal on airfare for C. and I for the wedding in San Diego. I get to leave the tundra of upstate New York in the middle of January to experience the west coast for the first time. I have friends who genuinely care about me. I've got a really good chance at getting a good, fun part-time job to help out with the recent financial crunch.

So many good things. I really shouldn't complain so much.