Black Friday

I don't ever recall the Friday after Thanksgiving being called 'Black Friday' when I was a kid. I just knew it was a day to avoid the mall. We did avoid the mall today, but ended up going to town. The fabric store wasn't too bad. Of course we didn't go until about 4:00 in the afternoon, so most of the lunatics were heading home with their purchases that they fought for with blood, sweat and possibly tears.

We had a nice Thanksgiving, but it was also one of the weirdest ones we've had. Last year was spent with a house full of family and me in bed fighting off a full plate of stress and recovering from a mini nervous breakdown. I had great hopes for this year. However, things happen and the next thing you know, you are heading in a direction you can't control. Kind of like the year R went down that hill on her sled and couldn't stop. She eventually did stop - thanks to a tree, but that's story for another time. This year was a doozy. RLs Mom and Dad always go on a long trip in their RV from about May to late October. When they get home to Florida, they go for their annual checkups, bloodwork and flu shots. His Dad went and all seemed well. Later in the afternoon he got a phone call to call 911 immediately. He needed to go to the hospital. Apparently a nurse at the doctor's office discovered something 'unusual' which turned out to be a cm abdominal aortic aneurysm about the size of a small grapefruit. Of course he didn't call 911, but he and my Mom-in-law drove to the hospital. That was Tuesday. RL called his mom to find out how their appointments went and found out. What to do - what to do????? He decided Wednesday would be a horrible travel day, but packed anyway. He decided to wait until Thursday. L packed because he wanted to go too. I didn't know what to do. We have a cat and R and I decided we'd just stay here until we knew more. Wednesday night we knew more. He has another aneurysm near his heart and it's about 4 cm. As a result of that they have to check his heart strength before they can operate on the other one. The other one is a time bomb and they have to act fast. Of course they aren't acting as fast as we would have them to, but we understand they have to be careful. So, Thanksgiving morning, my two boys headed to Florida. How odd for R and I to be here without the guys. RL always does the turkey and dressing. He got it started before he hit the road - I couldn't believe he did that, but that's the way he is...a real sweetie. I don't normally do much for the meal because he loves to cook, but R and I stepped up and got things going. Mom and Daddy came over and we had a nice, quiet afternoon. Now that RL has seen his dad he feels better, but everybody is scared. They sit and wait and wait and wait. Nothing will be decided before Monday afternoon at the earliest. He may have to go to Shands in Gainesville, which is about three or four hours away from their home on the Space Coast. R and I are trying to decide what to do about going or staying. Meanwhile we are continuing with Christmas shopping and decorating. It doesn't feel right, but it does give us something to do. Keeping busy seems to be the best thing for us right now.

I heard from my nephew I made the skull - skull cap for. (He sent me a picture of him modeling it, but I don't know if I can share it since he's overseas. There's so many rules about what we can and cannot do. I don't want to overstep anything.) Anyway, he said he was a 'stud' in it and it fits, so I am happy.

R and I plan on crafting if we stay here instead of heading south. If we do, we'll post some pictures. Meanwhile enjoy your Thanksgiving leftovers and be careful if you're out there shopping!