glad to hear the good news Gilmer
Babs

Great news Gilmer :bigok:

D

Glad things are good with you Babs!

D

Thanks, guys! :)

Glad you got the best news Gilmer.

Babs good to see you, and to hear you are doing jibe and dandy.

Heading back to Blighty today, 2 weeks went fast. I'm actually ready to return today, I prefer holidays just with hubby.

It's fun to go places, but it is always really good to get home! I'm sure Molly will be overjoyed to see you! :)

Gilmer, good to hear!

And these are the weeks a few drinks would be welcome.

Wednesday, Dad calls to tell me they're taking Mom to the emergency room. Her neck pain, originating from degenerated disks, is so bad she's in tears and wailing.

A little while later my sister, the NP who the week before had a heart attack, calls. Our healthy sister is in Illinois till Friday and she needs help watching over the now admitted to the hospital Mom.

That was at 9 PM. I rolled into the hospital parking at 11. Mom's been given morphine and eventually had to have Dilautid(? sp) to settle down and relax. She's out.

My sister, one week post heart attack, looks like hell. Dad, all 80 years old of him, hearing I'm coming down has gone home to sleep.

I'm going to be the night shift. No, I didn't have any naps, I was up at 5 AM and worked all day. Glad I packed PJ's.

Sis got me supplies as this is the hospital she works at daily, full access. Met all the night shift. Settled in to the bed chair, napping with the occasional glance at Mom's respiration monitor.

There were a couple of hours in the late wee hours of pain and pain control but, we made it through the night. Me with about two hours sleep. I got replaced by the day shift and went to the folks house for some sleeps.

While I was catching up, they determined that Mom's neck muscles were in a state of complete contraction. A full non-stop spasm so strong it straightened the normal curve in in her neck.

A visionary sister of mine talked with a visionary doctor and they sent my father on a little quest to pick up a prescription med that wasn't available nearby. A targeted muscle relaxer. Improvement within an hour.

I'd been napping all of Thursday to get ready for another night in the bed-chair as my healthy sister wasn't coming back until Friday. Nope, stay at the house, they're sending her home. She's that much better.

So, I stayed another at there house to make sure she was going to be OK. She had a relatively painless night. I had a lot of sleep.

I'm really sorry for all of that Trach - but please remember we're your friends here and we will stand by you. You don;t have to go through stuff like that alone :)

and don't listen to that AV.
Welcome? Pah.

Drinking could only make things worse, Trach.

D

Wow, Trach. You really stepped up to the plate! What a blessing you were there, and how wonderful it is that your mom's doing so much better. I hope your sister feels better soon, too,

Thanks, y'all. Joy of joys, I get to work 12 hours tomorrow. Expect random bitching from my phone app.

Trachy, sorry to hear your mom was in so much pain! Good that they found a treatment and she could come home.

Going through situations like that can bring thoughts of drinking for those of us who used alcohol to blot things out. After the stress is over, I remind myself that if I had been drinking I wouldn't have been able to handle things and that helps reinforce not drinking.

All I could do when I was drinking was run and nap in the fetal position! :)

Bitch away ... that's what we're here for.

And these are the weeks a few drinks would be welcome. Except it's never just a few drinks, is it.

I look at times like these (and they seem to be more and more frequent lately) and thank God that I'm sober to handle them. I can't imagine prepping a house and evacuating 2 kids and 2 dogs in a hurricane with a hangover - that just sounds like hell to me. So I'm glad you were sober to be there for your family.

I have a lunch meeting today that might change my life. I have a lot to catch you all up on when I get back. I hope everyone's having a great weekend and I hope work isn't so bad for you today, Trach.

I'm praying that all goes in your favor, Duff!

Thinking and praying for you Trach and Duff.
When things get tough of course that's what I think of first is a drink.
and then all I have to do is remember how I wasn't any help to myself or anyone else. I would just love that high again but, remembering the outcome puts me back on the right road.
Hi Everyone out there in March Land !
Hugs
Babs

I hang on by remembering that drinking will make me incapable of responding to my family's needs.

They were pretty surprised when I showed up. They know I slip and slide. Lately, I've been more sure-footed.

Duff, did you have your meeting yet? If so, how did it go?

Gilmer and Babs, i saw your encouraging posts before I left for my lunch and I carried it with me through the meeting. Thank you, and all our Marchers, always for your never ending encouragement.

As you know, I'm going through a pretty big "life change." Part of that change means that my financial system is about to change. For the past 8 years I've been lucky enough to plan my work schedule around my kids but now I'm going to have to go back to working full time. When we first made our decision to divorce I called an old colleague and at the end of our conversation mentioned to let me know if she heard of anyone hiring. She called me later that day and said "you're not going to believe this..." An attorney in town that afternoon mentioned to her that she was looking to hire an associate in my exact field! I met with her, she hired me and I'm supposed to start next week.

At the same time, my parents know of an extremely successful attorney in their town who is planning to retire within the next 5 years and she is looking to take someone on who can take over her practice. I met with her yesterday and I am blown away by her, her practice, and her offer to me to work with her.

The dilemma: it would be life changing because I would be moving to a new town an hour and 22 minutes away from the boys dad. The opportunity is so phenomenal (the salary alone is double what I've been offered here) with the goal of stepping into my own practice within the next 5 years. And this is really just an aside but the view from what would be my office is beyond gorgeous -- looking out at the intercostal waterway -- this sounds shallow but I cannot get that view out of my mind.

I'm happy that this is the dilemma I have to worry about! I have a lot to think through this week. Right now I'm leaning towards taking the job here to get back myself back into the game and to get a steady paycheck. Even this attorney has offered me a higher salary than I was expecting to get after being out of the field for so long so I am happy about that. Originally I told myself I would stay in this job for at least 2 years before moving on or venturing out on my own but now I'm thinking maybe just through the school year and then think about making the move to the other town/firm over the summer, but I'll have to see how it goes and also how it would work out with my STXH.

I know in my heart where I want to be, but a lot details need to be worked out and in the meantime I'm so grateful to have this job! I start a week from tomorrow. I'll still be doing travel on the side as well as I keep getting referrals - I'm going to be busy!

Wow, that is just phenomenal news on both counts, Duff!

A week to think and pray about it is a good, sound approach.

It's fantastic that you would still have the opportunity to pursue the "room with a view" even at the end of the school year!

It is of vital importance to see how your STBX feels about it.

I would like to say, though, that our mountain house is an hour and 45 minutes from our regular house; and it has become a simple and effortless drive on weekends--it's not at all bad even on a single evening after work!

At this point we could practically do it in our sleep!

So I wouldn't be too concerned about the distance.

Just sayin.' :c026: