Next door is good

Tonight as we came back into the front door, Annabel stopped as if a light had gone off in her head and said, "it is good that we are so close so if Grandmom and Poppa need us!". AMEN, Annabel!

Last night we had a first hand experience of why it is so fortunate that we are so close.

But I will get to that in a minute.

Annabel had announced Friday night that she was tired and planned to sleep until 10:00 Saturday morning. She reminded me that she was still tired from our road last weekend and that it had been a hard week.

Of course she was up early!

We headed out to pick up our fruit and veg coop shipment, buy gas, and came right back home.

All I really wanted to do for the day was sit and read. I'm struggling with deciding whether to postpone our big event next Saturday, and hoped I could find my answer. Some time on the deck with a great Alexander McCall Smith book, seemed to be the best idea!

Annabel has a LOT of trouble filling "down" time, so she came out to keep me company. No time to think!

The back yard was way too high and knew it needed to be mowed before the rain hit, so it was time to get busy.

Everyone pitched in reworking a flower bed and moving stepping stones, my park bench, and just general cleaning up. The whole time we were working Dad kept saying that it was tornado weather. The humidity was so high, it was overcast, and very still.

We finally found a stopping p0int and got in right before the storm hit.

Dad was pretty close on the money when you see what happened to the Cowboys' practice field. The lightening and thunder were scary. It looked like it was striking right in the front yard.

When there was a break, we had dinner, girls had showers, and we watched the new Jonas Brothers show.

It was time for my shower and Grace came running in saying that Poppa had called and there was something wrong with Grandmommy.

So with shampoo still in my hair, I tried to get out as quickly as possible, dressed, and over to see what was wrong.

Mom had been talking to my aunt and suddenly could not make the words come out. She told her that she had to hang up and then told Dad what had happened.

So I quickly try to remember what are the symptoms of a stroke and after Dad had checked her blood pressure, Annabel gave her an 81 mg. aspirin, I asked if she could tell us the name of the president.

You could see that she was stumped by the question.

I asked if she could remember the one before the current president.

Again, she could not.

I asked if she could tell me the names of the girls sitting on the couch.

She could not.

OK, that was all the evidence I needed to rule we had to get to the hospital.

The three of us ran home and changed from pajamas, got shoes, and locked up the house. The whole time I am trying to decide what were my options for the girls but decided we didn't have time to work it out at that point.

Thank goodness the hospital is SO close and they triaged her immediately with an EKG performed within a few minutes of arriving.

Knowing the ER waiting room is not the best place to leave kids, since everyone coming in is sick or hurt, the staff moved the girls into a family room.

I felt the ultimate in being part of the "sandwich" generation, as I made my way from the examination room to the family room, and back and forth all night.

After all the tests, a million texts to Lisa, the doctor announced she had a TIA, or a mini stroke, and she had the choice of going home or checking in.

Gradually she had remembered Annabel's name, and then Obama's name, and finally Grace's name, so she was ready to go home.

Today we had a VERY quiet day ending with me burning burgers for everyone on the grill.

I got my shower tonight, but sleeping with the phone close.