As most of you read several weeks ago: I’m not a person who subscribes to or participates in setting resolutions at the start of every year.
I think resolutions are no better than pipedream goals and other daydreams – not realistic enough to go the 365-day distance.
I won’t bore you with the statistics I found on those failures either, but the sentiment remains!
However, just as January was winding down, I did hope for more overall quality time spent with my siblings.
Oddly enough, my desire, hope, wish, or prayer was answered when Mike broke his leg Jan. 25.
Now, that isn’t how I wanted the quality time to come to fruition – but, I can also say that the overall event did contribute to having my sister Ashlee spend several weeks here.
And even that extended stay was completely out of control since mom contracted COVID and spread it to Mike within 48 hours.
My sister and I have been blissfully COVID-free by taking extra precautions including sanitizing every surface available, the air, and making sure mom and Mike stay masked up for any interactions with others.
Plus, this isn’t really how I imagined I’d be spending my time with my sister or those brief two days my brother made an appearance at home either.
I mean, sure, I foresaw a bit of working for the newspaper with a healthy sprinkling of errand-running for mom, but after that?
I had imagined we’d go see a movie or two together, check outour favorite local restaurants, and maybe go thrifting or trolling in the mall.
I was expecting to shove everything into the span of one entire weekend before she had to head back to Bryan and live her life.
But, I don’t know if Fate or Luck had other plans, but, she’s been here for almost six weeks now.
Oh one hand, I’m super grateful for her presence here because when she’s holding down the household then I can go to work and not spend my time worrying about mom and Mike.
And no offense to my brother, but Ashlee is far more competent and reliable in these medical settings.
He actually has his own niche qualities that usually involve technology or power tools – we just haven’t needed any of that yet.
He was however on hand to spend the day with Mike during his rehabilitation physical/occupational therapy stay so that counts for something.
Still, with the timetable at hand, we’re taking a moment to look at possibly celebrating Easter a bit early since it isn’t fair for Ashlee to head home and be back in about a week.
Not to mention, I’m sure her partner and pets won’t want her to leave so soon either.
The hardest part about changing up any of our standard family traditions is convincing mom of the benefits outweighing the standard procedures.
After that, it’s fairly easy to get our brother on board and make the appropriate accommodations.
I think it’s going to take a few spare moments to hammer out the details and plan things accordingly but I have every faith that we can make something work.
Worst case scenario means we might have to bribe my brother with his favorite foods but I’m prepared to make jalapeno poppers if that’s what it takes!
