Two entries ago, I mentioned that my mom had gone into a nursing home. As things worked out, that move coincided with the days I’d previously arranged to take off to attend Weetacon, so I didn’t have to cancel anything at the office to head back to Illinois after spending three days at home taking care of things like work and a doctor appointment I’d scheduled weeks ago and couldn’t miss if I wanted to qualify for the less expensive health insurance option for this year. I wasn’t sure when I packed up to leave what I’d find when I saw Mom. I was relieved when the move to the nursing home went well enough that I felt okay going on to Wisconsin. I did spend a lot of time on the phone during the con checking up on things and ended up missing some stuff like the group photo, but there will be other group photos and I only have the one mom.

When I got to Green Bay that first night with enough time to change clothes and walk down the street to the Meyer Theater before showtime, I decided it was a sign from the universe that I should go see Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody as a way to get out of my head for a bit and make the transition from worried daughter to happy con attendee. I haven’t read 50 Shades of Grey, but I have read Jennifer Armintrout’s recaps; in fact it was a guest review on her blog that alerted me to the existence of this show. I was fortunate that it wasn’t sold out—in fact, since I only needed the one seat, I got a place in around the seventh row. The show was funny, with the audience reactions adding to the experience quite a bit. The audience was so female dominated that the theater had designated the men’s restroom on the main level as a women’s room for the night, so that was convenient.

The rest of the weekend was jam packed with hugging and eating and drinking and teaching and learning and laughing and the aforementioned telephoning and running out to the store for things I’d somehow failed to bring even though I brought so much stuff. I got too little sleep and won what might be considered too many things at the raffle and changed my clothes so many times I can’t even remember what all I wore when. I didn’t take quite as many photos as I have some years; a representative sample of the ones I did take can be found in this photoset.

I left Green Bay and drove back to Illinois to hang out with Mom at the nursing home. She was in pretty good spirits though she and her roommate weren’t proving to be super compatible. I left with a shopping list of things Mom wanted and added a few things I thought she should have as well. I was glad to be able to get everything at Meijer late that night—it wasn’t laid out quite like my Meijer at home but was comfortingly familiar nonetheless. The next morning I was in Mom’s room waiting for her to be done with therapy when hospital staff came to move her roommate to another part of the facility; I got to thank the case manager for that when she stopped by soon after. (From what I understood, the roommate genuinely did need a different level of care than my mom, so the move could be sold on those grounds alone.) When Mom got back from therapy she still had enough energy for us to take a self-guided tour of the building, with her scooting herself along in a wheelchair. One of the highlights of the tour was the bird cage in one of the lounge areas; such a nice spot of color and life and movement. I stayed as late as I could but eventually had to head home to get back to work the next day. By the time I reached Michigan, I was starting to feel the first signs of a cold/flu/sinus thing that I’m just now, two weeks later, starting to recover from. Being sick has meant staying away from Mom, since the last thing she needs is to get infected with this crud on top of everything else she’s dealing with. And she is dealing with it; a few days after I left she’d built enough strength that she was cleared to use her walker instead of the wheelchair, and we as a family were talking about what comes next. What did come next happened just a few days ago: Mom moved in with my niece who is also a nurse and will be getting visits from a home health care service. My brother has been there to help with the transition and after I’ve stopped coughing and being all mucousy, I’ll be heading that way myself.