C2 has received a guide to "The Dying Experience" from his father's hospice. He says his father is in the "One To Two Weeks" category. 

Mostly, C2 is angry at his father.  Quote... "my asshole dad abdicated personal responsibility 20 years ago." It sounds like his father, for the past 20 years, has just been sitting around, watching TV and drinking and eating, especially sweets. He put no effort into anything else. Not trying to rebuild his relationship with his kids. Not doing anything out side of eating, drinking and watching TV.

 

I have been playing bachelor this week. The husband is in Hawaii for work. 

I'm not jealous that the husband is in Hawaii. There will be other opportunities  for me to join him there. We did discuss me working in Honolulu for the week. The travel and the time difference would have been a pain. 

I've been enjoying my solitude. When it's not raining hard, I've been going on hikes and long walks with the dog. I finished off the jigsaw puzzle. I've been listening to music. Learning about Samba, Bossa Nova and Tango.

C2's father is 

 > Don't jinx yourself :). A normal life never seems to happen.

Of course not! C2's father has taken a turn for the worse. He is moving to hospice later today. Our house is much closer to the father's than C2's current place, so C2 is staying here until things are sorted out.

C2 doesn't have fond memories of his father or his childhood. His mother died in a car accident when he was four. His step mother died of leukemia a few years later. His father was distant and harsh. C2 moved in with a friend's family when he was 16. He joined the navy when he was 18.

C2 has always been quiet about his life before I met him. I can see why. There is not much he wants to remember.

Halloween-- It was good this year.  We had about forty kids. It was an early Halloween. Kids started showing up around 4:30. They stopped showing up by 7:00 so we turned out our lights by 7:30

The half empty bag of candy still sits on the kitchen counter. I'm going to throw it out. I don't trust myself to only eat one piece a day. I'll gorge.

It's a gorgeous day today. Nice reprieve from the wind and rain that we've been having.

The mother-in-law is in her new apartment. 

We had a large amount of wind and rain on Thursday and Friday. Of course her stuff arrived on Thursday.

I am surprised how much work it takes to setup even a small apartment.

By late Saturday morning, enough of her apartment with set up that we took a break. We took a walk around her neighborhood on her new scooter. The neighborhood is nice but older. Not all the sidewalks are scooter friendly. They are not hard to navigate around once you know the alternate route.

Hopefully the husband and I can now resume our normal life.

It's been a rainy and windy weekend.

We visited the mother-in-laws new place. Took a few things to it. Set up the wifi. The place is very nice. She is looking forward to moving in.

There is still no news on when her stuff will arrive. We are contemplating getting her a bed and a few other necessities so that she can move in before her stuff arrives. The retirement home covers her meals so she won't need much. This would let her meet her neighbors rather than hang around our place all day.

 

Last night we had dinner with C2, his step-brother and the mother-in-law. This was C2's idea. His step-brother is in town for a week and C2 was looking for ways to entertain him. 

The dinner turned out well. This was the first time I've met C2's step-brother so there was a bit of risk the dinner would be volatile

On the mother-in-law front-- she has sold her car and given up her drivers license. I feel a little sad that she has accepted that she is in decline. Of course her whole move to Seattle was driven by that fact. Giving up your mobility though, that's a big step.

Mother-in-law may be with us for the next two or three weeks. The mover in Sacramento told her that it would only take a week to transport her stuff. Now that she is Seattle, the Seattle branch of the mover has said it will take much longer. Frustrating for everyone.

The moving company has been hanging up on the mother-in-law when she calls. This may be because the mother-in-law has been calling and poking too often, too aggressively. It may also be because something is wrong with the mover. 

 > Congratulations, it is always good to have options :)

Yes. Now I have access to those fabulous "American Privileges" like jury duty, voting, and being able to be run for the House or Senate.

I've been a permanent resident for over twenty years. I'm married to an American. My career is in America. It was time to take the next step.

C2 has a security clearance. He thanked me for getting my citizenship as it's less paperwork for him-- he must report relationships with foreign nationals.

 

After two years, my citizenship has been approved! 

I don't yet know when I'll take the oath. Sometime in the next month I'll be mailed a card with a date.

I am home. C2 and I cleaned up the place and set up a room for the mother-in-law. 

The husband and the mother-in-law are about an hour away. They took two days to make the journey from Sacramento.

C2 is planning to stay at a friend's weekend-home while the mother-in-law is here. It's a cabin on an island that's about ninety minutes from Seattle. It will be a good base for him while he continues to house hunt.

Our trip is coming to end. We fly back Friday. 

We have had a great time exploring. Kauai is gorgeous. 

For the first time in years, I've spent more than an hour away from my cell phone.

Reality will return quickly once we are back in Seattle. Saturday, the husband will fly down to Sacramento to drive his mother up for her new life in the Pacific North West. She will stay with us until her stuff arrives from Sacramento.

C2, who is still crashing at our place, and I will need to work this out. If he can entertain a little old lady every day for a few hours, then he may be useful to have around.

There are many feral chickens here. They flock in the parks. They flock around picnic tables, around people eating outdoors. The super aggressive ones will hop up on your table and dash for your sandwich.

> Well, if I ever get to Hawaii, I will be doing all I can :)

Personal scheduling… the husband and I take opposite approaches. I like to keep my schedule clear with fewer commitments and plenty of downtime. I am comfortable winging it. Sometimes at the end of a trip, I will wish I did more, prepared more. 

The husband likes to fill his schedule up visiting the sites, exploring, driving around  towns, walking around neighborhoods, visiting old coworkers who happen to be in the same place, maybe stumbling on condos or hotels that look nice for future trips. He prefers a schedule thats full and predictable, with most of the problems thought through up front.  Sometimes in the middle of things he will exclaim that he is overcommitted and needs some downtime. 

We do balance each other. 

We are in Kauai, Hawaii for a week. It is wonderful here. When the husband asked me what I wanted to do here, I told him that I wanted to feel boredom. I haven't felt that in so long.

I was not on the approved list for the COVID booster. I was only scheduled to get a flu shot. While the nurse was reviewing my paperwork, I asked if I could also get a COVID booster. She looked over my vaccine card, a picture on my cell phone, then she said it was over six months since I've had my second vaccine and I could have a booster.

October--

Two years ago in October I left my big old job and started the hunt for someplace new.

Twenty years ago in October, I started this blog. 

So much has happened in twenty years. Hell-- so much has changed in two. There are a few constants. I've known the husband for most of that time. (Love you sweetie if you are reading this!) Most of my old friends are still my friends. Most everything else has been through the blender.

It makes me cautious about forward planning. The husband and I have been discussing retirement. We think we could do it in five or six years.  It sounds so easy-- keep working, save money, retire. The next five years probably won't be simple and straight forward though. Got only knows what twists and turns are on the road ahead. 

 

The husband is off to Sacramento to help ready his mother for her move to Seattle. 

Late afternoon, I had my flu shot and my COVID booster. The nurse explained that the side effects of the COVID booster would be similar to those my second shot of the original vaccine.

Perhaps I will use these as an excuse to have an extra cocktail tonight and lay round tomorrow. 

Today was C2's last day of work. He too is moving to Seattle. Tomorrow he will start on a road trip to Seattle. When he gets here, he will spend a few weeks with us until he finds a place to stay.

 "I'm not looking for your opinion, but I am looking for your input." 

The mother-in-law is selling her home. One of the buyers has asked for her to hold the mortgage. The husband, of course, thinks this is a terrible idea. The mortgage is for thirty years. The mother-in-law is eighty four. If anything goes wrong then it will be up to the husband to fix.

The mother in law doesn't seem to care about that risk. During their discussion, the mother-in-law said "I'm not looking for your opinion, but I am looking for your input."

It would be funny if there wasn't so much at stake.

The brother-in-law, the husband and I have started constantly using that line with each other.

Would the brother-in-law moving to PV be a a good thing? 

No. In all honesty this is probably the start of his next manic episode. He will eventually kill himself if moves to PV. 

What are my obligations through this? 

None. I am very certain that that things will get worse if I (or the husband) try to intervene. The brother-in-law is proud of his independence. It will blow up if we gently move to keep him safe. He will push harder to show us how well he can do on his own.

The husband and I flew down to Santa Barbara for the weekend. It was a work-award trip for the husband. Last year his team was a top seller. So I met and hung out with his coworkers. They are a good group of people. I'm sure everyone was on their best behavior. None the less, I enjoyed myself.

I am amazed with the resilience of the brother in law. 

He has started delivering for Door Dash on his bicycle.

He is taking a "How to teach ESL" course. He is looking to move to Puerto Vallarta to live on the cheap and will teach ESL to supplement his income. 

I'm not sure what income he has.

Summer is ending. It's cooler  out. The rains are returning. I've turned off the sprinkler and the AC.

The husband flew down to Sacramento to help his mother sell off her things. She is downsizing and moving to Seattle. Part of the challenge is that she thinks her things are way more valuable than the are. Especially in a time when COVID has hurt the 2nd hand furniture and collectables market.

Saturday, I hosted a small picnic for one of my teams. It really enjoyed the time.

I've hired most of them over zoom. This was the first time we've met in person.

This past week, the husband and I have watched a couple of planned vacations become restricted to the point where we probably can't go.

About a year ago we bought a European cruise scheduled for December 2021. There should be vaccines by then! This will all be over by then! Now, with the delta variant, travel restrictions have grown to the point that we've had to cancel.  

Last year the husband won an work-awards trip to Basel Switzerland. COVID canceled that. Instead he was given a trip to Hawaii. This morning we received an email asking visitors of Hawaii to stay away

Our new plan is just to take some time off, and see what's available when the time gets close. Things are too fluid to make long term plans.

Personally, I'd be happy renting a cabin along the Pacific North West ocean, and just storm watching for a week.