I’ve been really busy making arrangements for my mother’s funeral.

As I mentioned previously, she died on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were spent cleaning out her room at Cypress Creek. We donated her incontinent supplies to the Shriner’s Hospital, her clothes to the “Nearly New” sale which helps the disadvantaged, and we gave her wheel chair to the Emergency Services in Sun City Center. It all took time!

Today I flew into Tri-City airport (aka MBS = Midland/Bay City/Saginaw) at 3:00. It was a rush to get to the bank and retrieve her important papers (insurance, birth certificate, last will, funeral contracts).

Tomorrow my brother, Denny, and I will make the arrangements at the Ware Smith Woolever Funeral Home in Midland. We’ve set the visitation times: Friday 3:00 for family, 4:00-7:00 for friends and relatives; Saturday 9:00-10:00. The funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday. Burial will be at Midland Memorial Gardens. There’ll be a noon luncheon at the American Legion Post in Midland.

So that’s the plan.

I’ve been going through photos and memorabilia and I think we have assembled a nice presentation of the highlights Mom’s life.

John stayed in Florida. Ideally we would have driven back together, but not after just having made that long trip down there (we arrived Saturday) and, since we have to move out of our condo in 30 days, we’d have to turn around and drive right back. (Flying wasn’t an option for both of us since we had our pets with us.)

He’s busy checking out condos. We have been looking for about three years, but since we had an obligation to take care of Mom’s we couldn’t seriously look until now. The one that we like best is lovely. It’s the one I mentioned in my last post. Especially since we will only use it about four months out of the year, it’ll be perfect. I especially like the huge open 20 x 24 foot living room with vaulted ceilings and the to-die-for sunset side view of a pond and golf course. We’ll be a lot more comfortable than in the condo we’ve been using. I hope it works out.

Even if we could have purchased Mom’s condo, it is in a no-pets area. Since the neighbors like us and since everyone knew I was caring for my mother, they didn’t say anything, but we know with certainty that we couldn’t continued to have our Willow dog at the Fallow Court condo. The condo we’re interested in is in a pet-friendly association.

It’s a good thing I’ve been so busy. I haven’t had time to really dwell on my loss. But at 5:00 p.m. each night I get the feeling that I need to be with Mom to feed her. It really hits me at that time.

If we buy a place, we’ll definitely be busy which will help fill the void which now exists in our lives.