It’s hard to “catch up”.

We arrived Thursday, February 1st, at my mother’s condo in Florida. Here it is Sunday evening, the 11th,…. more than a week has passed, and so much has happened. We came down to care for Mom who has Alzheimers.

When we arrived on the 1st, we were surprised that Hoagie’s daughter , Connie, was living here at the condo where we normally stay. Hoagie is my mom’s 97 year old husband. Connie was hard at work with Carol Duffy (Hoagie’s financial advisor). They were in the midst of a major renovation of the entire condo. Connie left Friday, the 9th, after staying over a week with us.

Hoagie isn’t well at all. Connie was here to see her dad and the whole situation has been very difficult for her. While she was here, she decided to start a major remodeling project of the condo we all have been sharing.

The condo is going to be a lot more comfortable, so I sure can’t complain. We’ve all painted, stripped wall paper, washed, scrubbed, cleaned. It’s actually looking very good. We can have folks come over and we can be comfortable.

So far they’ve bought all new kitchen appliances, all new small appliances, painted everything. They have new towels, bedding, window treatments, light fixtures, and the rest of the package.

Connie’s a nice person. I like her.

Hoagie is very close to death. We know he’s not going to live long – he’s 97 and has been asking for relief from life for many years.. It was tough on Connie. I have been going to see him and over the years we’ve become very close as we shared the difficulties associated with Mom’s care. I’ll miss him.

When Hoagie’s gone. The condo will continue to be my mom’s for her lifetime, so this whole renovation project is going to benefit us.

Connie left this past Friday morning. Her brother, John, is coming to visit (provided Hoagie is still alive) on the 19th. It’s doubtful that he’ll stay here, but he’s welcome. Connie may also return, if Hoagie’s condition worsens.

We, especially my John, worked our butts off. Actually there wasn’t a lot for me to do except look lost and stay out of the way.

We missed that awful tornado that hit Florida. It was north of us by quite a distance.

After driving the 1,300 miles from Michigan to Florida, we didn’t unload our well-packed truck for over a week. Much of our stuff just stayed there, including our bird, Charlie. It wasn’t comfortable, but we are now settling in. Things look grand. The place is nearly complete and we’re pleased with the effort that everyone has expended.

We went to Rockin’ Rondevous (at the clubhouse) Thursday (the 8th) and saw Pat and Paul, Bob (our “worm king” friend), Carl, Marilyn, and a few others. These events are always fun times and we look forward to them. Some of the regular group were sick with a bug that is going around. It was a quieter than usual R.R. but we look forward to next week’s get-together.

We’re enjoying Florida citrus fruit. Carl gave us a couple dozen grapefruit and our roofmate has brought over oranges twice.

Weather’s been cool. Tomorrow should be nice (low 80’s so maybe we can get some pool time in). We’re hoping!!!

Our Florida visit hasn’t been quite what we expected, but we now have a renovated condo and it’s very very attractive and comfortable thanks to the hard work of a lot of folks. (It’s not complete, but should be in a few days.)