Art Therapy

I never made it into the pottery studio on Sunday. The day was spent doing household stuff like pushing the vacuum around and running the washing machine. The bisque kiln was firing away, getting our pots ready to be glazed today.

In the corner of one room, three new canvasses have sat for nearly a year. I bought them to create a triptych of ginkgo leaves for Danielle's birthday. The evening that I came home with the canvas and a few other supplies, the phone rang as soon as I set my bag down.  It was my sister. She was calling with the news of my parents car accident. The accident that began the spiral of events that consumed my winter and ended with my mother's passing in May. I had neither the time nor inclination to start the painting. As time wore on I would move them to vacuum behind them but still couldn't bring my self to peel of the plastic coverings and get to work.

Yesterday I decided it was time. I set up my work space and started to paint.
It felt so good...
So good that the time got away from me. I was listening to music and happily mixing colors and laying down my background. When I looked at the clock it was 10pm and we hadn't eaten dinner yet! Jeff was still in the studio throwing pots. I cleaned up my paints, gave some leftovers a new life, and we enjoyed our late night dinner together.

Family

My sister in-law, Gigi, texted me this photo yesterday of my brother Roger and their silly dog. The dog goes to work with Gigi everyday. They own a plumbing company in Wasilla, Alaska. Evidently she likes to stand on counters and desks!

It's been a rough couple of weeks for my family. Since I returned from New Hampshire my mother has taken a turn for the worse. She went for a pre-op exam before her skin graft surgery and they found a heart murmur and poor blood work. She was getting weaker each day. They hospitalized her, did some tests and diagnosed her with stage 4 colon cancer. I am so saddened that at 87 years old she had to go through the car accident trauma and now have to be hit with this news.  Up until this point she was very healthy and active... she has never been on any medication, unlike my Dad who takes a bunch of different pills everyday. Needless to say the skin graft surgery was cancelled.

Roger is flying out of Anchorage today and will be in New Hampshire tomorrow. Of course now all I want to do is hop on a plane and head back there to be with everyone. The reality is, I have work to catch up on here and I need this weekend to digest everything and decide what is best.

On the home front it's been hard to be productive. My greatest accomplishment this week was throwing the parts for 7 casseroles. At least today I won't struggle with what to do... they will need to be put together!

the unexpected phone call

What a week it has been. I was feeling lazy on Monday, since it was a holiday, and wasn't very productive. Tuesday I kicked my butt into gear and became productive, which continued into Wednesday. Then it all came to a screeching halt with a phone call on Wednesday evening.

My 87 year old parents had an accident with the car. Mom and Dad had returned home from a morning errand. Dad pulled up to the entrance to their building to let Mom off on the sidewalk so she wouldn't have to step over a snow bank to get out of the car. They live in New Hampshire where it has been one snow storm after another. From what I understand, when my Dad started to pull away, the car was stuck in a snow rut. He gave it some gas, the car lurched free, jumped the sidewalk and hit my mother. She has hospitalized with a severely torn up leg, but thankfully no broken bones. She had surgery to clean up the wound and will need skin grafts over the next few weeks. They sent her home last night with a wound-vac to aid in healing. A nurse will come a few times a week to change that and a physical therapist will start coming today. Thankfully, my sister, who teaches middle school, is on February break will be able to stay with them until we feel comfortable leaving them overnight. 

Right now I can't even wrap my head around how my father is dealing with this accident. I am surprised he didn't go into cardiac arrest when it happened. He was really shook up when he called my sister. They don't have a cell phone and he had trouble finding the address book with all of our numbers... my mother does the phone talking for the two of them. I haven't slept well for the past three nights. My brain won't shut down and it keeps running this event over and over.

My siblings and I are glad that the parents are no longer in their house and are in a senior living apartment. They made that decision on their own, two years ago. I am not looking forward to the next conversation with them... perhaps it's time to stop driving. My Dad had a minor accident last winter too.  We are hoping that this decision will come from them as well.

Dealing with aging parents can be so difficult and complex. Being 800+ miles away doesn't make it any easier.


P.S. The lidded oval was from the last firing, it doesn't have anything to with this post aside from taking the edge off of the "omg that's terrible" factor!

DIFFICULT INSURANCE COMPANY!!!

here it is 1 month after my accident. i have still not settled yet with the other guys insurance company. all i want is a fair price for my trailblazer. they only want to give me $8575 for it...my insurance company told me it's value was $9660...when i told the other company that number the adjuster said "everyone thinks they have won the lottery when they are in an accident". i was shocked he said that to me...i don't think $9660 is winning the lottery. i have spent endless time on the phone trying to resolve this. they told me they would no longer pay my rental after last saturday...i think they thought that would make me settle. NO WAY. i turned the rental in and will drive JZ's subaru until this is over.

i wasn't at fault for this accident but i sure feel like the one being punished.

CRASH!!!

i haven't had the time or energy to write a post in the last few weeks...just when you think things are going well...warm weather has arrived, i spent two days in the studio...and then WHAM! someone hits you from behind. literally. i was rearended two weeks ago. my suv was towed from the scene. luckily i wasn't badly hurt...lots of nasty bruises, sore all over and whiplash. now i am waiting on the insurance company to appraise my trailblazer...the body shop thinks it is totalled. i have spent countless hours on the phone with insurance companies, the body shop and Enterprise rentals. now i am faced with the daunting task of purchasing a used vehicle...mine was paid for and i dont want to have a car loan right now. i loved my trailblazer...but with the outrageous price of gas i am thinking i should buy something economical to drive. then i think how will i get by without something big enough to haul clay, pots and occasionally my wheel. needless to say i am feeling a bit overwhelmed.