New Orleans

How many people here either are kids or have kids?  If you are one of these people, do you have anything planned over Spring Break?  Our plans...going to New Orleans.  I have been to New Orleans twice before Katrina, and in six weeks or so I'm gonna see what it looks like now.  Obviously it will be very different...I am very interested how it has changed.  We will be driving down there...it is about a three-day drive.

 

We also have some family down in New Orleans.  My great-aunt Alice lives there with her husband John, and my dad's cousin Julie lives there with her husband Max.  None of their houses got destroyed.  Alice and John live in a very nice neighborhood.  Their neighborhood is known for mansions and trees...but most of the trees are gone now which is really sad 'cause those trees are what made the neighborhood really beautiful...their house didn't get damaged at all but a lot of houses in that neighborhood were very badly damaged, so Alice and John lucked out.  Julie and Max's house sustained zero damage, but the street behind them got completely flattened, so they REALLY lucked out.

 

I really hope we can be able to see them, but there's a chance we might not be able to 'cause they have a lot on their plate right now.  Alice and John are both 83 years old and niether one of them is doing great healthwise.  Alice has arthritis very badly and she hasn't been responding to her normal medications, but luckily her doctor recently prescribed her some new med and that's been working well for her.  So she's getting progressively better and she says that as soon as her doctor says it's OK, she's gonna come up to Minnesota for a visit, which is good 'cause Alice is a lot of fun.  So things have been looking up for Alice...John, on the other hand, is getting progressively worse.  A couple years ago they found a tumor in his voicebox, so he underwent radiation therapy.  The tumor is gone, but he is left with the yucky side effects of radiation, as all of his upper teeth are gone.  Also, his back condition has been really getting to him.  He uses a heating pad and there are some activities he can no longer do, such as golfing, which is a shame 'cause he LOVES to golf.  A nurse comes to their house on nights and weekends but given that John's health is deteriorating, they might have to have a full-time nurse soon.  As bad as Alice and John may have it, Julie and Max have it worse.  Max is in the hospital dying of cancer.  It started in his kidneys and spread to his spleen, lungs, pancreas, and lymph nodes.  He is undergoing chemo every day, and if you're doing chemo every day it can't be good.  He lost 50 pounds since he started chemo and Alice says he looks terrible.  And Julie is not holding up well.  Julie is a sweet, wondeful woman, but she is not a strong woman at all.  Alice has told her that she needs to be strong for Max, but Julie just hasn't been holding up well.  It's awful 'cause these are great people and they don't deserve what they're getting.  It's awful also because Max is only 59, he's a great guy, and given that he lives a thousand miles from me, I never got to know him very well, and I wish I could've been able to get to know him well.  So I definitely hope I will be able to see him one last time when we're down there.

 

So in addition to going to New Orleans this March, we have also been talking about what we should do this summer.  After all, we are halfway there.  From June 20-27, we will be going to Door County, WI, as we always do during the last week of June.  Also, every August the past few years, we've been going someplace we've never been before.  In 2005 we went to San Francisco, in 2006 we went to Boston, and in 2007 we went to Yellowstone.  We are gonna go somewhere in August...we have decided on two possible places.  Either we're going to Seattle, or we're gonna go to the east coast and drive down the east coast...we'd be in places such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, and the Carolinas.  They both sound like fun trips.

 

I suppose this was one of my longer blogs, huh?  Well, I should be going.  Got homework to do