Belated Birthdays etc

 aka “Giving It All Away” - Val is indulging in another episode of self-pity as I look out at gray dreary skies this morning. We had glorious weather at last weekend’s NATRC ride near Waco but returned to more thunderstorms - “May showers”, apparently!

My Decatur ride (April 27) was canceled with our torrential rains/muddy conditions: the Forest Service feared we would damage the trails, folks were getting stuck on Thursday just trying to get parked in camp. This Saturday’s AERC ride near Cleburne will be slightly more challenging, but I already pledged to Tony that we would enter the 25-miler…

And speaking of pledges, I’m also falling far behind on any obligations I had as a halfway decent daughter - I haven’t visited my mother in three weeks! I diagnose myself with a severe case of caregiver fatigue; I just had to step back a bit & trust the facility to care for her as her decline into dementia steepens. She still recognizes me, she’s just getting increasingly disoriented as to time & place & exactly what we’re doing round here! She roams the halls searching for my dad or Aunt Mary Sue, wondering when they’re going to board the train or when we shall arrive, wherever it is that we’re going??

I feel as if I’m just plodding wearily through my days myself, but I was able to take Victoria & Zach out last night for her belated birthday dinner. It appears they’ve settled on a wedding date of 8/08/26 - I don’t know if V’s grandfather will survive that long (I haven’t visited V’s grandparents recently either - I need to make my own evaluation, but Andy is down to 140-some-odd pounds, still relying on a feeding tube) Z also announced he’s not inviting his father, which of course is his decision to make but I was trying to gently nudge him into being the bigger person. He’s finally fed up with doing 200% of the work to keep their relationship alive. (Maybe more later, gotta get on into work)