By late afternoon, it was 45 °F colder than 24 hours before. Soon there were four inches of wet snow bending down the trees. After supper, the lights went out. Juan’s mother was dying in Tucson. It was just another day on the frontier. * * * There was more snow than Juan del Llano [...]
My mother died this morning at 9:25 a.m. local time in Tucson, Arizona, a little over three hours ago. I received the news via text message, which has to be a first for me. We all knew it was coming, but it’s still a blow. I feel a huge, mysterious void. Suddenly I’m all exhausted, [...]
The medium-sized black butterfly with yellow accents flew in low across the dirt patio behind the house where we were sitting, and then put on a show. It seemed to struggle mightily against the gusty southwest breeze, slowing to a stop and moving sideways, as if to gain more ground against the current there. Over [...]
The anger is refined now, clouding my mind while lending strength to truth. I sip it like fine wine and grow impossible to be with. It’s the Tucson thing, of course: back and forth 600 miles each way for 10 long months to clean up Helen’s possessions in this vale of sclerotic madness. Everything I [...]
“Johnny,” my brother spoke up bravely from the back seat,”maybe if you came to Tucson more, you’d like it better.” I was much too quick and cutting in my reply, something along the lines of that being the funniest thing he’d said all day, but Tucson brings out the ugly in me. We were all [...]
They tell me it’s not hot in Tucson in November. Maybe we can actually have a Sonoran hot dog at one of those outdoor restaurants with the picnic tables under a canopy flapping in the wind. Yes, we’re going back again. I have to. My 90-year-old mother is still with us, getting proper care, but [...]
Our heavily armed house sitter and the attack cat will once again be holding the fort. Yes, I’m taking off again, but what a difference this time. Back in late April, I had to go to Tucson because my 89-year-old mother was off the rails, officially diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer’s, paranoia, schizophrenia, delusions, and hallucinations. [...]
It just hit me: it’s like I became a parent! No wonder I’m waking up in the middle of the night. Isn’t that what you guys do? With 89-year-old Helen in a long-term care facility and me with the authority and cash, I’m suddenly responsible. Intellectually, I knew this, but now I feel it sinking [...]
That’s what my wife said to me yesterday as I was showing her photos of my Tucson trip. She was right, of course. The fun never stops with Helen, although we’ve got her where she belongs now. I woke up this morning feeling like I’d been thrown out of an airplane. There are circles under [...]
Eighteen days of my life this Tucson expedition took, more than two whole weeks of rolling hell, panic, and relief. The period taken as a whole is like a recapitulation of my entire life. See that street sign? There were a total of three motels. I abandoned the first one after one night because the [...]