Wipe out!

You know how sometimes you cruise along in life, thinking "Wow, things are going pretty well! I have some changes coming my way and they look pretty positive!" then life starts laughing and decides to drop a few sandbags on you?

First let me begin last week. Jake, my sweetie, has access to a beach condo during off-season times and last-minute cancellations, so my two kids, his nephew, his mom and stepdad, Jake and I all got a weekend trip to Rehobeth Beach! (Note to those traveling to Rehobeth from Pennsylvania - there are two roads labeled Route 1. One takes you to the beach. The other goes straight into Baltimore. That was rough.)
My kids had never seen the beach before, and the weather was wonderful! We were only 3 blocks from the beach, 1 block from the central shop district, and 2 blocks from the church. They spent about 3 hours running into the (freezing!) water, waiting for a wave, then screaming and running away from it. It was cute. :) We flew a kite just by holding it up and letting out the string - it was like launching a helium balloon. I got good and sunburned, which is par for the course, and we all went out for ice cream after. There's a flavor at one of the shops called "Better Than Sex". Maybe not, but it was a tough call! We played miniature golf, put the kids to bed, went out for a drink, and discovered a new beer that I can only drink one of in an evening. (I'm a lightweight, and it had 9.8% alcohol content)
The next day after church, Jake's mom hands me a bag of bread and says "Why don't you guys go feed the seagulls? It's fun!" Unfortunately, the kids heard her and started yelling and jumping, so we went to the beach to feed the skyrats. It was horrifying! They were hanging in the air over our heads, snatching the bread right out of the air! When we ran out I had to flap a blanket at them to get them to go away - I thought they would develop a taste for human flesh next! The kids agreed that we would not be doing that again.
Ahh, a (mostly) relaxing trip to the beach. What could possibly disturb me after that?

Monday, Jake called to tell me that his grandma had been found by her neighbors after they noticed her back door hanging open. She was alive, but unresponsive. They rushed her to the ER.
Tuesday, I left work early to attend a parent/teacher conference. Only this was a parent/teacher/grandma/counselor/vice principal/principal conference. The jist was because my daughter has a lot of trouble dealing with her emotions, that we should have a psych evaluation done. Once that happens, she would be eligible for a summer camp coaching program that would help her learn to cope better. OK, that's good. I passed my freakitude onto my daughter, but at least there's more help these days.
I left, and tried to process all this until I got another call from Jake. Grandma was fading, and he needed moral support. I packed up my little guy and headed to the hospital, where we settled into a waiting room with a large chunk of his family. I stayed as long as I thought Daniel's good behavior would last, then went home to wait for the school bus. Jake called to tell me that Nana had COPD, pneumonia, and lung cancer. The family decided that it would be kinder to let her go now than to cure her pneumonia, medicate her COPD and wait for the lung cancer to ravage her body. She passed away at 6:12 Tuesday evening.
Wednesday I went to work and told my boss what had happened.
Thursday I went to work and my boss told me that she was distantly related to my boyfriend! Her late husbands brother married Jake's cousin (or aunt? not sure).
Today was the funeral. Jake's father had been drinking heavily the night before, and refused to come to his mother's funeral. I would have liked to make sure he attended a funeral - his own - but it wasn't my place, so Jake and I left him there. He's worthy of his own blog, but that would just be a 10 page rant, so we'll leave it at that.
Jake seems to be doing better now - we all went out to Red Lobster (Nana's favorite) after the burial, ate ourselves silly, and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Tomorrow I have a mountain of laundry to wash and hang after work, packing to do, paperwork to complete for the move to the Silence of Mary home, and the kids are going to want to play with me. Lord, give me patience, please? Help me get through the next two weeks so I can get into a new rhythm in the new house? Thanks!

Never mind living free for free - I'd settle for living!