My best friend called me this morning to tell me that her pet bunny (sometimes known as the Fierce Bad Rabbit) had to be put down. In the last year, she’s lost a 17-year old cat, an 18-year old nephew, and her mother.
Then I had to take my father-in-law in for a stress test, because he’s having prostate surgery next week. He’s 80, and his health has been gradually but steadily declining over the last two years. While his doc says his heart is up to the surgery, MY heart tells me his spirit is starting to sag. He’s an awfully decent fellow, and I’m realizing that I’m starting to mentally prepare myself for life without him.
Just as I brought him home from the cardiologist’s office, my cell phone rang. Another very good friend of mine has been in Washington this week on business. He was supposed to be there through Friday, and planned to take the weekend to do some sight-seeing. But on a break from one of his meetings this morning, he had a voicemail message from his dad. My friend’s mom, a delightful, miniature Sophia Loren, dropped dead of a heart attack. My friend - a big strong guy with a heart as big as all outdoors - was sobbing, and several hundred miles from home. he booked an emergency flight back this afternoon at two PM, but I spoke to him tomight at 8:30 and he’s stuck in a Colorado airport waiting out a storm.
The floor guys finally finished installing my new hardwood floors today, but I could brely work up a smile. I’m sad for my friends, sad for my family and I just want to cry for about an hour, non-stop.
I am so very sorry. I have had such loses and I feel for you. It seems trite but all I can add is there is a day out in front of you, maybe several days away, that all this will be something that happened “back then” and the distance, while not curing, will help with the weight.
Again, I’m sorry. I have big shoulders if you want to borrow one.
LifeOnWry, I’m sorry you have to deal with all this bad stuff happening at the same time. Go ahead and have a good cry–you need it. My sympathy to both of your friends–I’ve been through losing one of my parents to a heart attack, and I have two almost-elderly rabbits, and every day I think they might not be with me much longer.
I hope your father-in-law bounces back and makes it through the surgery okay.
Sometimes it just rains bad news and you get to the point that Life Is Utter Shit and why is the Rain Cloud of Fucking Doom hovering over me?! WHY WHY WHY!?!!!
It gets so picking up the phone is just another horrid reminder that Bad Shit happens to people we love and even people we like. It never seems to happen to Total and Complete Assholes.
Try to look at the bright side: Your friends mom was very very lucky to drop dead of a quick heart attack. (AFAIK). To lose them that quickly is a painful shock but it is worse to watch them linger for months to years and not live their last days out like they wanted, but in a hospital bed with a dead plant on the windowsill. I am so very sorry about your friends mom.
You may be right about your FIL. But what matters is how much you love him and how much you enjoy his company. This would be a really good time to send him a stripper…for his wood floors. You perv.
Sorry about the Fierce Bad Rabbit. I wuv bunnies.
{{{{hugs}}}}}
This has been a horrible week for me too, so you have my empathy. I know it sucks, but hang in there, and try your best to be a calm, warm little center of comfort and stability for your family and friends in the meantime. You’ll all feel better for it.
Thanks, everyone. At the moment, everything’s in limbo, which is its own special brand of suck. Don’t know if my friend made it home yet, and of course Dad’s surgery isn’t 'til next week so that’s up in the air, too.
Generally, I am a Tough Little Cookie. I’m good in a crisis, and my friends and family know I can be counted on not to fall apart. But yesterday it was like having several bad days attack at once, and I just needed to indulge my own falling-apartedness for a few minutes. I took three ibuprofen before bed and got a fairly good night’s sleep, and while I didn’t wake up this morning transformed into Pollyanna, I DID have enough oomph to organize my thoughts a bit and settle down.
Hugs back to you all, with an extra one for BBVL, because whooo, baby, I know how you feel.
AWWWWW {{{LOW}}}, I wish I were there right now to hug the stuffin’ outta ya. That and take you out for pie. Here’s hoping stuff gets at least a little better soon.
Lots and lots of hugs, LOW. You’re a great person. Can you take a couple hours off to cry, read favourite books, and eat chocolate? I think you deserve a break. And a whole lot of hugs. {{{{{{Life On Wry}}}}}}
I’m so sorry to hear about all these events, Life on Wry! I’m offering a prayer that you, and all you love, will have the strength to get through them.
{{{LOW}}}, crying is good. It releases endorphins or sumpin’ like that. You don’t have to be the tower of strength either. That’s why we’re here for ya.
Oh dear, I would like to offer my empathy. Life here has been a series of like experiences for quite a while, and I find that a good cry is both cathartic as well as a preventative to chronic leaky eye. I am so sorry for the situations as well as the emotions you are going through, sometimes life gets very painful and confusing, and sometimes it just plain bites. You are obviously dealing with everything in a realistic manner, and are well loved and supported by those here who know you far better than I. However, I did want to add my own (((hugs))), as well as my hopes for a swift turn for the better.
