1. June 4th my brother nearly died.
2. Same day, much later on, I totalled my beloved Ford Econoline (walked away with only bruises)
3. Spent two -long long weeks (forget hanging wall paper together and surviving, try looking at cars together to test the boundaries of love.) looking for a new vehicle and subsequently purchasing a used in primo condition (except something with the transmission that goes “thunk” but only in overdrive, that’s not bad, is it? Heck, I’ve got a mobile phone) 1993 Econoline 150 conversion van.
4. Brother recovering nicely until he has a fall in physical therapy and breaks a couple of toes and damages his knee. (Other than that, he is ok as he can be for what he’s been through.) (He would have a lawsuit because they did not have the proper staffing on hand,etc, but my family -mom and brother - are not sue-happy as by the time the suit came to court, mom and brother would be dead. I promised them I would spend the money with abandon in their honor, but they want to keep me humble.)
5. Despite brother’s recovery, my mother frets and fusses over my brother - who has been very stable for weeks - hours a day,every day, for the past 60 days. she just turned 75. Spends entire day with him. She has no life now and despite everyone telling her to take a day off from hospital duty , she refuses. To say she is moderately depressing to talk to and morbidly obsessed would be an understatement. I fully expect her to have a stroke any day now. If he drops dead and she is not there, she will die from guilt. If he drops dead and she is there, she will die from guilt. I could just strangle her. There is no reasoning with her and at least other relatives are banging their heads against the wall like me.
6. July 3 - In the less than 2 months old Ford Focus, my husband rear ends someone (who stopped when she should not have and he clipped her) causing $6500 damage to our new car. No injuries for anyone. We will be without that car for at least 5 weeks ( one week for every $1,000 in repairs)
7. So, in less than a month, we have $1000 in deductibles for our insurance.
8. Our 32 year old riding lawnmower decided to have a massive seizure while I was mowing and had I not been quick thinking and opened the hood while the engine revved faster and faster and faster to disconnect the spark plug, it would have exploded. That would be bad. It needs a new carberator (for a 32 year old mower that Sears doesn’t carry parts for anymore), which we have in in the original rototiller that came with it that hasn’t been used in 31 years.
9. Hubby works 100-120 hours a week. I am married to a laundry pile that has no time to repair said tractor. Subsequently, the lawn has not been mowed since the day of the nearly exploding Sears Craftsman Tractor ( with a lighter in the console as a nifty accessory).
10. Our 3 year old son shows no interest in potty training.
11. Our children are healthy and happy. (that is all that matters.)
12. The dog is still on the wrong side of the door.
The good new is, and surprisingly, we are really cheerful (except with the discussions of dealing with my Mom) about things is that my husband and I are living on borrowed time.
2001 is decidedly a year in which I will never forget and will look back upon as a definitive time in my life.
Life is beautiful.
