The worst of news

Saturday, May 15, 2010
We left shortly after noon yesterday to drive to Lubbock for Craig’s graduation. Kevin was there, as was Merideth, Craig’s girlfriend, and, of course, Susan and Randall. We had chicken kabobs and cake at Craig’s house, then left for Spirit Arena for the 4:00 ceremony. Craig’s was among the first names called, then it was an hour and a half of BORING! Afterward, we went to Cagle’s steak house for dinner, then on to Muleshoe. We had just arrived in Muleshoe when Susan C. called to say that they had taken a detour out of Lubbock on some muddy roads where there were no gas stations, and they were finally on the road to Muleshoe, but they were coasting on fumes, not sure they would make it to a gas station in Littlefield. She put us on alert that we might have to come rescue them with some gasoline. She called about 20 minutes later to say that they had made it to a gas station, they had a full tank of gas and they were under way.

Today I slept until 8:00, then we had breakfast. We waited for Susan C.’s call, but finally gave up about 9:20 and headed for Farwell to clean in Mary Jean’s house again. Once we were on the road, Susan called to say they were headed to Farwell, and it turns out they were only about 3 minutes behind us.

Saturday started out so nicely and ended so badly. Susan, Randall, Roger and I worked in Mary Jean’s house Saturday for about five hours cleaning out stuff, sorting, throwing out, setting aside and generally trying to get the everything out of the house that we want prior to letting the youth group take over for a garage sale. At one point, when I went into the master bedroom where Susan was sorting clothes, she pointed to a small pile which was actually two suits. She asked which one I thought Mary Jean should be buried in because, after all, she might as well go ahead and set something aside now, as we would need it eventually. I opined that the purple one looked better. We all left about 3:00, we to go back to Muleshoe, Randall and Susan to return to Winters. This was after we loaded our “loot” into our cars, including a samurai sword, a couple of bayonets, (named after the city of Bayonne in France!), lots of quilting supplies, a bread machine and myriad sundry items.

About 9:00, Susan called to tell us that someone from the nursing home called her to say that Mary Jean was having trouble breathing, and they thought her heart was failing. When Susan and Randall got to Winters, they went to the nursing home to see her, but she was unresponsive. Right about midnight, the nursing home notified them that she had passed away, and Susan called us to let us know shortly afterward. We slept very poorly the rest of the night, and I gave up at 4:30, got out of bed and came in to work on an obituary and notes and lists of things to be done.

Sunday was something of a blur. We tried to nap during the day but had little success. Roger called the kids to let them know that their grandmother has died. At about 8:00, he called Alicia and Peter, since they live in the eastern time zone. He called Eric next, but there was no answer. At about 9:00, he called Shelli and Ronnie. They all began to make plans to come. Susan told them that grandma left money to help fund their travel if they need it. Nice touch! It lets the kids travel here without having to worry about the cost. Kevin and Craig are already in Texas. Dennis and Nicole plan to fly to Albuquerque then, rather than sit in an airport for a 4-hour layover, they will drive to Clovis where Susan has reserved a couple of rooms.

We ate lunch with Susan and Jimmy, and Susan kindly offered her house for sleeping if we need it for the kids. She has a bed in Jami’s room, and room for an air mattress in another room. We decided to put Shelli and Ronnie there, along with Eric on his air mattress. Alicia and Peter will stay here with us at Daddy’s house.