Management

My birthday was last week. With a lot of effort, my brother came to town and we had a blast. Here we are, all these years later, the same people from the early 70s, hanging out. Only now we're both single, both hauling around broken down bodies. We're good. We even would have been sugar-free if  Special K hadn't brought a bag of Mi-Dels by. And of all things, the hair on top of his head is growing back. He's been shiny top for 14 years! I still can't believe he's using stevia herb. 3 packets in one cup of coffee, but he's not using sugar! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had long instructive and constructive talks about pain management. OfficerBillySir's still on narcotics and wants off. He's at the end of the road where they don't do anything good. So we talked over what I do now, what he will and won't do and there was no hairy deal about anything. A couple of weeks ago the dtug store didn't have his opiates in stock for 5 days and he went thru cold turkey. I called him every day and he held it together well. He's pretty much done with the whole mess. So we talked a lot about our old druggie days and all that went with that. Which led to me finally telling him about going cold turkey three years back, and how much fun it was for me but not so much for anyone around me.

We filled in gaps of family history. We were stunned and amazed at the same things that happened in our past. So many lies and such downright craziness in our family. We talked about Mac's death, how her family has forgotten him, how he'll build a new life and what I did getting thru Ian's death. And we laughed our asses off. 

He left this morning. I cried.

And yes there were birthday visits, cards and gifts galore. Even a Facebook birthday inundation, and special made-for-me greetings on a Greg site. It's not even over. There are packages in the mail and yet to be sent. I have good people in my life and am a lucky woman.

On Sunday, Lord Paul of Highgarden and ActivistDora joined us for a mini Throne-A-Thon (thanks to someone I'll just call Queen of the Pirates). Dora was new to it all so we took parts filling her in on who was who and what was going on. Now she's hooked. We feasted and there was much enthusiasm. I love when that happens.

Monday we made plans.
Chiefy, Chiefy's wife and OfficerBillySir are going to scout for a retirement community to move to in Florida for the whole month of July. Before then he wants to have the house well on its way to getting ready for sale. So he's starting with the bedroom. I thought he'd gotten some headway but apparently it was just the overstock- Mac's stacked boxes of QVC purchases that were never used- that were cleaned out by her family, not the rest of it. When she had wetbrain she went crazy and was spending 2 grand a month on QVC alone. Now he wants to find her jewelry (she hid it in her hallucinatory state) and I'll help him list it all on ebay. He gave her tens of thousands of dollars in jewelry, and it'll be the down payment on the new house, just in case this one doesn't sell by the time he buys into Florida. He has decent savings but selling that stuff is the smartest thing to do in many ways. He told me to harp on him to get it done so I will.

This was the third time he stayed in a hotel here, and he's spent $1800 thus far. So he gave me a check to buy a sleeper sofa so he can just stay here in the future. He can't sleep on a futon. I'm in shopping mode. Did I tell you he's a great brother?

We're also shopping for a concert to go to together and trying to drag Strider into it. We're looking at the Ringo concert in June right near him, and the Eagles in Newark in September. She hasn't committed one way or the other so far.

It's been raining. Not scary downpours but enough to make me think of how saturated the ground is, and if there'll be another flood before we move outta here. I guess that'll never go away until I leave the Shire. It's painy, but I don't think about that much anymore.

At 5:30 a.m. on a Wednesday I'm sitting in my chair eating dark chocolate, a birthday present from Gal Friday. I have a wonderful life.