Saturday, July 9, 2011

Big day planned, but it starts with a phone call. Last night ended with a phone call, but Dale was so kind to let me sleep through it.

About 10 p.m., my mom called. Insisted that it was urgent and he needed to wake me. He just wasn't willing. I'm so grateful. Less drama is good. It seems my sister, Tavia, who is severely mentally handicapped, and who lived with us for about eight months about four years ago had surgery earlier in the week. Now she's having complications and it's not looking good. Duly noted.

This morning's call is from Tiffany, another sister. (Sensing a theme with our names? 10 kids, all names start with T. Tavia's is probably the most unique. From Octavia, meaning eight. She's number 8 out of 10.) Tiffany's on her way to LDS Hospital to visit with Tavia because she's taken a turn for the worse.

Dale and I discuss if we should try to rush out the door and drive to the Avenues in Salt Lake this morning? I don't want to face that hospital just yet. The threat makes me shudder. I'm not supposed to visit hospitals or any places with lots of people and lots of infections. Tavia knows my heart. She's okay with that, no matter what happens. We're at peace with our decision.

It's a good thing, because Tiffany calls just twenty minutes later. She hasn't arrived yet, but Tavia just passed away. She's going to continue anyway but is still planning on coming to our home later in the morning.

I should feel sad, a huge sense of loss, right? There's a small sense of that, but I feel joy, a lifting instead. How cool it is imagining Tavia now able to talk and communicate clearly, to move her body quickly with ease, to have her faculties restored. What a blessing! I'm slightly jealous as I imagine Karen, my sister-in-law that died last year, having a conversation with Tavia about Emily, Karen and Tim's daughter who has the same genetic disorder as Tavia. That I would like to participate in. Hooray for you, Tavia. I wish I'd had one more chance to give you a hug and hear your sweet giggle and Yeah! expression, but we'll have lots more time for even better discussions sometime. I wonder if you learned anything useful from me, dear sister. I learned lots from you. You always found joy in the smallest things in this life, even encumbered as you were temporarily. Your place is assured. I will work harder to meet you there. Farewell for now.

And now it's time to get ready for family pictures. The last time we had family pictures taken, we found a week later that I had Hodgkins. I think we're long overdue, and we need to hurry before my hair falls out sometime this next week.

We've arranged for Cameron, Skyler, Skyler's fiancee, Hannah, and everyone to wear blue jeans and a solid colored bright shirt and meet at 10:00 a.m. Better get moving.

Good thing we're doing this today. Each hand is full of about ten hairs as I wash my hair. I know what that means. It's definitely starting to fall out. If only I make it last through Sunday. Well, it's not handfuls and clogging the shower drain yet. We're good so far.

Meet at Heritage Park and try lots of different things. Very creative places for pictures. We have lots of fun, but don't have a lot of time. Tiffany arrived about thirty minutes late from getting to visit Tavia's body for a few minutes. Skyler needs to head to work, so we wrap up pretty quickly. I wish we had more time, but I'm grateful that we made this a priority. Thanks everybody!

And we're just in time for Travis's 14th birthday party of laser tag with the three friends we could reach that are available. It sounds like they had a blast. I'm so glad. Things seem kind of half hearted. Rush to get pictures done. Rush to get to Travis's party. Rush to the next thing. At least we're getting them done.

Next? Hannah's bridal shower. Rush to Provo. I don't want to go, but I do want to support Hannah and Skyler. If there's lots of people, I'll make an early exit and I have a viable excuse. We're eight minutes late, but I'm glad Miriam and I make it. No one else is there but the host and Hannah's older sister, who drove down from Pocatello to be there. No one else comes until another 40 minutes goes by. That person lives about half a block away. Are we way early? Nope. Only one other person comes--a full hour late. Strange. Can't argue with Hannah's colors though--purple, yellow, white, and black, with purple being the dominant color. It's my color, but I'm definitely willing to share it with her. . .lol

Whew! Survived the day and everything it brought. Have fun, Tavia, exploring new possibilities.