And Life Rolls On...

Things have been quiet since my last post.  Pam has had some good days and some bad.  But the bad are not really that bad.  Generally, her bad day has her sitting in a fog most of the day watching TV.  While that is not how I would like to see her, I can't make the dementia go away.   And many caregivers speak of much more difficult behaviors, so I will not complain.

On the good side, we had a very busy couple of weeks and she interacted with others quite a bit.  Our niece and her fiancé were visiting from the Atlanta area.  We went out to dinner on Wednesday and had a lot of laughs.  Michele is bright, energetic, and a lot of fun to hang with.  Oh, and we love Andy too.  Pam spent much of the evening engaged in conversation and laughing.  All of that is good.  Then on the 17th, we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.  Thankfully, one of my fears was not realized and she knew who I was.  Our daughters worked together to throw a celebratory gathering of friends and relatives on Saturday.  Again, Pam spent most of that time engaged in conversations with other humans.  All Good.  The girls did a marvelous job and I loved seeing them work together on something.  We are very proud of them.

The other great thing that happened last week was the motor home.  We pulled it out of storage and had the motor repairs done and got our state inspection.  For those that are new to this blog, it was originally started as a travel blog to document what was going to be two years of full-time travel and bucket list excursions.  But after only six months on the road, both a pandemic and life's issues took control of our journey away from us.  Pam's diagnosis took over and halted our travels.  My bucket list is going to have to wait.  But we have been struggling with what to do with the RV.  The monthly storage cost is not insignificant and we have not been successful in locating a seasonal site. 

For now, our plan is to do some short camping trips around New Hampshire and southern Maine.  We have been members of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) for several years, but have never attended one of their rally events.  Well, that is about to change.  We have registered for the FMCA Northeast Rally scheduled for the Fryeburg Fairgrounds in early August.  We have a lot to do to prepare for that as we emptied most everything out of the RV when it went into storage.  So most of that equipment needs to be cleaned up and put back into the RV.  All of our clothing, bedding, and food supplies also need to return.  And we are going to extend that trip by another five days by visiting the Sebago Lake Family Campground near where we lived in Maine.  Also, in September we'll be camping on side-by-side sites with old friends from Londonderry (now in Ossipee).   So the motor home will finally be back in service.  Both Pam and I have missed it.

On the family front, we had three "graduations" among the five grandsons.  The youngest, Keelan "graduated" from kindergarten.  His parents are trying to figure out which school he should attend next year.  And the middle grandson, Jacoby has completed 8th grade and will be attending Central High next year.  And then there is the oldest.  He decided (against all advice) to quit high school halfway through his senior year.  But he set a goal of passing the GED exam and he got that done.  Great job, Elijah!  Goal accomplished.  We are anxiously waiting for his next decision. 

We feel like we have little control of our journey, but things have been going well and we are very thankful.  While the crazy world is bubbling up around us, we are just working on achieving an inner sense of peace.  We can't change what is happening with Pam but we can accept it and cherish every joy that comes our way.