long weekend selfie

spent the weekend checking in on my parents after their town was hit by (positively massive) hail and a tornado.

i was so relieved to discover that they were left mostly untouched when neighbors had totaled cars, broken windshields, broken roofs. hail did end up piercing their roof in one spot, but thankfully no water got through.

the hail did do some damage to my dad’s gigantic truck, which is a bit of a point of contention. he hasn’t been able to walk well since his stroke last year, let alone drive, and yet he keeps holding on to that truck. i want him to have a rehabilitation goal to work toward, but watching it rust in the driveway while they continue to pay insurance on it seems like such a waste. same with his motorcycle, the mirror of which you can see here.

since i didn’t have broken glass to clean up or windows to board up, i was able to do some cleaning for my mom, who is really overworked right now. there’s a balancing act between letting her cede enough control to be able to do things for her, keeping her easily-bruised pride intact, and keeping my cool with her distractability and avoidance dances. it’s slow work getting there, one piece at a time, but we are building to something.

i’m in a quiet place in my own life at the moment, but i know i need to take a lesson from my interactions with my mom - stop avoiding things, stop being too proud to ask for help. it’s time to unpack some tasks for myself so i can do better for them as they need more help.

anywho, that’s-a-me, that’s where i am. maybe next time you’ll get some pics of my still-intact lego creations i unearthed in their attic instead of my wrinkled-assed mug.