Our weekend: No. II: Friends and Family
8:48 a.m.
The second part of the weekend is about the time we spent with friends and Hubby�s family, which ended up being combined for ease and economy. We arrived at his parents� place in time for lunch on Saturday and were joined soon thereafter by his sister and brother-in-law. My mother-in-law is still in a bad way with her sore foot (she has a neuroma from an infection caused by fire-ant bites sustained while still in Florida, and now has plantar�s fasciitis caused by walking improperly trying to compensate for the pain caused by the other) and has to get new orthodics made. She is huge, having gained more weight from immobility (why people just don�t eat less when they can�t exercise is beyond me) and looks very incomfortable. I really worry about her. They eat so poorly, and my sister-in-law (who is a public-health nurse and did her first degree in nutrition sciences) says that with her mom it�s all or nothing, and right not it�s �nothing�. She buys food for its convenience and taste, not for its nutritional value, eating tons of full-fat cheese because that�s what her husband likes, lots of meat, potatoes, white bread, and dessert after every lunch and supper. She serves herself quantities indistinguishable from her husband�s (he�s over 6', she�s 5'4") and just keeps ballooning outward.
My youngest brother-in-law was extremely cheery, although he is also suffering severe debilitations. He has both scoliosis and kyphosis, is heavily medicated for pain, depression and asthma, and is now experiencing osteoarthritis from a childhood surgery on his chest and back where metal rods were inserted to keep him from ending up like a hunchback.
I got a-hold of J and M after a bit of telephone tag and my Hespeler brother-in-law invited them over to his place, where they ended up staying for supper. Mark brought his Strat, Hubby played his Les Paul, Don supplied the bass, and a marvellous jam session was had by all. Uncle Al brought over a whole raft of various percussion instruments, which Little Princess and Buddy Boy amused themselves on, including many rice shakers made from his empty pill containers. Jenn and I built pyramids and stonehenges from them, occasionally even shaking them in the right rhythm.
I was having so much fun with my friends that I would have been very happy indeed not to go to this reunion dance that we had paid good money for, but it had to be. So we drove back to my in-laws� and J and M followed us in their car, staying to play �night croquet� with the kids and Uncle Al. We didn�t arrive home until 2:30 a.m., but I understand that our good buddies waited until 1:00 a.m. in the hopes that we would be back. I�m sorry we missed them, but I am so happy that we got to spend that time with them at D and P�s place. Don actually wants Hubby and Mark to join his band for a gig in July, he liked their playing so much. I must say, Mark is a really good guitarist. All those years at Bushop�s did something for him!
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