Papa with "his girl"
Gracie and Preston seem to be exchanging a knowing glance here... like something is about to change... and they are right.
On Sunday, July 6th, we bid farewell to Papa (also known as Jim!) as he prepares to head to Afghanistan for one year - - he is being reinstated in the Army after nearly 21 years of retirement. He will spend a few weeks at two different Army bases in South Carolina and Georgia before he departs at the end of July. My mom, Nana, is with him now, spending some precious time together before he leaves. We are so grateful and proud of his service... it takes great men (and women) like Jim to make our country what it is. We will all miss him terribly. I am still struggling with how to help the kids cope during this time. Both of them are so used to having Papa around and even before he left, Preston's second task every morning (after running to his sister for an attack kiss) is to grab his Daddy's picture and Papa's picture from Gracie's picture bin and run around signing and saying their names. It will be difficult to help them understand where he is, especially Gracie, but hopefully with email, phone calls and webcam we can make it a little easier for all of us.
Our second farewell was on Friday, July 11 - - Judy, Gracie's nurse of over 3 1/2 years spent her last day with us as she will be moving out of state. (I didn't post a picture because I didn't ask her if it was okay! :-)) She has been so dedicated to Gracie - - working not only as her nurse, but also as her teacher, her therapist, her advocate and so much more. She will be so greatly missed and again I am left with the struggle of helping my kids, especially Miss Gracie, cope with her absence. With the exception of vacation days, she has been here nearly every weekday for years... Preston doesn't know life without her and surely Gracie doesn't remember. It was a very difficult day - - far more difficult than I imagined. I am so sad for my girl.
There is not a prospect of a nurse to replace her ... the nurse we had lined-up and really thought was going to be great (based on her recommendations, our impression in an interview and subsequent phone calls) has completely flaked on us. There has been no communication with us or our nursing agency in over two weeks so we have to assume that she has decided not to work with Gracie and didn't have the decency or professionalism to let anyone know. Unbelievable, really, and a lesson learned... I should have had (as should have our agency) a contingency plan.
3 comments:
Glad to see you back in the blogosphere! It sounds like life has been extra busy as of late, but your Gracie and Preston are precious as ever! Glad to hear you're doing well, even with big changes happening, your positivity shines through!
Happy Summer.
So sorry about the change in nurse. You have my upmost empathy in that respect. I have this great desire that we'd like to come and visit you sometime soon. I hope somehow we can make it work. You're often in my thoughts. With love Cx
Kristi,
Yay, I found your blog again. Thanks for sending out the address when you first got started. :) You write beautifully. I'm going to send the address to my sis.
We have a family blog that I haven't kept up very well. There are some fairly recent pictures, though.
We'll be traveling through your area Saturday morning on our way to Grandpa's. If possible, we'd love to see you guys if you have time. :)
Congrats to John on pursuing his dream.
Cresenda :)
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