Birthday Plans?

 Back in April, I made plans for my birthday.  Maybe that's a little crazy for someone my age, but...

It was spring break and we were vacationing at my happy place (aka Skytop).  They were renovating the Windsor dining room so meals were being held on the lower level in the Laurel room (which was nice, but no Windsor).  I learned that they were getting all new furniture and getting rid of what they had.  Immediately I started thinking; the chairs would match my kitchen.  And so a plot was hatched...the manager agreed to hold 3 chairs for me (I wanted 9 so that I could have three in the kitchen and 6 in my dining room, but I would have had to rent a van to get them from PA to NJ) and I would pick them up.  The date I picked?  My birthday, June 7th, which also happened to be a Tuesday, generally a slower day of the week for the resort and for me at work.  I would drive up with my husband, get the chairs, enjoy lunch in the Taproom and then head home.  A three hour round trip drive for 3 chairs may be a little crazy, but worth it for me!  (I'd done it before on the day before my 50th birthday.  Dropped the kid off at school and an hour or so later hit the road to enjoy the relaxing south porch for an hour before having lunch and heading back home all without our son knowing we'd ever been gone!)

Of course the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry (thank you Robert Burns).  As I wrote about last week, my mom has been diagnosed with dementia and her health could impact my travels.  However, after writing that post last week, my mom's mental status dramatically improved (even before she went to see a neurologist).  She was able to go out to dinner in Saturday night with a friend (leaving my dad behind) and we had a LONG conversation on Sunday morning.  (So long in fact that I was late to choir practice.)  It was reminiscent of our old commuting conversations (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2022/05/parallels-in-life.html for reference).  However, later in the day my mother had suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) developed what looked like (to this non-medical professional) a HUGE swollen hematoma on her leg which opened and started to bleed.  So off to the hospital she went.

I spoke to her Monday and even though she had been admitted to the hospital she was still very coherent.  I was amazed.  I spoke to her numerous times (and she also spoke to many friends on the phone) and could not believe how well she was doing mentally.

Since she had been doing so well, I didn't see a need to change plans.  My husband and I would go to Skytop for the chairs and lunch.  Then I found out that my son had the day off.  I must have missed the memo (again) and I couldn't confirm it based on multiple school calendars.  It didn't show as a day off on the parent portal.  I didn't show on the district calendar.  But it DID show on the downloadable revised district calendar.  (I should have looked there first; I had the same problem over Memorial Day weekend when they added days off that I didn't know about.)  My son would be home; did he want to go with us?  (On my birthday?)  The answer was no.  (I was surprised...Skytop is his happy place too, but the idea of 3 hours on the road with his parents for just a few hours at his happy place didn't make the cut.)

Off my husband and I went.  On the drive out, I tried to call my mom at the hospital, but got no answer.  This did not bode well.  Neither did the clouds in the west that we were headed for.  

We got to Skytop relatively quickly.  We didn't even have to enter the lodge to see a new change:  

 Then we went inside to the newly renovated Windsor Dining room. 

  Believe it or not, our chairs were waiting for us! (And it turns out we got the last 3!  Who knew chairs from the Windsor dining room were such a hot commodity?  I do!) The staff/management is so organized.  It only took a few minutes before we loaded them our car. 

Unfortunately it was a little too overcast and breezy to enjoy the South Porch or even go walking very far.  (Although I did manage to walk down to the Inn and back...nearly blowing away in the process.)  We did enjoy sitting in the Pine Room where we read and (tried to) relax, before heading downstairs to the Tap Room for lunch.

Lunch was definitely one of the highlights of the day.  Because of my food allergies it is difficult to dine out, but I have a great friend in Zoe, who always makes sure that I am well taken care of no matter where I eat at Skytop, even if it's not an area she manages.  She had arranged everything with Chef Brandy even before we arrived.  She also made sure that she got a chance to talk to us before we went into lunch.  Steve and I both had delicious hamburgers; it was truly a treat.  A treat that you can only truly understand if you have allergies that prevent you from dining out.  Zoe has always made sure that every meal I have whenever I am at Skytop is safe and the chefs make sure they are delicious.

All too soon we headed home.  I tried to reach my mother again, but still no results.  A call to the nurses’ station let me know that she had been moved to another room and that a nurse would call me later.  This definitely did not bode well.

Before arriving home, we stopped at Whole Foods because I knew I could find a vegan cake.  Ever since I've discovered vegan baking, I make sure I get a cake for my birthday!  Abe's  has not let me down yet.

We arrived home and unloaded the car of groceries and chairs.  Shortly thereafter I did get a call from the hospital, not from a nurse, but from a doctor.  The news was not good.  Her dementia had reared its ugly head and that, combined with extremely low blood pressure and heart issues, had moved her to ICU.  I knew this was the right move, but it was very upsetting.  This was the first birthday (that I can recall) where I did not speak to my mother.  (I'm pretty sure she and my father even made a transatlantic call when I was in England for my birthday back in the 1990.)  

In order to try and be productive and focus on positive, I spent the rest of the evening working on a flamingo flocking fundraiser (Google it); moving flamingos from one location to another.  My son preferred reviewing French to helping me out (which tells you how much he enjoys doing this with me) so my husband and I quickly moved to avoid the impending rain.

As far as birthdays go; this one wasn't the worst.  That honor goes to 2012, which was the year my brother died.  It may knock the year I had chicken pox out of the number 2 slot  I'll try to be an optimist though and say if this one wasn't good there's always an opportunity for the next one to be better.  Fingers crossed right?

(Follow up:  I spoke to a different physician this morning.  He seemed to think my mom was doing a little better, so perhaps that is a belated birthday gift.)