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Saturday December 26, 1992

I awake feeling very sluggish. It's hard to get ready. We leave for Gene and Cathy's about 11 a.m. We will have lunch with them and leave mother so they can drive her home tomorrow. I'm really tired and my chest hurts by the time we leave at 3 p.m. When we get home I lay on the couch, chilled and ill all afternoon and evening.

It is about a 45 minute drive from Simi Valley to Pasadena and another 100 miles from Pasadena to Desert Hot Springs where Grandma Helen lived in her mobile home in a golf course community. Grandma was in her 80s by now but insisted on living independently in her mobile home. Her mother, my Grandma Johnson, lived a long life until she was 101 by walking everyday, and Grandma Helen enjoyed swimming every morning in the community pool. I think I have a little of both of them in me. I enjoy hiking, but I love to spend time in the pool too. I think I must have been a dolphin in a previous life!

Desert Hot Springs, CA

Tuesday August 4, 1992

We have another huge breakfast. No lunch needed again today. We're on our way about 10 a.m. across the nothing-to-see desert. We arrive at Mother's at 1 p.m. She seems to be doing fine. No worse than May. The house could stand a good cleaning. She needs to hire someone for that. She isn't able. We stay til 4 p.m. and then start home, stopping at the outlet to shop some. By 8:30 we are home. Home Sweet Home! It's always good to get home! Smokey and the dogs are sooo glad to see us.

Thank you, Lord, for seeing us safely through our journey. And thank you for allowing me to feel so good.

Grandma Helen lived in a very simple single mobile home in a park in Desert Hot Springs, California, very similar to the one pictured above. She lived there for many years with her husband Al Richardson after selling the home in Pacoima where they had lived their entire marriage and where my mother grew up with Grandma Helen and Grandpa Jerry. Grandpa Jerry died in 1954 of lung cancer. Grandpa Al died in his sleep in 1986. Grandma outlived both husbands and her daughter by several years, but her health deteriorated as she reached her mid-80s. She enjoyed being independent and having her own home to do as she pleased. She enjoyed being able to drive herself around. She lived very simply on her social security check. Once she was unable to take care of herself and started having health problems, my Uncle Gene and Aunt Cathy put her in an assisted living home situation. Grandma Helen hated losing her independence. She passed away at the ripe old age of 89, still young compared to her mother, my Great-Grandmother Johnson who lived to 101.

I love the way Mom thanks the Lord for seeing them safely home and for giving her good health during their journey. I have talked to other people who have experienced a life-threatening illness and it was told it made them appreciate their blessings all the more, not knowing how much time they had left.

Looking At Old Pictures

Wednesday February 26, 1992

We're up early and off to Mothers in Desert Hot Springs to do some repairs. We have a nice ride down except for wind. It's not windy at Mom's. She takes us out to lunch.

Frank is putting in a kitchen cabinet. I call the lady who has mother's chair for re-upholstering. She had promised 2 weeks and has had it more than 2 months. I tell the woman I work for LAPD in Bunko Department. She promises the chair for next Saturday and insists we come look at what she has done.

Mother and I spend time looking at old old pictures. It's good time together.

At Mom's place about 2 p.m. I have a serious lasting chest pain on the left side. It scares me.

On the way home we stop at Loma Linda Hospital to visit Frank's Uncle Ricky. We see all the aunts and uncles.

OK, I am laughing out loud right now! The Bunko Department??? You have got to be kidding! Do they even call it that? This just does not sound like my mother at all.

Hearing that Mom spent the day looking at old photos with Grandma Helen just touches my heart since I have been workingi on putting together photo albums all year. I have photos that date back to 1934 when Mom was born and even a few older ones from the 20s of her parents. Her Grandma Johnson came to the United States from Sweden around the turn of the 19th century as a teenager, and I even have one photo of her taken around that time. To be able to sit down with my children and share these photos and the memories that go along with them is my dream. The above photo was taken of Mom around 1942. She looks to be around 7 or 8 years old.

I hope Mom is going to make a doctor's appointment to check out her heart. That chest pain sounds pretty serious.