Cinnamon Rolls

Tuesday February 16, 1993

Awake from 6. I get up at 8. I start the laundry and lay around. I don't feel any energy at all. I continue to do the wash. By 1 p.m. I'm finally bathed, dressed and made up. Frank comes home from the valley. He's been laying cement at Marty's house. He brings me 1/2 his lunch, a turkey sandwich. He leaves for Newbury Park house to install smoke alarms. I go to the bank.

Rochelle called to see how I'm doing. She calls often.

I couldn't eat dinner but did manage to snack later. Penny Nay comes over at 7 p.m. she has made us some cinnamon rolls and wants us to eat them while they're hot. I'm unable to eat one new but Frank enjoys them.

I don't know who Penny Nay is, but I assume she was a neighbor since the cinnamon rolls were still hot. I do know who Rochelle is however. She is my Dad's sister-in-law, wife of his oldest brother Clyde. Even though my parents had been divorced for many years and had both remarried, Mom made a point of staying in touch with Dad's side of the family. In fact, when we would go down to visit her, she would take my brother and I and all our kids to visit Grandma Alda (Dad's mom) in an assisted living home. Grandma suffered from dementia so she didn't know who we were, but she enjoyed the company. She lived well into he 90s and outlived Mom, just as Grandma Helen (Mom's mom) did.

Surprise Wedding Reception for Gary & Maria

Saturday June 27, 1992

Up and get ready for Gary and Maria's wedding party. Frank helps me prepare the vegetables for the vegie tray. At 2:30 we go to Gary and Maria's for the trip to L.A. Her brother Ralph and Rita are giving the party.

They don't seem to be suspicious about my ice chest or big Mervyns' bag that holds the tray. We arrive at 3:45 and many are there to say surprise! Bob and Geri and Alda and my brother Gene, Marty and Kathy are There. The rest are Maria's family and friends. We have a good time and great food.

We're home about 9 p.m., tired.

Bob is my Dad and Geri is his wife. Dad's mother Grandma Alda was already well into her 80s, but in pretty good health still. She is pictured above with my brother Gary and my Mom at the party.

Chris & Ric Visit Her Dad

Sunday December 22, 1991

I'm up at 8 a.m. but very tired. We fix a big breakfast for Steve & Dee, then the rest as they slowly arrive from bed. Steve & Dee and Mom head home about 10:30. Mom goes only to Pasadena and will go home tomorrow.

Chris, Ric & Justin leave for Bob's house about 12:30. Frank and I go into high gear cleaning house and changing all linens on beds and baths and washing clothes. Big job.

At 5 p.m. we are finally cleaned up and ready to go to Turner's open house. We go but stay only an hour. At home later we fix left-over dinner for Chris, Ric and Justin. We all watch TV til 11:15.

No wonder Mom is tired after staying up past 1 a.m. the night before. Thank goodness she had a break from company for most of the afternoon, although it wasn't the least bit relaxing. Thank goodness Frank was right alongside her cleaning, vacuuming, making beds. He was a big help to Mom.

Ric, Justin and I went to visit my dad in Granada Hills for Christmas this day, as we did every year until they moved to the Colorado River near Parker, AZ after the Northridge earthquake in 1994. My mom and dad were married until 1972. They divorced when I was 19 and my brother Gary was 16. Dad (Bob) is pictured above with his mother Alda and two brothers George, on the left, and Clyde, on the right. It was Grandma Alda's 75th birthday party in July 1985 when this was taken.

Grandma Helen is still very independent in 1991. She drives her pick-up truck from Desert Hot Springs to Pasadena to stay with her son Gene Thomas and daughter-in-law Cathy Thomas, then drives the rest of the way to Mom's house in Simi Valley. She does the same routine going home. She was very blessed to have good health and outlive her daughter. She lived to the ripe old age of 89. Up until the last few years when she lived in an assisted living home, she was able to live independently.

Grandma Alda Lucky

Thursday May 16, 1991

What a beautiful day! I feed the birds. I feel terrific and have my usual small bowl of oatmeal and glass of OJ. I don't fool around too much. Must get ready to leave at 11 a.m.

Mother and I leave for Granada Hills. I'm to see the nurse practitioner about my blurred vision problem. There was a circle of lights around the blurred vision, I remember. The nurse examines me and she speaks to the doctor. She finds nothing but will refer me to opthamology. She is a large unfriendly woman. I don't like her.

After lunch (we share a salad) we visit with Mom Lucky. She is so happy to have visitors. She says she gets very lonely. She is very upset when I tell her about my cancer but I reassure her and she calms down. We talk about all her family. She likes that.

After dinner Frank and I attend a dance class meeting planning our graduation. Frank has brought me a card signed by all he works with and a book "Love, Medicine & Miracles" from a lady at work.

Mom is so generous with her time. Even though she has been divorced from my dad for almost 20 years in 1991, she still makes a point of going to see Grandma Alda, my dad's mother, pictured above with her 3 sons at her 75th birthday party in 1985 (from the left are my uncle George born in 1934, my Dad Robert born in 1932 and my uncle Clyde born in 1930). Grandma Alda never did drive (in her generation that was quite common) so my mom made a point of inviting her to the drive-in movies every time we went, or taking her shopping, and of taking us to visit her whenever we came down to visit from Santa Rosa. Grandma Alda lived well into her 90s, outliving her husband Lloyd by 25 years, but she suffered from dementia for the last 10 years or so and had to live in an assisted-living facility. She recognized no one from her family.