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.