Oh Thank God We're Home At Last!

Tuesday July 21, 1992

Home at last, home at last, Oh, thank God, we're home at last! Our bed felt soooo good last night. I really handled our 8 days away from home quite well, normal. But it's always good to get home. I spend most of the day doing the huge wash and changing linens and beds. At 12:00 I have my nails done. I cry when I tell Carrie-Lynn that I told Frank when I'm gone I want Gary to have the boat with the understanding that he invite Frank along sometimes. Frank said he knew that's what I wanted and he agreed. Sometimes I think I won't be around too many more years. Most of the time I believe I will be cured of my cancer.

We go out for Chinese dinner.



Mom is a real trooper, willing to sleep on the ground in the heat and the wind, willing to go without a shower for days and use a porta-potty up the hill from their campsite. I grew up camping with my family in the dirt, but a couple of years before this Ric and I had acquired our first truck and camper to pull our new (to us) boat, a 1986 Beachcraft which Ric finally hauled off to the dump just last month. From that time on we were spoiled and rarely sleep on the ground now. A few years later we bought our first motorhome and have bought newer and bigger ones since then. Then in 2003 we bought our first timeshare and now most of our vacationing is in nice condos with hot and cold running water and electricity. We still use our 1995 Rockwood motorhome sometimes where we keep it stored in a campground near Morgan Hill, south of San Jose, CA.

Mom has started to think about her death now, and planning what to do with her assets. Her Kona ski boat with 140 hp Mercury outboard motor was purchased new with my dad in 1971. Dad always kept it garaged and well-maintained, so it was in good shape. My brother Gary did inherit the boat, pictured above with my son Justin and his son Joe seated in the back, but I don't think he uses it much. As for going to Lake Don Pedro, this was Mom's last trip there, and the last time our family met there as well, with the exception of one trip in 2003 when Frank and his son Paul met Ric and I with our two boys at Lake Don Pedro. That time Frank was camping in the campground in his fifth wheel RV, with hookups (water and electricity). He brought two jet skis, and we brought our boat. We set up day camp on the shore, but never again camped out on the shore. Ric and I stayed at our new timeshare at Angels Camp, an hour's drive from the lake.