Ibuprofen and Whiskey

The temperature cooled off today--it was only 98 degrees. I just took a swig of Bushmills Irish Whiskey and 4 ibuprofen. Now I'm sitting naked on the couch with the fan blowing on me, a glass of water, and the computer on my lap.

I hadn't planned on neglecting my blog the last couple of days. It's just that my son, his partner, and their two kids showed up unexpectedly on Sunday. He had been living in Hawaii and recently moved to Santa Cruz--she has been in Colorado with the kids and all of a sudden they were all here in Chico.

Of course all of his siblings wanted to see him as much as possible so my house has been full of five adult children and their partners (ages 20 to 31) and 5 grandkids (ages 3 to 9). Besides them, I've been lugging my 84 year old mother who has Alzheimer's and can barely walk around to be part of the party and then to top it off, an old childhood friend showed up with her son.

My children tend to be loud and opinionated and very good at creating drama. They all finally left a few hours ago. Even though I was really happy to see both my son and his family, and also for everyone to have the opportunity to be together, it's been an intense few days that have lasted late into the night and I'm over the top worn out. Besides the physical exhaustion, visits like this always bring up lots of emotional stuff for me to sort through. Jerry just gave me a nice massage. The whiskey and ibuprofen should be kicking in and I'll be fine. I am fine. I love my family. They have good intentions and so do I. Everyone is longing for connection.

My computer power cord is broken and I have only so much time to spend on-line before it dies. I ordered a new one today but I may not have computer access until it arrives--if I'm lucky that will be tomorrow or the next day.

I thought this picture I found on the internet was a classic. Notice the countertop. Ah, the human condition.