Visit

I've been pondering in the WAY back of my mind how to write this as things did not go as we assumed and the last month grew into a bit more complicated of a month than expected.  Little did I know that things were already progressing as I typed my last post.  I will try to be as subtle as I can while still describing the events.

So as it turned out, I welcomed Jeremy's aunt and uncle rather franticly the day after his mom arrived in Canada.  Jeremy did not return with Carol from Ottawa as I had expected the night I wrote my last post.  He did finally return 6 days later and unfortunately, Carol never did get past the Ottawa hospital.  She had suffered a hemorrhage while flying here and was taken directly to the hospital in Ottawa upon landing.  She had side effects from it and was monitored in Ottawa for 12 days before a medical flight was arranged to take her to a hospital in Florida near her home.  Of course, Jeremy had stayed with her for several days and Howard, Marilynne and I drove down for a long weekend to visit.  We got to do just a little sight seeing on Saturday during non-visiting hours and went to the Canadian Museum of Nature.  Eventually, Jeremy decided to come home and then spent the next 6 days driving back and forth each day(a 2 hour drive one-way).  Howard, Marilynne and I drove down twice more with Jeremy to visit her.  She has since been released and is home and we are all hopeful with therapy, she will recover fully, but time will tell.  (Thanks Marilynne for the pictures!)

Thermal imaging - Jeremy's "bald spot"

Howard's "cold" nose

So, in the meantime, I spent the first week with Howard and Marilynne.  I tried to put some good meals together since that's what Jeremy and I would have done.  Sorry Howard for making you cook up the fish those few nights, but only a Licht can do that up!  I tried to meet them for lunch one day, but we had miss-matched times.  We spent the evenings chatting and taking Hayde out for a quick walk and preparing dinner and of course waiting by the phone for Jeremy's call with updates.  Once Jeremy was home and driving back and forth, he was able to take Howard out a few times in the early, cold, mornings to fish.  It sounded like they caught some fish.  Of course, we'd wait around at home in the evenings for Jeremy to make it home(usually between 9 & 9:30 pm) so we could get the latest update and make sure the rest of the family got updated.  I hope Howard and Marilynne had enough things to do amongst me working all day and Jeremy being gone all afternoon/evening, but it sounded like they were able to fill their time.  They stayed for the rest of the week once Carol had been flown back.  Jeremy took one more day off of work, but it sounds like this day was filled with one more thing on our list of things to do which I'll explain later.  We went out to eat at The Nook Creperie which is now our most favorite restaurant.  It was nice to have those last few days with a little less stress/commotion to spend with Howard and Marilynne.  They left on the 23rd and ended up spending just over 2 weeks with us and were even able to meet up with another couple they had met in some of their other travels.  I have to thank them for being here.  It sure helped me keep sane through those few weeks and to keep my mind and myself busy.  I just wish this trip for all of them could have gone a lot better.

On a happier note, here's what Jeremy did on his last day off(of course it's a stick-shift):

And, I'm still trying to gain confidence in driving it, but I'm doing ok.  In my next post I'll go into more detail on what we've acommplished in the last week and a half and more on my troubled work scene that's been at the top of my mind in the last 3+ weeks as well.