Well, it's my last day in New Jersey -- this time around, anyway. Funny to think it's over already, although at the same time I'm feeling ready to come back to Paris. Seems like my toleration limit for country life is about 10 days; after that I start getting antsy for the city again. Even my initial thrill of having the freedom of driving has been replaced by irritation with traffic and stupid drivers, as well as back pain from sitting in the car for too long instead of walking where I need to go.
This trip to New Jersey has, overall, been very nice, because I've been able to spend time with my family and also get to see a few (although not all) of my friends. However, not everything has gone as planned or anticipated.
Upsides of the trip: getting to see at least some of my dear "back-home" friends (which for me is always like a tonic for the soul). Going to my niece's school play (she was AWESOME and totally took my breath away!) Putting in a little quality time at stores like Target, DSW, and Kohl's (Georges' favorite brand of shirts, on sale for 50% off). The weather's been getting better every day, and I got to watch spring POP in full bloom here, which is a joy. Finally getting my new netbook, which I love so far. And being able to spend some time with my wonderful husband, and watching him get along so nicely with his new American family and friends.
Minor downers: I seem to have developed certain allergies since I was last here in the spring time, because the day the lawn care guys came to cut the grass, I had such a severe impact on my breathing that I thought I was having an asthma attack and it was horrible until I took some Benadryl.
Also, I'm fairly certain, although not 100% yet, that I'm not pregnant this month. Which really is not a huge surprise as our travels sort of got in the way of some of the "timing", if you know what I mean, but which is still a bit disappointing. I've had what I think is probably my usual pre-menstrual migraine, but the next few days will tell us for sure one way or the other. Still crossing my fingers for now, though, as are family and friends.
The not-according-to-plan part has been the part where my mother, who was all scheduled to have knee replacement surgery in two weeks, has just found out there's a bit of a cardiac issue to be dealt with first; a pre-op stress test shows some sort of "minor" (so we're told and so we hope) blockage in 1 or 2 places. She'll need a heart cath for them to check it out further, and if there's really something minor, they'll put in a stent (or perhaps two?); if it turns out to be a more severe blockage then they may opt to schedule her for bypass surgery, although it sounds like this is probably the more unlikely scenario. This discovery has meant rearranging some of our plans this week with little or no notice so we could be there to support my mom through additional doctor appointments, setting up other tests, canceling the original surgery and so on.
For instance, we'd planned to go to New York on Thursday. That didn't work out, so we tried to set it up for Friday. Then we realized that by the time we actually got into NYC, we'd have about 3 hours to enjoy ourselves before having to come right back again in order to make it to my niece's play. So one more time, we tried to arrange it for Saturday, only to find out they no longer run trains or buses on the weekends between this town (or any town within a 30-minute drive of this town) into New York. (Those bastards at NJ Transit must be trying to cut costs again.) Saturday was our last full day here, so we have just resigned ourselves to skipping a day in the city this time around; makes me wonder if I will EVER get to the Met again as it was closed the last two visits I attempted. In any event this is just one of several things I had planned and then had to re-plan, and not just because of my mother's situation; for whatever reason, scheduling get-togethers with some friends also proved a bit challenging and in some cases I wasn't able to pull it off at all. Also didn't get to see my nephew at all, as he's doing year-end finals at college and couldn't come home to see me (I'm only pouting a little about that).
Such is life though. Sometimes, shit happens and you just have to roll with it, and that's what we've done. This trip has reminded me that while it's good to have a plan when you travel (or any time in your daily life, for that matter), it's even more important to remain flexible when life throws you a curve ball. I could really care less about seeing New York, in comparison with being able to be there for my mom when she needed some extra support and help this past 10 days. In the long run, I know my mother will be OK and although she's a bit unnerved by the recent turn of events in her health, she's also a retired nurse and able to be practical about these things once she gets her mind around it all. I am seeing this as a possible blessing in disguise, us finding out she's got this thing which is at the moment "minor" but which would have gotten worse had no one detected it, and which could have proved disastrous if she'd had the original surgery without the doctors knowing there was a cardiac problem. The problem sounds like something that can be fixed and managed, and that after a short delay of a month or two, she could proceed with her knee surgery and then also get her mobility back.
So that she can finally get on a plane and come visit us in Paris. She's dying to come over (she loves Paris) and I'm dying for her to come, see our girl again and meet our two boys for the first time, and stay with us while we show her around the city. I'm hoping it is this thought that will give her an extra shot of something positive to focus on, while she is dealing with what's going to happen in the next few weeks or months.
I want her to come and see my new life. Because I love her and would like to share more of my life with her. And because since I've been back, she didn't make one single remark about my hair... and only once did she mention that I've gained weight (and that was only during our discussion of my risk factors for pregnancy so at least for once there was some sort of context for her pointing out that my ass is getting as big as a bateau-mouche). That sort of Herculean self-restraint on her part deserves a reward of a free Angelina's hot chocolate, don't you agree?
