On the Eve

Mom and her 3 sons,
Enid, Oklahoma
1950-ish

I'll (probably) be on hiatus for a few days. Tomorrow morning, fairly early, Joyce and I are leaving for western Massachusetts to join my brothers and other family in the celebration of the 96th birthday of my mom, born on September 9, 1919. Prudence Estelle Osborn Dyer.

As I've written before, she's now living in the assisted-living unit of a stages-of-care place in Lenox, Mass., not far from my brothers but far for Joyce and me--about 560 miles, a drive each way of some ten hours, usually more (I do not speed).

I am--as some of you know--ferociously regular about some (most?) things, and so in all likelihood we will stop tomorrow at our customary places. We don't go I-90, by the way, until the final leg in Massachusetts (for which there's no toll): We're too cheap. So we take a half-hour longer and do the I-80, I-81, I-84, I-87 (toll--but not that much), I-90 route. So, here are our stops:

• 1st Ohio Turnpike Plaza east of Streetsboro (where we get on the 'pike): coffee.
• Clarion, Penn. (McD's just off the exit--coffee and/or Diet Coke; switch drivers, Joyce taking over)
• Snowshoe, Penn. (rest area on I-80: we'll do what people do at a rest area)
• Buckhorn, Penn.: gasoline, some snacks (I'll get some granola bars; switch drivers)
• Lord's Valley, Penn. (McD's: I'll get a parfait)
• New Baltimore, N.Y. (rest area on I-87 NB; Starbucks)
• Becket, Mass. (my brothers' place in the Berkshires)

So ... if you want to wait for us at one of those places, we'll be there.

Last year we were able, with the help of the assisted-living place, to get her to a nearby restaurant for a birthday lunch; I'm not sure about this year. She's even less mobile than she was then--cannot really do anything physical without considerable help. But we'll see.

The long trips are hard on me now for various reasons that I've written about here before--mostly because of the Lupron I've been "enjoying" for a little more than two years now.

But I will have Joyce beside me. And we will laugh. And talk about books. And do other nerdy things, And enjoy the Alleghenies and the Catskills and the Adirondacks and the Berkshires. And then join with my family to celebrate a most remarkable life.