quikish update

 It has been an interesting few weeks.  It feels like so much has happened but when I think back nothing of importance.  

My friend Linda, the one with the SIL and nephew in jail for elder abuse against the MIL came to town last week to meet with the DA.  The nephew had a bail reduction trial and they lowered it from $100K to $25K.  She said nephew called the next day when he hadn't once called since everything went down.  Her husband refused to talk to him but Linda was all about asking him what the hell he could possibly want from them now of all times.  I mean, we all know he was wanting them to pay the $2,500 bond but he wasn't going to ask her.  She has always been the bad guy in their eyes.  He ended up hanging up on her.  He is still in jail so that speaks volumes.  They did get a restraining order for the houses they were living in and destroyed so if he did get out he would have no place to go.  

She packed up a bunch of the stuff from the mom's house and still can't figure out what they did with all of the money.  Over $100K of it was taken out of the bank via in person withdrawals.  I just can't even imagine burning through that kind of money in a matter of months and having nothing at all to show for it.  The good thing is MIL is doing ok in the facility they have her in and is probably better taken care of than she has been since her stroke.  When she spoke to the DA he told her to be glad they found someone else to take the niece because she would have destroyed their family.  From the bits and pieces it sounds like he has heard some the conversations from the phone calls from jail.  He told her she is starting to create issues (not sure if it's the mom or the kid) in the cousin's home and to not feel guilty for putting her in the system when she has to find someplace else to go.  It's really sad because I know going to live with Linda would have probably been the only chance of a somewhat normal life she ever had.  

On a completely different front, Linda has been talking about getting a tattoo for years.  I told her we needed to go see if they had any walk in openings at 'my' studio.  They didn't but she has an appointment for the Sunday before memorial day.  She told her to put us down for 2 because she owes me something big for a belated 50th birthday present.  You know I'm down but no clue what I want.  I'm kind of thinking about a funky shoe from fluevog since for her birthday I flew to DFW and went shopping with her at the new store there.  I have a couple of weeks.

My other friend news (because I literally only have like 3 irl friends), Brooke is still waiting for surgery.  She went for pre-op on Monday and the cancer marker blood test was still over 400 when the max is supposed to be 0.38.  The best case scenario is the tumor is contained to the mass.  She is doing pretty good considering.  Her husband also works for the corps so I have emailed him some to find out how they are really doing.  I need to figure out a care package to send her.  My first instinct is to send her some bamboo pjs but 1) the tumor is in her stomach and so large they will have to open her up to get it as it is way too large for orthoscopic so she will probably be wearing a mumu for awhile and 2) no clue what size to get when you know someone is getting a 20+ pound mass removed.  If things go as planned she will have surgery May 26.

And to round out the depressing trifecta I attended a funeral for a cousin yesterday.  She was 2 years older than me, which is so funny to think about because her and her sisters were always the cool older kids that I could only aspire to hang out with someday.  So funny how age puts two years into perspective.  Her husband found her dead on the kitchen floor early Thursday morning.  They think she had a heart attack in the night.  The funeral was brutal but I did my ADD mental gymnastics to disassociate as best I could and made it through without being an emotional wreck.  I was talking to Brooke on the way home about it and how the music that was popular when we grew up shouldn't be allowed in the memorial videos.  I haven't been to many funerals of people around my age and when they played STP and Chris Cornell it really caught me off guard and almost knocked me out of my disassociative state.  This is when Brooke told me that she had her music picked out and that she had everything written down in a yellow notebook and if anything happens to her to make sure her husband uses it.  I 'laughed' it off and told her that he needs to put the notebook in a safety deposit box or fire safe for when he will need it.  So she told me that last weekend she felt the need to write everything out and if something happens she has it all there and that her husband has a letter she wrote to me and to not let him forget it.  Luckily we were texting - I was putting gas in my car, and I full on ugly cried so hard I thought I was going to puke.  Hell I am crying just writing about it.  I just can't go there.

Enough of that

It isn't all doom and gloom.  I bought my plane ticket for NYC in October and made hotel reservations for a hotel in Times Square.  My older sister and her husband are going.  I have never traveled with them before so that makes me a little nervous.  Our flights are the same time, I am sitting behind one of them and our hotel is at the same location but if it all goes to hell I can do my own thing.  She is supposed to buy tickets for & Juliette for us but that is the only firm plan.  I could do the entire time on Broadway but I'm not sure I will want to once I get there.  I joined a Reddit group and found out the shows that have rush tickets and can always go to more if I choose once I get there.  My biggest fear is that my bougie sister will want to eat at michellan star restaurants for every meal.  Not sure my budget can handle that.  

Tomorrow I have my normal follow up rheumatology appointment and a long overdue hair day.  I am ready to get this blue out of my hair.