Finally a Week Alone

With the world shut down last year, very few vacations were made by anyone. It has been getting increasingly difficult for my parents to get away anyway, and they weren't able to go on any of their regular trips. The year is half complete, but they were able to leave last week Sunday afternoon and returned yesterday evening.

The challenge for my parents is finding enough coverage for me when they normally are responsible. Five hours every evening and weekend days are hard to fill for several days in a row. However, for this week, one caregiver agreed to do three nights, my aunt and uncle two nights, grandmother and aunt one night, and another occasional helper Saturday evening. It's a precarious house of cards, but the plan allowed them to be free of the house.

Sunday and Monday evenings were my aunt and uncle for three hours, and one of my older, retired, helpers was going to cover the remaining two hours. Unfortunately, she was sick, and unable to come, but my relatives were okay with staying longer and my day helper Sara covered one of the two-hour slots.

It was a great weather week in Iowa. Part of my household chores was watering flowers and tomato plants in various locations. I made sure they had good drinks and monitored the plants on the deck for at least 30 minutes a day. It meant sitting in the sun and enjoying the outdoors, but I was willing to make the effort.

Living as a bachelor, I tried a few new, and old, recipes for supper and found another option I think my parents would also like. Saturday evening came, and the scheduled caregiver didn't come at her expected time. Calling her, I discovered she wasn't aware she had been scheduled and was already busy with something else. Sara had already been with me for ten hours, but my helper that was feeling ill early in the week was well enough to come and sit with me until my parents returned.

In the quad life, some days get challenging and I have to quickly adapt and come up with solutions. I'm thankful my parents could get away again as they enjoy. The caregiver that helped three evenings is scheduled for surgery in a few days and won't be available again for a few months. Therefore, if they didn't go this past week, my parents may not have been able to go at all.

Now that everything has returned to normal, it's time to get back to other projects. However, those will be saved for future entries.