Visit with my family
This weekend we went up to Chicago to see my family. The trip itself was largely uneventful. Oliver continued his streak of being a very good car baby. There were a few rough spots, but all in all he passed through with flying colors.
Saturday the family gathered to watch the Notre Dame-Michigan game. This is quickly becoming a fun event since Lisa is a fervent Notre Dame fan and my brother is a rabid Michigan fan. I didn't end up seeing much of the game since I had to take Oliver out to see my mother's friends (and complete strangers), but the final result was a Notre Dame victory and an unhappy brother - the best of both worlds.
Fun mother story - Oliver doesn't make it up to Chicago very often. So whenever he does the proud grandmother wants to show him off to as many people as she can. On the way down the street from her office, she stopped in at a random shop to show off Oliver to someone that she does some small amount of business with. We stopped at the library that she volunteers at to show him off to some people she works with. We stop into Tag's Bakery to pick up a cake for his cousin's first birthday. While we are waiting for the cake to arrive, my mother finds out the name of the other grandmother type behind the counter and says that she has something to show her - Oliver.
While my brothers were there I took the opportunity to talk to them about my parents' future plans. My mother is going to turn 70 this year and my father is 68. Neither is in exceptional health - my mother has some ongoing back pain and my father has Spina Bifida. They are looking into a graduated retirement home. The idea is that you start with an assisted living space and move into the more care focussed areas as you require more assistance. From my conversation with my parents earlier this summer neither of my brothers was particularly thrilled with the idea. I offered up the trial balloon of my parents coming to live with one of us. But in talking to them, we all recognize that none of us is particularly well suited to having them come live with us. And my parents are only getting this as an option. We are all glad that my parents are taking steps while they still possess enough of their faculties to make an informed decision.
On another cheerful note, I talked to my parents about how I would go about setting up a will. It's not that I have a tremendous amount of property or anything, but now that we have Oliver, my wife and I need to make a decision in terms of who we would like to raise our child should something bad happen to us. I have a feeling that this will be a particularly difficult decision since we have a very different parenting style from any of our siblings. The one piece of advice that my parents passed on to me was that once we made our decision we didn't have to broadcast it beyond the necessary people.
Saturday the family gathered to watch the Notre Dame-Michigan game. This is quickly becoming a fun event since Lisa is a fervent Notre Dame fan and my brother is a rabid Michigan fan. I didn't end up seeing much of the game since I had to take Oliver out to see my mother's friends (and complete strangers), but the final result was a Notre Dame victory and an unhappy brother - the best of both worlds.
Fun mother story - Oliver doesn't make it up to Chicago very often. So whenever he does the proud grandmother wants to show him off to as many people as she can. On the way down the street from her office, she stopped in at a random shop to show off Oliver to someone that she does some small amount of business with. We stopped at the library that she volunteers at to show him off to some people she works with. We stop into Tag's Bakery to pick up a cake for his cousin's first birthday. While we are waiting for the cake to arrive, my mother finds out the name of the other grandmother type behind the counter and says that she has something to show her - Oliver.
While my brothers were there I took the opportunity to talk to them about my parents' future plans. My mother is going to turn 70 this year and my father is 68. Neither is in exceptional health - my mother has some ongoing back pain and my father has Spina Bifida. They are looking into a graduated retirement home. The idea is that you start with an assisted living space and move into the more care focussed areas as you require more assistance. From my conversation with my parents earlier this summer neither of my brothers was particularly thrilled with the idea. I offered up the trial balloon of my parents coming to live with one of us. But in talking to them, we all recognize that none of us is particularly well suited to having them come live with us. And my parents are only getting this as an option. We are all glad that my parents are taking steps while they still possess enough of their faculties to make an informed decision.
On another cheerful note, I talked to my parents about how I would go about setting up a will. It's not that I have a tremendous amount of property or anything, but now that we have Oliver, my wife and I need to make a decision in terms of who we would like to raise our child should something bad happen to us. I have a feeling that this will be a particularly difficult decision since we have a very different parenting style from any of our siblings. The one piece of advice that my parents passed on to me was that once we made our decision we didn't have to broadcast it beyond the necessary people.
posted by mypetrock at 12:00 PM
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