The Bible

 Finally…arrived at Jeanne’s in Murrieta, CA. The drive from Vegas was gnarley at best. The congested traffic was unbelievable on I 15 and it only got worse in Victorville, down the Cajon Pass into San Bernardino and Riverside. I
used to deal with it when I lived and worked here. I couldn’t do it again. Anyway, it’s so delightful to see Jeanne and I think she and Alene will get along just fine.  They spent an hour or so on Jeanne’s back patio visiting while I unloaded the car and walked DanaRiley. We had take-out Italian for dinner and there’s enough for another dinner and lunch. It was delicious. 

Alene experienced more confusion today than the last couple of days. She couldn’t remember things, seemed a bit disoriented and we’ve lost her toothbrush. The only place I didn’t check to look for anything we may be leaving behind before we left the hotel this morning, was the trash. Thankfully Jeanne has extras. 

So, last night after I posted to this blog, we spent about an hour talking about life and death, religion, spirituality and prayers said in our families before meals when we were kids. This came up because, as in most hotel rooms, there’s a Holy Bible in the nightstand drawer. In this hotel, there was also The Book of Mormon. I asked her if she wanted to read from one of them. She said no, but asked me to read something to her from the Bible. I picked something from the front of the book and as you’ll see from the picture below, it guides you to the verse to read:

There were a couple she paused on before nodding to have me continue. When I read the last one, 

Are You…Considering Suicide?, she stared into space for a couple minutes, looked at me and said no, that she’d never do that. It wasn’t said in a mean or sarcastic tone at all, just very contemplative. It’s almost as though some light went on in her head. She didn’t remember any of it this morning. 

She was quite worried last night that she’d missed my birthday  I said no, but just in case she missed the next one, I asked her to sing HB to me and I’d record it and I could play it on my birthday. She was also convinced my birthday is on 9/17 - it’s not. She said several times “ are you sure?”  I gave in and agreed with her and thanked her for remembering. I’ll treasure these videos!

DanaRiley had a bad night. She’s about done with the car and her tummy was upset. She had me take her outside three times after midnight to pee and poop, and we were on the third floor of the hotel. We walked and walked looking for a grassy area for her to do her business. The thing about Las Vegas is that there isn’t grass anywhere in commercial areas and hardly any in residential communities. DanaRiley wants to poop on grass. She did okay on the drive today, but was she ever happy to have Jeanne’s backyard with a plush green lawn!

My night was equally as bad, but for a different reason.🤪 Yesterday morning Alene and I stopped for gas and got a cup of coffee. They didn’t have decaf so I got regular and drank a little more than half.  I’ve been caffeine free for over 5 years. When we turned off the light a bit before 10:00 pm last night, I was tired but not sleepy.  Between the caffeine and DanaRiley, I slept for about 4 hours. So tonight, I’m tired and sleepy and I’m looking forward to a deep slumber. 

When asked today, Alene was 63, I was 51 and DanaRiley was 5. She was most surprised about DanaRiley’s actual age of 12. 

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