Basements, Losing Sitters, and HOME

Sunday was another grey day. Dad keeps opening the basement door for the poor little kitty to have its heart desire and go down into the basement. He and I keep discussing this, and he always agrees that the cat doesn't need to go into the basement - it's unfinished, it's dusty, there was a big leak and mold is a problem in one corner, and the cat doesn't need to get into the mold. There's a break in the wall for pipes, and it leads to a dirt floor. He always agrees the cat doesn't need to get into that stuff. And he still opens the door every time that stupid cat mews at it.

About 1:00 a.m. Dad woke up. I heard him pouring the urinal out. Then he talked to the cat, told it where to get on the bed. About 1:15 he was up again in the bathroom. I have no clue what was going on there, but he went back to bed quickly. He would have been highly offended if I'd gotten up to check on him.

One of my sitters came over to visit today, and she had wonderful news for herself and bad news for me. She's moving to Oklahoma. This is, IMHO, an absolutely wonderful thing for her. For my Dad, it's the pits. This is the sitter that he adores. She can relate to him and handle him like no other. She is fond of him and will take the time to do things for him that he will accept from her and no other.

Fortunately, I still have my back-up sitter, and there are nieces and other sisters in the family, so it doesn't seem that sitters will be a problem. This is the best thing in my life right now. These gals all work together, and it's an extended family. This only child with cousins far-flung and none close that can help appreciates that more than anyone can know. I might just fall apart if my sitter network disappeared.

At this point in time, whenever I read articles from people preaching about everyone should only have one child to help solve the world's problem, I'd like to pick their probably young butts up and plop them down in the middle of my situation and say, "Go for it."

For a few days, I'm home in Memphis with Max for a few days, and it's like heaven on earth.