Maintenance & Restoration

john warren · 01-23-2013, 01:42 PM

the last two months have been ,,well, quite frankly hell for us. my father-in-law (88y.o.)fell and hurt himself and was in and out of the hospital and rehab in wisconsin for two months.finaly about two weeks ago he just had all he could stand and told them he didn't want any more medicines, he was ready to die. of course we have been making the trek there for two months now from michigan, and everyone in the family went again to be with him in his final hours. it was a loving family circle and his passing was gentle and happy . for us of course not so much.
the same day he decided he wanted no more medicine, my dearest aunt had a stroke. of course during this two months we dealt with the normal as we couold make it thanksgiving, and christmas and new years. quite hektic to say the least. well we held his service last weekend and everything is calming down,,,sort of. my daughter is getting married in vegas in march.
well, i am wore out and just want to throw my wife in the camper and run away for a weekend.lol nope, won't be able to do it for at least a few more weeks,,,i might just sleep in it in my driveway this weekend.
well i hope everyone elses life is running at least a little smoother then ours has been.
see you out there on the road sometime, john

Ed Harris · 01-23-2013, 01:59 PM

John
I feel your pain.

My Father has been in the Hospital here since before XMas and on and off before that since before Turkey day.
Luckily they have the pain mostly under control for now but we have no real sight of an end at this point either.

I have reservations in Florida in a few weeks and it is a day to day decision right now whether I will end up going or not.

Getting Old can Suck whether just watching or aging?

Good Luck,it has to get better......I think.

Ed

john warren · 01-23-2013, 02:05 PM

well, im 61 so you have to figure everyone in my family is aging too. actually jack was our last parent . you think your ready,,,but you never can be. wil pray for your family ed.

**Jim Bennett** · 01-23-2013, 02:22 PM

John, sorry to hear of all your woes.

Once I hit 50, I found it starting to happen, all the next generation ahead of us starting to have lots of ailments, and lots passing away. I went through a 1 year period like yours a few years back where my mother-in-law, as well as my father and both his brothers, all passed away, as well as a couple other close relatives and friends of that age. Combined with a bunch of family and friends with varying degrees of injury and illness, it all in all made for a period of lots of stress.

Fortunately, this kind of stuff has diminished a whole lot in the last couple years. I imagine it will for you in time. Hang in there, life has a way of working things out for the better, despite the few downward turns.

Kevin A · 01-23-2013, 04:18 PM

Sorry to hear about your family tragedies, John. Our thoughts are with you guys.

Ed Harris · 01-23-2013, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john warren

well, im 61 so you have to figure everyone in my family is aging too. actually jack was our last parent . you think your ready,,,but you never can be. wil pray for your family ed.

Thanks
We need all we can get.
I appreciate the good thoughts.
Ed

Mike Magee · 01-23-2013, 06:29 PM

So sorry for all the stresses and problems. Sometimes all one can do is keep the chin up, and hold one nostril above water, till it gets better. And it will! You'll see.

ruscal · 01-23-2013, 07:12 PM

John,
Sometimes we just feel like we can't take any more bad news. The older we get the more frequently we have to deal with this stuff. Many of us are at an age when we are taking care of parents and kids, not to mention our own health issues that have a way of increasing as we progress through life. We are all in this together. Each day I awaken to worries about the state of things, but amazed about the courage others more unfortunate than I exhibit every day. That courage that lives in others helps me do what I do each day. It takes perseverance to get things behind us, and then we get to go spend a weekend away in our RVs that have a way of removing us from the daily tasks. Even for a few hours it helps reset our outlooks. I have found it's hard to look at a Scamp and not smile.
Chin up,
Russ

**Pam Garlow** · 01-23-2013, 07:21 PM

getting old.. somehow we can't escape that one. I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. I'm sure that you have some wonderful memories. And with your Scamp, you're making a lot of new ones too.

Donna D. · 01-23-2013, 07:22 PM

Life is painful at the beginning of life... at least for the Moms and painful at the end of life for the entire family. It's the inbetween where we find our pleasure and make memories to last the rest of our lives. Hold on to those memories John, the rest will wash away with time. And, I think the idea of driveway camping sounds grand. Once you go inside and shut the door... you can imagine you're anywhere you'd like to be.

Alf S. · 01-23-2013, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Life is painful at the beginning of life... at least for the Moms and painful at the end of life for the entire family. It's the inbetween where we find our pleasure and make memories to last the rest of our lives. Hold on to those memories John, the rest will wash away with time. And, I think the idea of driveway camping sounds grand. Once you go inside and shut the door... you can imagine you're anywhere you'd like to be.

Hi: Donna D... John can imagine he's anywhere he'd like to be...but he'll still be left out in the cold!!!
John..."To everything, turn! turn! turn! there is a season, turn! turn! turn! and a time to every purpose under heaven". The Byrds(1965)
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

Marinab · 01-24-2013, 12:09 AM

John, did you know that January 26 is 'Camp at Home Day'?

Not that any of us need an excuse to camp out in our trailers. Marina

honda03842 · 01-24-2013, 07:29 AM

Ginny and I just read "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom, a marvelous little book even for the non-religious. (Mitch is a talented sports writer famous for "Tuesdays with Maury".

Part of the book mentions becoming "first in line" to die. Ginny and I are both first borns and now the oldest members of our respective families. Now we recognize we're first in line, rather interesting to ponder.

Over our 12 year, retired RVing lives we've had to respond to 4 or 5 family medical emergencies, causing us to divert from our rather loose travel plans. It has never been a concern, just part of life and death. Actually being RVers it has permitted us to take our little rig to the location of the need and to be of service from our RV, a nice side bar to being an RVer.

On the whole being an RVer has made for a more relaxed life yet at the same time allowed us to spend more time where needed and allowed us to spend time with long distant children and grandchildren. One neat part of the RV is you can travel 3000 miles, be close yet not intrusive thru your RV.

We wish John and everyone well and may these sad events be minimal and encouragement to find peace and joy in their lives.

Safe travesl to all, through life and on the road,

john warren · 01-24-2013, 07:33 AM

interesting bit, jack loved camping, he would go out in the woods and set up camp,, make coffee and porkchops on his old coleman stove. he wasn't fishing,,,or hunting,,, just sitting in the woods drinking coffee and eating porkchops. lol
in his last days he asked me to take his old coleman, when i got home i put it in our scamp, we will cook porkchops on it every time we go camping from now on.
i also hung a picture of him from a hunting trip we took in the u.p.back in 74. (thats 1974 you smart alecks,,,not 18) he was wearing his old wool red plaid pants, and his "stormy" hat. he grew up in the u.p.
so really,,,jack will travel with us from now on, every where we go.

rgrugg · 01-24-2013, 09:45 AM

For you non-Michiganders, U.P. is Michigan talk for upper peninsula and John, since you're 61 you could take your social security at 62 and retire. Both Grace & I took ours at 62 and haven't regretted it. I did some calculator work at the time and figured it would take 16-17 years to start falling behind what we'd have collected compared to waiting to 65 to collect. We thought it was a gamble worth taking. It was and is. We don't regret what we did. Looking forward to seeing you again at Algonac this year. And Norm & Ginny...my wife is the oldest of 7 children and she has outlived the other 6. The "natural" order didn't apply here.

john warren · 01-24-2013, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgrugg

For you non-Michiganders, U.P. is Michigan talk for upper peninsula and John, since you're 61 you could take your social security at 62 and retire. Both Grace & I took ours at 62 and haven't regretted it. I did some calculator work at the time and figured it would take 16-17 years to start falling behind what we'd have collected compared to waiting to 65 to collect. We thought it was a gamble worth taking. It was and is. We don't regret what we did. Looking forward to seeing you again at Algonac this year. And Norm & Ginny...my wife is the oldest of 7 children and she has outlived the other 6. The "natural" order didn't apply here.

yes and i just may retire soon, june perhaps. devon, my wife isn't quite ready. so i may hang out till she decides to go. she wants to buy a new car in june and work just long enough to pay it off. that way we would have two good vehicles paid off. if i decide to stay another 5 years, i would actually retire with a raise counting ssi,lol. but since my retirement is based on my investments,,,i can go when ever i want.

honda03842 · 01-24-2013, 07:35 PM

I'm certain the natural order doesn't always follow but it tells us we're in the ballpark. In fact since we began RBing our general health had been better though the number of everyday aches increases yearly.

For all those waiting to retire to accumulate 'one more' piece of stuff....another car, a bigger trailer...

Forget it. Time is the limit. You can not earn more of it. As well be sure, at least on average, you will be less well in the future.

Time together, wandering thru life is, in a sense, the stuff of Lewis and Clark. In reality the continent is almost as unknown to each of us as it was to them.

We will never regret hiting the road early. When we retired we were making more per year than we've spent in the first 10 years on the road.

The road hss been beyond wonderful and joyful. Simply our time together for the last 12 years has been priceless.

Hazel in Sk · 01-24-2013, 07:58 PM

John - sorry to read of the death in your family. It is hard to say goodbye and walk on without their presence. It doesn't seem to make any difference whether the person dies suddenly or slowly - there is always a hole left in the lives of the rest of the family. I wish you joy in your memories and in your camping with the old Coleman.