A trip to remember

One week from today my mom is having gastric bypass surgery. I'm so excited for her. She's been trying for a long time to get this surgery, and it's finally happening. The only thing is, it's happening in Monterey. And it's happening on Donny's birthday. In an effort to get him to look at the bright side I pointed out that this way he gets his birthday in Monterey.

The whole family is going down on the first. That night we're having a picnic on the beach to celebrate. (Of course, mom can only have clear liquids that day, so no picnic food for her.) I'm taking sandwich fixings and pasta salad, and maybe some fruit. A friend of ours who's going to be in the area that week is joining us for the picnic. It should be a nice little party.

The next day we have to be up bright and early since mom's scheduled to go into surgery at 7:30 a.m. We haven't been told what time to arrive, but I would guess somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30. (This is why we're not waiting to that day to drive over.) After mom comes out of surgery and we know that all went well I'm leaving the hospital to take Donny to celebrate his birthday. My dad will stay there until sometime in the evening, and then he's coming home.

Donny and I are staying in Monterey until my mom is discharged from the hospital. I told my mom that there was no way that I was going to have her laying in the hospital without any family near by to help her. I can't handle that.

The biggest problem in all of this is paying for a trip to Monterey. Even with finding a p;lace to stay that only $50 a night we're still looking at about $200 for a room. Which is why I'll be packing an ice chest with food. We simply can't afford to eat out, so we're doing this the redneck way. Not only am I bringing food, but there's dishes to consider. And Donny's bringing the toaster oven so that we can cook. Which means we need to take dishes for cooking. And don't forget the potholders. And dishsoap, a week without it is an awful thought.

And all of this is why packing feels like we're moving. I may feel like a redneck, but there's absolutely no way that my mom is getting left in a hospital with no family there for her. Not on my watch.