On Friday, I took the day off of work because we were invited to Ruby and JR's for a swim day. Their kids and grandkids were going to be there too. It was nice to have some more time to get to know them. JR met at a gas station right off of the highway so we could follow him to their house because there was some railroad construction being done. That was very nice of him to do that.
I didn't know what to expect about their house because he kept saying how embarrassing it was how big it was. It was pretty big-a very large ranch with a full walk-out basement. It was also right on a river which was gorgeous. It was nice but it wasn't crazy fancy. You could tell though that they put a lot of money into it, and it was well thought-out.
When we got there, we met their daughter Angel, her daughter Cheyenne, their son Kevin and his girlfriend Tracy and his daughter Kassie. They were all friendly, especially the grandkids. Their kids reminded me a little of Dad's relatives. We had lunch because it was already about 1:30. They had a nice spread-deli meats, baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, chips, etc. I sat at their dining room table with the 4 kids and then Ruby joined us. Everyone else ate on the giant reclining couch and watched the Olympics. The Watts' kids and Dad ended up spending most of the rest of the day there.
After lunch, Ruby gave me a tour of their house. On one end of the house was their master suite with a huge bathroom with a urinal and a walk-in double shower. The furniture was all very modern-but nicer quality at the same time. There was a lot of stuff everywhere because Ruby said she hasn't felt up to picking up, decluttering for the past year which was understandable. The other end of the house had two bedrooms for their grandkids which included their own bathrooms. In the middle was an open kitchen, dining and living area. They had a lot of mirrored doors, etc. which made it seem even bigger.
There was a huge deck off the back and when you walked down the stairs there was a big patio and the pool. The basement was the office of their business at one point, so there were all kinds of desks, chairs, computers and a conference table down there. At each end of the basement there was a bedroom and a bathroom. I remember at our dinner with them he said he wanted to make sure that there were rooms for his kids if they ever needed them. There were slider doors all across the basement area as well as for each bedroom and the living area on the main level or upper level. There was even a spiral staircase from the basement to the upstairs which was cool too.
After lunch the kids went for a swim and Ruby, JR and I sat outside and watched them. Ruby also has COPD so she said she couldn't stay outside for long because of the humidity. She stayed out there for a good hour though. JR ran to get some gas for the golf cart (I forgot-that's the first thing that Carter noticed when we pulled up and he and the kids rode that right away). Ruby and I talked about all kinds of things. She also showed me her scar. I kept thinking to myself how amazing it was that something inside of her used to be in you and in me. We didn't talk about anything too profound that I remember.
The kids had fun swimming together-the pool wasn't huge but it was a good size and had a diving board and a slide. There was a karaoke machine with speakers that one of their grandkids plugged their phone into and played some music while they were swimming. After they were done, we went back inside. We decided to have dessert and I offered to help Ruby since her kids were fixated on the couch. I also offered to help her clean up after lunch which I think she appreciated. She had some store-bought pies that we cut up and served. I had some trouble with the first piece of chocolate pie that I cut and it was kind of messy and her daughter kind of complained about it which I found surprising and little bit rude. I am sure they are used to their mother waiting on them, but why won't they help her since her transplant? Geez!
While we were visiting in the living room, Ruby received a Facebook friend request from Nance (love her!) which a beautiful explanation of who she was and how she was like your second mom, etc. It was really nice. It made Ruby cry. Also, Lydia Kimball reached out to her. I was so proud that these special friends were connecting with her.
I think we sat around and talked a few different times. Overall, I wasn't too impressed with her kids. Her daughter mostly liked to complain and talk about her weight loss journey. Her son was ok, but talked a lot about himself as well. I think I liked the girlfriend most of all out of all of the adults (the grandkids were great) which is weird. Dad said no one talked much the whole afternoon when he was in there with them. He didn't want to go outside he said because it was too hot. I was a little annoyed that he sat inside all day in his giant bare feet on the recliner couch. Everyone else kept their shoes on. Anyway.
Later on I took a ride with Carter on the golf cart and then had time to walk down to the river which was beautiful and take a few pictures. The water was low but it was crystal clear. It was really nice.
Ruby kept talking about how she was looking forward to the service next Sunday at church that I invited her too. That should be nice. The whole thing is freaking me out a little though. We decided that we are ok with family coming but if they can't or don't want to, that's fine too. Like I think Nance will be out of town, my dad is going to be out of town, etc. I can talk more about that later-I don't want to digress.
Something else we talked about, I just remembered, was about how we haven't heard from any other recipients. I am ok with that, personally. I am happy with the contact from Ruby and it seems to fill that need to connect with one of them. I don't think there is anything wrong with the other people-maybe they are in different health situations, etc. It's a very overwhelming concept. I don't think the other people are being rude or anything. I don't see the need to put any pressure on them or anything or guilt them into connecting with us. Dad is so weird about everything. I think that's it for this post. Love you!
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