A Day in the Life of Me and Other Random Sh*t

So yesterday I was shopping, like half the world, for Christmas.  As I trudged my way through the stores, I listened to the Christmas music.  Festive right?  Well actually, I tried to hurry through each store because I was hoping and praying I would get out before one of the stores would play Jingle Bell Rock.  It was moms favorite.  She listened to it all year long.  I just didn't think I could handle hearing it.  Not this soon anyway.  So I went bustling around. When I arrived at Publix, I saw an old man getting out of his car................and BAM it was my dad!  well, not really my dad as he passed almost 21 years ago.  But you know how sometimes things just hit you.  So., this man was not fat, big and round and jolly like dad.  He wasn't bald (or crew cut, as dad called it, you cant have hair tickling your ears) and he didn't even have that signature handlebar moustache.  However, something just told me it was him....

We drove to port richey yesterday, which was about an hours drive.  why?  I woke up in the morning and just simply had to.  The drive at least gave me the opportunity to work on some crochet blankets as hubby drove............and talk.  Its a little easier this way as he is captive.  We had to stop on the way to buy some flowers for the graves.  Yes, port richey is where the cemetery is.  Visiting my dad, my mom and victors mom.  Victor always has to buy purple flowers as it was his moms favorite.  I used to get all different kinds for dad, but since mom only passed recently, I've only left flowers for her once.  We stopped at the store and Victor found his purple.  I looked for a while and decided on Christmas flowers, red poinsettia and gold sparkly poinsettia.  Even shopping for them was quiet and somber.  We drove the rest of the way to cemetery.  Its always been a bit hard for us, even before my mother pass...

So, tomorrow would have been my mother's 91st birthday.   Dec 5!  or as she would always say DECEMBER THE FIFTH.  Anytime someone asked her birthday, she always would reply, December the fifth!  She never "quoted" any other dates that way.  For instance, my birthday was always "March 28th", my husbands, "December 13th".  But when she talked about her birthday she meant business, DECEMBER THE FIFTH. After 50 years of celebrating December the fifth with her, tomorrow will be very somber for me, now that she has passed.  I think a million things at once, all because I have over a million memories.  Tomorrow would have been a day for my sister to bake her a cake or for me to bring her a pumpkin pie.  She would insist that she didn't really need anything, but bring some gifts for the girls (the cnas and the nurses).  I'd decorate her room and we would sing.  I would bring little gift bags for some of the staff.  Last ye...