Written 2025-09-15 (w2389d1).
It's been thirteen weeks since I've updated, and so much has happened in that time period. The last three weeks in particular have been particularly difficult.
My mom fell on Thursday, August 21st, had to go to the hospital and then a physical rehab facility, from which I am picking her up today. She didn't break anything, but she hit her head and is having some short-term memory issues that may require more care than I can provide. We're giving her a trial run back at home, but also looking into some assisted living facilities.
Our cat Barclay (aka Barc), who was a family pet for 15 years and my partner and I had taken over his care in mid-January, had to be put down on Sunday, September 7th after having three seizures in 9 hours; the third of which he had in the emergency vet clinic was particularly brutal and made him completely out-of-sorts. They thought he had a brain tumor and would require neurology visits and more medication, and at over 16 years old and already with health problems, we felt it was time to let him go. We buried him on Friday, September 12th.
My mom also has another family pet, Kirk (aka Cookie), who I've been going over to visit every day since Mom went to the hospital. My partner and I brought him to our home yesterday, Sunday, September 14th, after a quick trip to Chelan for a friend's wedding, which we left for right after burying Barclay on Friday morning.
I've also spent the night multiple times in my empty childhood home, mostly to keep Cookie company and take care of him. The house has fallen into disrepair, and I've had to sleep in the hospital bed located in the living room that my dad used before he passed in early 2024, and my mom uses because she doesn't like sleeping in her bedroom anymore. It's been a surreal and unsettling experience, and I've tried to make the best of it that I can.
It feels like some sort of normalcy is returning, but it could just be a matter of not being prepared for what's next. I'm not sure how long we have with Cookie, because he has advanced heart disease, hyperthyroidism, asthma, he's overweight, and he's 16 years old. I've got the meds and the skills to apply them which will help him with these things, but only time will tell; death comes for us all.
I'm also not sure if Mom will be able to maintain things at home, or even feed herself properly, so I might have to expedite the process of getting her into an assisted living facility that she can afford.
I've also tried to work on a remix album using the stems from Shattered Memories, especially now that the 4th track, Conversing with Ghosts, has received some international love from the Spotify algorithm. As you may guess, it hasn't been going especially well with all that's going on. I've gotten the opportunity to work on things for an hour an a half once a week (maybe) for the past few weeks, but I might have more time to work on it now that things are settling down.
I also have another new album I want to work on that's also in the style of "Shattered Memories," but who knows when I'll get to that.