Updates on family...

I had been told before that the only way to know for sure if someone had Alzheimer's was to run a test after the person had died. I didn't think it made much sense because people are all the time "diagnosed" with Alzheimer's. And it's not true. Because, now, my grandfather has been diagnosed with it, after they ran some test concluding that part of his brain is just mush.

For years they have been saying it was "just dementia," even before my grandmother died. She used to say he had something wrong with his brain. And that was 5 or 6 years ago. So he has been getting worse... worse, and worse. To give you an idea, he can no longer remember the numbers on a clock. He used to know when it was time to eat by reading the time, and he can't read the time. He knows that he's 88, and he knows that it's summer. Apparently he remembers Pat (my aunt) because she takes care of him, but I'm not sure he knows her name. And they said sometimes he gets violent. Pat is currently taking care of him at her house, but said that as soon as he hits her that he's going to have to go (into a care facility.) There's no way she could handle that anyway, her body is frail now too. But she's also said she won't be able to take care of him once he starts needing diapers.

I can't tell how my mom is handling this. She seems so detached--and she knows he doesn't remember her. I'm not sure if she wants to go back and visit him or not, at this point. I just know that she hasn't visited much (only once, I think the months ago) and that she doesn't seem to call Pat very much about it. Mostly we only hear updates when Pat actually calls her.

In other news...

No more updates about Brett and Brittany getting married... which is unfortunate, a little, considering their current situation. Brittany wasn't ever much interested in going to school, she couldn't make up her mind what to do (post-secondary, we're talking about) but just had some interest in planning weddings or cake decorating or photography... what a girl. But my brother decided to leave music education for business/finance, but then stopped now, as he's had an offer to manage a store at the restaraunt he's been working at for a few years now.

He took that offer, and is now staying in a beach town in NC, running that little store for the summer, where business is really booming with all the tourists. (It's a pretty popular chain, especially on the eastern side of this state, and the store he's running is about 4th or 5th in revenue right now in the state--out of about 80-90 stores.) Brittany has gone with him. They both had apartments leased for school in the fall, in a county 2 hours away, and until this weekend were living in a hotel in another town that wasn't too close to where they're working, unfortunately. But now they're able to rent this little trailer (they call it a shack) through one of the people that help buy these stores for new managers. So they've just moved in, apparently it's really small. And, of course, they're living together.

She's really helping him as he runs this store--he's doing the managerial end and running the cookline, while basically she's in charge of waitstaff. And both of them are really good at their jobs. I hope for their sake they can get it to work out. And too, that they can commit themselves to each other as they have to this business.

My sister has finally moved out to the sticks and is having trouble getting internet, apparently. And I heard their house was dirtier than they thought so they're spending extra time to clean up. I haven't heard how much they love it and all... she's thinking about taking another job that's not so far from where they live, now. To give an idea...
G'boro----Mebane---RTP-Cary
He works in Greensboro, she works in Cary atm, and they live equidistant between the two... about a 45 min drive... sans traffic. But if she's commuting in the morning she has to deal with a lot of traffic into a major business sector, RTP, before getting to where she works in Cary. So I think she's thinking about getting a job in RTP instead of Cary so it's just a little closer.

I guess that's all about my family now...

I went to the ICNA-MAS convention this past weekend... it was superfun. :-D Will post about it soon inshaAllah.