Taking Turns

We spent Thanksgiving in So Cal with Larry's parents and family. The week before we were due to arrive, the MIL and FIL's house was under an inch of water. They were lucky enough to get to experience what happens when the water dispenser in the refrigerator decides to express itself when it shouldn't. We offered to wait and postpone our visit until everything was cleaned up and repaired, but they insisted that we come out as planned.
Side note: Larry and I have also had this most unpleasant of experiences. When we were remodeling this house, we hooked up the ice maker on the new fridge and left for the weekend. When we returned, we found the house pouring over with water. Did I mention we were days away from moving in? The basement was destroyed and we basically had to start all over. So we do understand the chaos and stress of having water running through the house.

We decided to fly out at the last minute and arrived Thanksgiving morning. Upon entering the house, we were stunned to see the extent of the damage. I should also add that my in laws are pack rats to the umpteenth degree. They will be the first to admit to their pack rat abilities, but only until they had to remove everything from every room, could they fully realize the extent of their "pack rat-ness." There were piles and piles everywhere. Larry and I could do nothing but start to dig in and try to help get things organized. They were both overwhelmed and stuck in that "where to begin" mode. We started with one pile and asked "do you use this," or "do you need this," or "when was the last time you opened this book," and every variation there of. We took old furniture out to the garage and called the Salvation Army for a pick up, and we loaded up the car and drove to the Goodwill for a drop off. I actually found an old furniture catalog from 1960! Yes, my friends 1960!

After our busy weekend, we went to leave Monday afternoon only to find all the flights had been rerouted due to coastal fog. Result.....no empty seats for us to use. At the airport, we stopped off at an Applebee's for lunch and with a full stomach, decided to rent and a car and drive home. I drove us from Ontario to Mesquite, and Larry took the last leg from Mesquite to home. We arrived about 1:30 in the morning, but were happy to be home in our bed with our little fuzzy babies.

On the long drive home, we started to see that our relationship with Larry's parents has changed. It has begun to shift from a parent taking care of a child to a child taking care of the parent. I suppose this is something that happens with everyone at some point in their lives. My mom is only 58 and full of piss and vinegar, so I think I have a bit of time to still be her kid, but with Larry's folk we can see now that they need us to be near and to help them even when they insist they don't need it. They have lived their lives as good and loving parents, and now it is time for the kids to help take care of them.