My Mom is at the hospital and had surgery yesterday. It drives me crazy to be here so far away in LA and not being able to visit her right now. I was able to shortly talk to her this morning and I know she’s doing quite well under the prevailing circumstances. I don’t need to worry, but I hate the fact that I can’t be there for her right now.
It’s strange, because this is not the first time I have lived away so far from home, but right now the distance seems overwhelmingly far… this, of course, could be due to the fact that a) more than 6000 miles are indeed … uhm, let’s face it… FAR, b) nobody was having surgery the last time I lived in CA, and c) after spending almost a whole year back in Germany, I had gotten used to being so close to my family again. I do admit that is kind of a contradiction, too, that a “family person” like me can physically be apart from her family for extended periods of time. Doesn’t quite fit, but I am trying.
Monday morning, we left for Ventura to see J’s parents. Well, we had indeed another reason to go there, because J’s granddad had promised some financial support for the band and they’re planning to invest into a video camcorder [to get recordings put on the Internet] and some other band equipment.
We went out for a late breakfast with J’s Mom at “The Golden Egg” in Downtown Ventura and then afterwards went to see J’s Granddad and Great-Uncle at the nursing home. We’re probably going back there some time in March, because What Generation will play a little acoustic show for them.
Before we went back to LA in the early afternoon, I got to spend some time with Andreas [remember from this post?] who is staying with J’s parents right now and who taught me how to bake “Sourdough bread”. European “Sourdough” bread is very different from what people call “sourdough” in the States. The European sourdough actually doesn’t taste “sour” at all. Andreas had prepared “sourdough” from scratch and showed me how to ferment the yeast. [I am not even sure if I am using the right terminology here, but I hope you know what I mean.] It was quite interesting and I might be able to bake my own sourdough bread from now on :)
Temperatures have gone down in the past two days [it’s about 56°F = 13°C] and I’ve spent most of yesterday in the bedroom in front of our heater. Yeah, I know, it’s ridiculous to complain about the weather, because I am sure it’s a lot worse in other places, but I am easily cold and therefore react drastically to the temperature drop [especially when J likes to open every single window of the apartment in the morning].
Our apartment building is kind of old, therefore we don’t have a central heating/AC system, but small wall heaters in the bedroom and in the bathroom and A/C in the bedroom. There is a heater in the living room, but J says it doesn’t work properly and most of the year, we don’t need a heater here in Southern California anyways, so I am ok with what we have.
I got my laptop, some hot tea and snuggled up on our bed, and I have to say, it was quite comfortable ;)
P.S. Would you all be so kind and vote for my JPG photo submission? Click on the link on the right. Thank you.
Maren
February 28, 2007 at 8:03 pmJust voted for you, babe.
I hope your mom will be alright and out of the hospital soon! I know what it feels like. My mom has been to the hospital quite a few times while I was away. Thank God not lately. I know it would kill me. I think we are very much alike (and we’ve already talked about that) when it comes to family. I would call you now, but I am all drugged up on antibiotics and the cough syrup-drowziness is starting to kick in. I will try calling tomorrow night.
kim
February 28, 2007 at 10:51 pmsweety, i’m sorry to hear about your mom. i hope she’ll be fine and please send her my best get-well-wishes and a hug!
big *smooch* to you! :)
Antje
February 28, 2007 at 11:39 pmSend your Mom all the best from me as well! I understand how much you wanna be there for her right now! Good to hear that she’s doing pretty well!
Alright, you learned how to do sourdough from scratch. Isn’t that very hard and it has to be really hot (like 30 degrees Celsius or so) in the room where you make it? How do you do it? Do you use some kind of extract? You see, I’m very interested in this subject as I miss “proper” bread almost as much as you do!
Stay warm now! I remember how cold it could get in the house in the Bay area during “winter” -evenings…Brrrrr
Stefanie
March 1, 2007 at 2:38 amI hope your mom will be fine soon. I am glad to hear though that the surgery is not life-threatening. So that’s a good thing! Are you two actually planning on visiting Germany in the enar future?
sanna
March 1, 2007 at 3:02 amAh yeah it’s so hard to be away from your family sometimes. Plus this time your stay abroad is more or less infinitely long so that must make a huge difference, too. *hug*
Cool about the band and sourdough bread! I’m craving some American sourdough bread right now so it’s funny that you mention it ;-). So we’re gonna see some videos from What Generation soon??? Yay!!
13C must be sooo cold for you! Brrrrr! Stay warm!
:-*
Susi
March 1, 2007 at 11:43 amAll the best for your mum! Hope she’ll do better very soon! It must be very hard for you, I am sorry.
Oh yeah… 13 degrees…. very hard (muhahahaha)
Maribeth
March 1, 2007 at 6:41 pmOh it is so hard to be far from those you love at these times. Just hold onto your honey and it will be okay.
I hope your Mom is well soon! ;~)
sanna
March 2, 2007 at 4:40 amHope your Mom is recovering well still and not yet sick of hospital food! ;-) Your in my thoughts Sweetie!!
Susi
March 2, 2007 at 4:56 amI love your new “website outfit” :-)!
Hemlock
March 2, 2007 at 4:41 pmSending your mom lots of good vibes. It’s tough to be away from someone when they’re going through something, either good or bad. I know the feeling too…
Maren
March 2, 2007 at 8:45 pmI L.O.V.E the new layout! Very pretty!
Caity
March 4, 2007 at 7:27 amI can’t imagine what it must be like for you to be that far away from your family. I’ve never been more than 20 miles away from mine! Keeping your mom and your family in my thoughts… :)
ute
March 5, 2007 at 5:07 amsorry about your mom. i totally understand that would kil me too! i hope everything will be fine and she will be ok!! my fingers are crossed!!!! be strong sweetie. sorry about the cold weather! hah, freezing my butt off over here. ;-) big hug and i hope everything will work out!!!
Viviane
March 5, 2007 at 8:29 amHey, I hope your mom will recover quickly.
infineon
March 5, 2007 at 12:07 pm:-(
Silke
March 5, 2007 at 2:33 pmSorry to hear about your Mum, hope she is better already!
Being cold sucks big time, really! Hope its getting better now!
san
March 5, 2007 at 6:40 pmthanks maren and susi for noticing my new layout ;)