Podcast 1:15 From Bad to Worse. Still Found a Couple Lemon Squares
This was a rough week for Paige & Darren, as Paige's mom is checked into the ER and while there her dad suddenly passes away. Darren was 3000 miles away on a work trip and Darren learned how to rely on friends to help out in the hopeless situation. A thousand-mile roundtrip, a broken down car and an emotionally and physically exhausting week led to many lessons learned.
This was a rough week for Paige & Darren, as Paige's mom is checked into the ER and while there her dad suddenly passes away. Darren was 3000 miles away on a work trip and Darren learned how to rely on friends to help out in the hopeless situation. A thousand-mile roundtrip, a broken down car and an emotionally and physically exhausting week led to many lessons learned.
Start of the Week
- Paige gets a call from her sister that her mom is in the hospital
- 2 hours later, news that her dad had a heart attack
- 30 minutes later, news that her dad had passed away
- Darren was in Washington DC on a Business trip with no way to get home until the next day
- Paige is surrounded by her friends for comfort
- Darren arrives the next day and hops into a car for a 7-hour drive to Southern California
- The three amigos are pulled out of the last two days of finals from middle school
- The school has been understanding after some heated emails to some teachers
The Passing of a Great Man
- Paige's mom went into the hospital because of dizziness
- While she was in the ER her husband passed away from a heart attack
- Paige's Dad had been suffering from a chronic heart problem and was given 6 months to live 3 years ago
- While Paige's Mom was at the ER, their best friends "Dick and Claudia" came over to "watch" her husband
- We got to talk to "Dick and Claudia" about Johnnie's last moments. They were talking about baseball (one of his favorite things) and in mid-sentence he said "Oh no" and he passed away.
- He went peacefully the way he wanted
- Johnnie was one of the kindest, gentle and God fearing men I have ever known
- Paige always said that he could talk to a brick wall and make it feel wanted and loved
- One of the tender mercies of the week is when they brought Johnnie into the ER where his wife was
- They wheeled him right next to her so she could say good-bye and hold his hand
- The hospital staff was so amenable and loving toward Paige's Mom it was amazing
- Paige's mom had a battery of tests and at first, they were concerned that she had a heart attack herself but found out that she was fine. The vertigo was easily controlled with medicine and she was released 2 days later
- After spending a very emotional few days with family and friends filled with sorrow, memories, and laughs we were all ready to head home
The Drive home
- We left on Memorial Day to head home so we could get back to normal life
- About 2 hours into the trip our car started acting strange and after stopping and getting gas the car had a hard time starting
- We called the dealer where we got the car and they suggested we stop at the closest dealership we could find
- None of the dealer service centers were open on Memorial Day. so we were stuck, about 5 hours from home
- We left the car in Santa Clarita and tried to find a rental car place open to rent a car to get home
- Nothing was open in Santa Clarita so Darren took an uber 30 miles in the wrong direction to Burbank Airport where they could rent a car
