Visited Dad Yesterday….

With Grandma Bryant passing away last Sunday, I became eligible for bereavement leave from work. Due to Covid-19 there really wasn’t a funeral, but she was laid to rest this past Saturday, so no funeral is anticipated at this time. Read her obituary here. But like I said this qualifies for bereavement leave from work. So, I took it this week. And it was time to visit Dad:

After verifying with my boss that I in fact could take bereavement, I called out Sunday night. Went to bed late and slept in till 1am Monday morning. I was trying to reset my circadian rhythm to a normal day/night cycle. My main agenda on Monday was two-fold: visit Mrs. Fields and get my bike ready. Really, all I could to was to put more air in the tires and oil the chain. I do need to get it to the shop to have the rear cassette looked at (and it needs tuning). But I was able to stay up till 7 pm Monday night.

Tuesday (yesterday) got up at 4am. Really bad headache. 2 cups of coffee later, headache is gone. Looking at the time tables for Pierce Transit, I had enough time (and quarters) to do my laundry before I left. So, after washing my clothes, I grabbed my bike and left. I took my bike so I could ride the 2 miles for so from the last bus stop to Dad’s house, and I didn’t know what his driving status was given his strokes he had in 2017. Good call.

So I get to Dad’s house. The consensus is that I’m getting the living room couch. I should point out that I had no input in the matter. Now I need to figure out how to dispose of my old couch. There are lots of items of cow memorabilia to disperse. I think an estate sale is forthcoming. I found out that Trouble (his cat) went over the Rainbow Bridge. But, he already has another cat, though I really didn’t have the chance to introduce myself. While I was there, I sat down to his laptop and recovered his Windows logon password (and his Outlook passwords). I was also able to reset his Facebook password, though he’s still locked out of his account until they can verify his identity. We tried it with the laptop’s webcam and his driver’s license, and it was a lost cause. I was going to stay until 5, but I decided to leave at 3, so I can ride back to the bus stop in day light. And I made it home by 5. I was going to help him get stuff organized, but I ended up just talking to him. It’s going to take more than three days’ worth of bereavement leave (and my two day weekend) to get him packed up and the house cleared out. There are still too many unknowns for now.

I’m not going back to work until Friday night. And I’ve learned that it’s not really worth it to force reset my circadian rhythm just for one visit. And it’s better to just walk it from the bus stop to Dad’s house (I just need to give myself more time)….