Minneapolis

Well, I only intended to be here four days, but I'll finally leave on Friday after spending nine days here in Mupples tending to my grandparents, Harry and Babe (aka Doris, but everybody's always called her Babe). That's them on the right, after I'd taken Harry up to see his wife at the nursing care facility she's been in since the spring after she had a stroke and he couldn't care for her any more.

It's hard being away from Mrs. F for this long (and I've picked up on the fact that I'm missed in Seattle), but she understands that this is very important to me. Harry and Babe have always been more than grandparents to me. I lived with them at several points during my childhood and adolescence, including a very tough time during my high school years. They raised me to become the man I am today and, along with my Mom's parents Ruth and Charles, paid for my college education at St. Olaf College (a small, private, and very Scandahoovian school just south of the Twin Cities), which also played a very large role in my formation (both educationally and the family of friends that still surround me today).

It's been a bit trying, from figuring out the next steps for Harry (in terms of finding an assisted living apartment; in the near future, he'll be in a board and care apartment in the same complex as Babe) to getting transportation choices sorted for him. But I'm glad I'm here to help, and they've both made it clear, in their own ways, how much they've appreciated me being around. (And my grandmother even mentioned that she's worried about Mrs. F being lonely without me.)

The Twin Cities have been hit by a good-sized snow--there's the view from my old bedroom at the Schmitz household to the right--and it's been fun to see it cover the place with its white, puffy blanket. But I'm ready to get back to the rain.