9:11pm – Englewood, FL

I am at my aunt uncle’s place, Moch and Ethan. I brought my mom down here from Rockford on Tuesday and am planning on leaving her here tomorrow to fly back to Dallas. (As of right now, I am still waiting for Roman to send me a ticket)

This has been the toughest few months I’ve had in a very long time. Ever since October 12, 2024 when my mom had the stroke/brain bleed. I flew up to Rockford for a couple weeks at the end of October, went back and forth from her place to the hospital. Then got her situated at Alden Debes. Moch came up from Florida for a few weeks. I made arrangements to come back up to Rockford when she was released from the rehab place, to stay with her indefinitely. I brought Coco with me for the first month. I’m so glad he came. We spent Thanksgiving with the Bautz’s. Staying with and taking care of my mom every day, day in and day out was so, so hard. What made it 100 times worse was the urinary tract infection, which caused her to have crazy delusions and to have dementia-like symptoms. It was so scary at times. Being a full time caretaker for her was not something I ever planned on.

As the end of the December came, my sister and I were at a loss about what to do. I had to get back to Dallas eventually and she was not able to be left alone, at all. My aunt and uncle so graciously agreed to take her for a couple/few months. That was a dream come true. I planned on bringing her (and Ace, her one-eyed French Bulldog) down to Florida, which is what I ended up doing.