Memories and memories!!!!!

Thanks Steve for reminding me on your blog about Cappy's death! I was so involved with "self" that I didn't even remember!!!! Planning on this trip to L.A. and in such a short time really takes a lot of thought. I wasn't sure that I was going to go until the last minute but finally decided that I just had to get away from here for awhile and give everybody a rest!!!! (Including myself!) How could I forget such an important day in my life? Cappy had been ill for some time and had taken coumadin? for years and was doing pretty good, we thought. But he just couldn't leave the Camel cigarettes alone and since he had pretty well, forcibly, retired, could think of nothing to do but just sit and smoke one cigarette after another. Yes, chain smoking!!! We had taken a short trip to the San Joaquin Valley, because we had thought that we would move here after about a year, which would allow Steve to Graduate from High School and Tom from Jr. High. So we had already made a trip or two up here and then Steve and Tom went up to Wa. state to work? for Dick or probably just to have a vacation. So we, Cap and I, thought we would take a trip up this way and see what could be found in the way of housing, etc. He wasn't feeling too well but we thought maybe because of the worry about being "laid off" etc., we had plenty of time to look around, and like I said, the boys, Steve and Tom were gone too. So we decided to take the trip up through Yosemite for a drive to Jackson, or Sutter Creek, or someplace up in the foothills around here. We did stop for a few sights, etc., had lunch, etc. and then headed up towards the foothills. We got in touch with a lady who was a realtor and asked her about properties to rent, etc. and with a promise to look for something for us, we headed to Lodi and to Barbara's. We spent the night here after talking to the lady in Jackson, and then Florence Rose, my step-daughter called from Concord and said that Cappy's brother and wife were visiting and that they would take another day or two if we could come down to Concord and see them. They lived in Nogales, Arizona. So when we tried to get out car started, for some reason that evening, there was something wrong with it and so Babe, Barbara's husband and their son Mark started working on the car, They got it running but while they were working on it, Cappy came in and said he sure didn't feel good so Barbara made him lay down on the couch while she got dinner. He seemed to get better, and so after visiting with them for awhile we all went to bed and then the next morning Cappy and I headed down to Concord. Lafay, and his wife were in the San Jose area visiting by this time with their sister Leona, and we were all going down there for dinner. We had a very pleasant evening and Florence and family left for home and the rest of us to bed! Cappy and I were leaving for home the next morning because Bob and Marilyn were expecting their third child at any minute and I had promised to take care of the other two little one's for about a week! Lafay and wife were leaving in the morning too, and Leona had to work. Cappy was sitting out in Leona's garage and told her he sure didn't feel good and didn't want any breakfast and that we would eat on our way. Leona told him to come into the den and sit in her lounge chair which had a vibrator because she said when Grandma Farnsworth was having heart attacks, she could rest fine there. Well, Toni, (Leona) left us her phone number and her Dr.'s and Lafay and wife left for the Airport to go home to Arizona. The phone rang and it was Bob telling me that Marilyn had had another boy, "Mark" and when were we coming home? The phone woke Cappy up and so he said, "let's go!" I asked him if he felt O.K. and he said yes and that if he started to feel bad we would pull off the road and call Bob to come up after us! So I agreed and off we went. We stopped about San Luis Obispo and I had lunch and Cappy still wasn't hungry but said he would have a bowl of soup. We made it home O.K. and he started to feel better. We called Bob and told him to bring the kids over on his way to work because we were going to just stay home and let Cappy "rest"! The next day we went over to Simi Valley with the kids and took care of them for a day or two. Cappy told me on Friday that he thought he wanted to go home and so Bob said he was picking Marilyn up at the hospital and could we stay till they got home. We agreed and after Marilyn went to the store to get the things that she needed we went home. and needless to say, had a bite to eat and then to bed! The next morning Cappy took me to Mass and then came home and said he had to mow the lawn. He came after me and he was having a time with the lawnmower and said that he was going to lie down. We borrowed a mower from the lady across the street and I told Cappy to start it for me and I would mow the rest of the lawn, which I did. He was asleep when I finished and so I decided I had better clean the house a little because we had planned on going back up to Jackson on Tuesday to see about a place this lady had called about! When I finished, I laid down on the couch and I went to sleep. The phone rang and woke me up. It was Aunt Jennie and Cappy asked her if they, she and husband Phil would like to come over and eat with us. She told him that they had just eaten and so after hanging up Cappy told me that dinner was ready. I got up and we had dinner and I did the dishes. We watched some T.V. and then he said he was going to bed. I told him I would be in soon, there was something I wanted to watch. He went to bed but started coughing and when I had finished watching the show, I went to bed and he coughed and coughed! I told him that I was going to go into the kids room so I could get some rest. He got up to go to the bathroom and then called me from there and asked if I could got him to the Hospital!!! I didn't drive and I was so dumb that I never thought about calling the fire dept. which was just around the corner! I called the gal across the street and asked her if she could take us to the Hospital and she was there in seconds!!! We got him to the Hospital, (Emergency) and then started the worst 20 or 30 minutes of my life! The people there came in and gave him a shot of something and he kind of calmed down, then, he started in again with trying to breathe, He was kind of halfway sitting up because he couldn't lay down flat and so I went over and put my arms around him and he started to cough and cough and I was trying to help him and trying to calm him down. I finally just went to the door and yelled, "he's choking!" The emergency workers came in with oxygen and took me out of the room and told me to wait in the waiting room!!!! My friend was trying to call my kids and Jennie, etc, and was having one heck of a time letting them know what was happening! I took the phone and Bill was on the line and I told him that I thought that his Father was dying and he was crying and said that they had called Bill's wife's folks and about that time Bob Doyle, the father-in-law came into the hospital!!!! By this time I had asked him to find out what was going on and he said he had called the Priest, and I asked the nurse at the desk, "what is happening?" and she says, "Oh honey, he's gone!!!" Bob Doyle grabbed me and took me into another waiting room and from there on, my life, as I had known it was gone!!!!! Thank you Steve, for remembering!!!!! More happier memories on another day!!!!