So much has been going on in my family as of late, I just need a break, a quick getaway, some me time. A little over a month ago I shared that my 15 year old cousin was shot in the head. Miraculously he survived, and is slowly making good progress. Since then, seems like things have gone to hell. my favorite uncle has been admitted to a bay area hospital. Dr. said he needs a heart transplant as his is working at about 20%. They say he is in need of a heart transplant badly. If one can not be found then the family would need to start making final preparations for him. Meanwhile my father had a heart attack, (this was two weeks ago on Thursday night) well he did not go to the hospital until Friday morning. I had taken the day off for other reasons, but was thankful that I did when I got the call early Friday morning. Spent the morning in emergency with him, when the Dr. proceeds to inform me that he has four blocked arteries. One at 100% (the one that caused the heart attack and the most pain) one at 80% one at 70% and the other at 65-70%. I called my Brother and my Sister and told them they needed to get to the hospital ASAP. This is the first time in a while that all of us have been in the same room at the same time. Needless to say, he needed emergency surgery. Saturday morning he undergoes a triple by-pass. I took most of the following week off of work. My brother and I took shifts at the hospital. I took the day shift while he stayed at night. (as interesting as my job can be, I never thought being at a hospital all day can wear you out the way it did) My sister is 22 years younger than me, the hospital generally does not allow anyone under 16 in the ICU but after a few words they made some exceptions. So that made three people in the family in three different hospitals, in three different cities, all with major issues going on. As if this wasn't enough. The latter two aforementioned issues occur around the same time as my Grandmothers birthday. What makes it more more difficult to deal with is that just prior to her birthday we find out from her Dr. that she has started showing some signs that she is entering into the final stages of Alzheimers, and that she has cancer that is spreading through her upper body. She turned 85 this month. She has had a long life, and it is hard to watch her go through when she is in pain. I take my 3 yr old to see her as often as possible as it seems that the little kids appear to be like therapy for her. When they are around she seems to be in her right mind and at her most alert stages. That is until last night, when I took him to see her. She had a really tough day, she just looked at him and soon laid down. no smile, no conversation, no response. He is too young to understand what is really going on, but his pure heart does understand that something is wrong. He kept asking her if she was ok. I told him to just let her sleep, but I could tell that he missed "his" time with her. All this on top of a bunch of B.S. going on at work with "the powers that be." Yes I need a break. I do have some time off planned in a couple of weeks. I was looking to go down south to do some photo projects, and try to shoot with a couple of awesome people. But sadly that trip is going to have to be postponed as well. I rarely post long blogs which is why this is spoilered...