Today

I got up and did my laundry only to find the drain for Mom's washing machine froze up during the night. They have a space heater in the crawlspace under the bathroom that is supposed to turn on when the temperature drops to a certain level to keep the pipes from freezing. It was unplugged, but even when it was plugged in it wouldn't heat up.

Fortunately there was another heater available, so I replaced the bad one and three hours later the pipes unfroze and I was able to finish my laundry. In the meantime I re-hung a closet rod that had fallen down and took care of some of the other little chores around the house that no one has time to do even though they are close. When something big pops up one of my siblings will run right over and take care of it, but the little things slip by most times.

Sometime between going out to get the materials to put the closet bar back up and having the pipes finally thaw Mom decided she was not feeling well and went to lay down. She had fallen the week before while out walking, blacked out in fact, and has to go see the heart doctor tomorrow. He doesn't think its anything life-threatening, but it still bothers me a great deal.

I was the one, you see, who promised at six years old that I would stay at home to make sure she was taken care of. I was then the one that moved away. Only one other sib moved away, but she's back now, I went farther and stayed gone. Mom takes great pleasure in reminding me of this.

Even though the siblings are near I would still like to be close enough to get there in a day, but I need to also be close enough to Pop in Florida to be able to get there quickly if he needs me. I'd also like to be within a days drive of Raleigh because Eldest Son is planning on staying there. So somewhere central to the three means west Tennessee.

So it looks like I will be looking for work in the west Tennessee area in four years.