Driving, People!
I was in New Mexico. I flew out there to see my dad and spend some time with him.
He was waiting to get admitted to the hospital to have a procedure and it seemed like it was a lottery. It kind of was. Waiting for a bed, the game. He needed to have some fluid drained from his brain to relieve the pressure that may be causing his symptoms: memory loss, trouble walking, trouble with balance, etc. If it is what has been causing it, there will be hope. Maybe it isn’t dementia or Alzheimer’s. It would be good if it wasn’t but I will lose a pretty good chunk of new material. More will reveal itself. I’d rather he not have it.
It was a coincidence that waiting for a bed lined up with my visit. I just wanted to check in and see him. I got to spend some quality time with the guy. We had a lot of laughs. Ate some food. It’s hard to accept the frailty of your parents aging but something gave way this past week. I’m okay with it and I want to show up for him the best I can.
They got him into the hospital late Thursday night. They did the procedure the following morning. He was doing well.
While I was there I realized that my dad’s wife’s nephew, my cousin by marriage, owned a used car lot. I have been in the middle of a shit show with Carvana, rescheduling three times, and then we found out that the car I was going to buy for Kit was garbage. So, I reached out to my cuz, Gary Padilla at Houston Wholesale Auto on Lomas. He had a 2012 sparkly blue Hyundai Elantra with 78K miles on it sitting on the lot. Boom. I’ll take it.
He fixed it up for me the next day, Friday.
I decided to just drive the thing back to LA myself. I bought the car, canceled my flight, returned the rental, picked up the car. My dad was doing well so I cut out at 5am on Saturday and drove 12 hours. The car runs great. I know for sure. I got home, had Kit sign the paperwork, gave her the keys. Took a shower and she took me to LAX to get my car in her new car. Exciting.
It all worked out. Sounds like my dad is coming back around. Amazing. Maybe it will stick for a while. I can hear the old asshole in his tone again.
Today I have an amazing talk with Halle Berry who just directed her first feature, Bruised. On Thursday, Cat Power (Chan Marshall) and I hash it out about music and the other stuff. Great talks.
Also, there’s a holiday Cat Mug sale starting today at 12 noon Eastern time. Brian Jones, who hand-makes the mugs I give to my guests, has some new mugs that you can only get from his website.
Go to brianrjones.com/wtf.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
