What’s been going on in my life

Since my last entry, a lot has been going on that took my attention away from blogging over the summer and beyond. I began to actively seek new employment, mostly applying to jobs via Indeed through the mobile app. This led only to a handful of interviews at marketing companies and car dealerships. In both fields of work, I applied because they were entry-level positions and I felt that I could easily incorporate my communication skills on the job.

Although the marketing positions didn’t relate directly to travel, I would love to work in that capacity in the tourism industry. So, I figured, try these entry-level opportunities. For selling cars, I thought of how I love cars and going to car shows. That would help to show an enthusiasm in me for talking to customers about a potential new vehicle. Whichever type of work I’d find myself in, I could use social media knowledge for business purposes.

I continued my job search as the summer months passed and then in early September, my mom had a sudden emergency. She had been fine throughout the day before, even going on a few light errands with no sign of a problem. Unable to breathe, she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and they had to revive her several times. We thought it was a heart attack, much worse than the one she had back in 2010. For the next 10 days, my mom was in ICU and doctors were concerned about her brain. She was never able to respond to us or show awareness that we were in the room. Doctors said that if she were able to go home, she would never be the same. We made the decision to pull the plug. My mom had suffered from a full blockage between her heart and brain. She was out too long while EMTs tried to revive her, resulting in too severe brain damage. Only several months earlier, she was celebrating her 64th birthday.

Since then, I’ve been helping my dad with various errands and figuring out bills that my mom paid with their shared finances. That’s starting to get a bit more organized. One of them required my dad and I to go into Philadelphia; he wanted me to go so that I’d know the details as well. After leaving the city, heading along I-95 southbound, we were in a minor accident with another vehicle. Ours had too much damage to be driven and we had to call for a tow truck. Luckily, traffic was crawling at 30-35 mph at the time of the accident and our airbags didn’t even deploy. Until after Thanksgiving, I drove my dad around for further errands while awaiting the other car’s repairs to be finished. At the auto shop, we learned that the airbags fell just short of being deployed on impact.

This first holiday season without my mom has been very difficult; I wasn’t sure how we’d get through it. My dad was also in the hospital for a few days with what was thought to be pneumonia. It turned out that he had a heart attack, which we believe was brought on by the stress of my mom’s passing and the accident. A-Fib is another health issue he suffers from and had been in the hospital briefly during the summer for that as well. He’s doing better now, although things will still be difficult for a long time. Meanwhile, my job search continues with the goal of helping out financially. I’ll also have a work-from-home income to pad whatever earnings I make from traditional employment. My dad is a Vietnam Veteran who served in the 101st Airborne Division and is on a fixed income.

For now, I thought I’d give this update after a long absence from blogging. I want to write more of a tribute post about my mom as well, which I’d like to do for her birthday. She and I went to a tall ship festival back in May at Penn’s Landing. It’s one of the events I wanted to post about shortly after attending, but my job search efforts picked up around that time. Anyway, my mom had a love of maritime history, inherited from her parents and I became interested as well. So, in my tribute post, I’ll go with how she loved that topic and places rich with related stories. Her favorite place was the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Those also tie in to her interest in military history and veterans’ issues; my mom was always very patriotic at heart. I have a lot of great memories by which to remember her. I just hope now that 2019 goes without any such sadness, not only for myself, but for everyone. I wish all a safe and happy new year.