Last of a generation. L-r: Marie (widow of Dad’s brother Howard), Leila (Dad’s sister), Dick and Ruth (Dad’s other brother and his wife), Mom and Dad, and Grace (Dad’s other sister). The three widows, Marie, Leila, and Grace, are all 90 or above and remain sharp and active. Click the photo for a much larger view.

The Dennie clan held a reunion Saturday afternoon at my cousin Karen’s place in Belding, Mich. Dad and his siblings grew up in nearby Lowell, Mich.

I hadn’t been to one of these reunions in several years. I was dismayed that so many of my cousins look old, now that they’re in their 50s…like me. I’m actually one of the youngest cousins, since Dad was the youngest sibling.

My uncle Dick and Aunt Ruth flew up from Texas. Dick is one of Dad’s brothers (the other, Howard, died 11 years ago). When Dick and Ruth lived in Michigan, we spent a lot of time with them and their two daughters, Nancy and Carolyn, who were a couple years older than me. That seems so long ago. Dick and Ruth had two more daughters just before moving to Texas. I’ve only met them once (they had strong Texan accents).

I spent a good deal of Friday and Saturday at Mom and Dad’s garage sale. Here are some random observations:

• It’s amazing how you can price something dirt cheap, and someone still wants it for half of that amount. Like that extra 50 cents will break them.
• I got a lot of sunburn. Snuck up on me.
• One lady came back, saying she had given us a ten dollar bill, but only got change for a five. How to prove differently? Pam, a CPA, took her money. Pam don’t make money mistakes. But Dad gave the lady a five. Benefit of the doubt. Then she probably went down the street to another garage sale and did the same thing. So says the cynic in me.
• Lots of Hispanics came.
• Women are good at folding clothes. Have some extra gene that guys lack.
• We had two big boxes of Christmas lights, one dollar each. One guy wanted to know if we’d take a dollar for both boxes together. Dad said no. “Then I’m not interested,” the guy said. I guess he’d prefer spending $30 at a store.

Yesterday was a sacred day in the Steve and Pam Dennie household: the first Saturday after April 15. Meaning, the first Saturday of the year that Pam didn’t have to work. The first Saturday she could sleep in. The first Saturday we could go see a movie.

Well, no movies appealed to us. Seems like the same was true last year. Instead, we hung around the house mostly and took it easy.

• Started out by giving both Molly and Jordi baths. Molly always wails the whole time, like we’re water-boarding her or something. Jordi took it like the 16-pound man he is.
• I made bacon and eggs.
• Lots of reading.
• I spent some hours on work stuff. Pam’s busy time is over, but I’m still in the middle of one.
• Went to see Mom and Dad for a while.
• Finished the “Combat!” DVD we had from Netflix, season 1, disk 2.

Altogether a relatively lazy, laid-back day. Good for us.

Pam’s Dad, Chuck Wilkin, underwent an eight-hour open-heart surgery on Friday. He had driven himself to the emergency room of Lutheran Hospital, which is only a half-mile from his condo.¬†Pam was called at her office around 1:15, and told she needed to come right away. So she left work, and on the way she called me. I, too, left for Lutheran.

Shortly after Pam arrived at the ER, the doctors got the results of a CAT scan. At this point things kicked into very high gear, since the scan showed a tear in his heart and a lot of blood leakage. When I arrived, a number of doctors and nurses were hovering around Chuck doing their thing. A chaplain stood next to Pam. 

The doctor explained to Chuck and Pam what was happening, and that they needed to operate right away. The situation was very, very serious. As a surgeon told us later, Chuck’s condition was “universally fatal” without surgery.¬†

The problems were extensive, and the surgery was extremely complicated. I won’t try to explain what they did, because I don’t understand it all. Suffice it to say, they spent a couple hours getting Chuck stabilized and ready for surgery, and the surgery itself lasted eight hours. Until after midnight. A number of us–siblings, kids, grandkids–waited around.

The surgeon finally came out at 12:30 and met with us. He said the surgery went as well as could be expected. It was very complicated, and the recovery would be long, but he was pleased. 

About 2:30 am, the six of us remaining were taken back to see Chuck. He was sleeping, and would be kept that way for several days. And we then went home.

Chuck remains unconscious, and his condition is very critical. They removed the sedation, wanting him to wake up, but it’s not happening. This morning, Pam received a call asking permission to put him on dialysis.

So, we wait and pray.