jay and kay

I took Emily to school then we left for Olympia.

It was a two hour drive. A bit of traffic, but not bad.

It was about noon when we got there. They were so glad to see us. Miriam and Kay hugged. It had been half a year since they had seen each other.

Kay is still a beautiful red head. She looks younger than she actually is. Jay is 76 and right now he looks every day of it.

When we got there Jay was sitting in on his end of the couch with a shoe box sized tray of pills. Since his by pass surgery he has been on a lot of them. He was washing them down with orange juice. He smiled as we came in.

Jay is about 6' maybe a bit taller. He is a barrel chested big man, who weighed in at about 280, but while he was in the hospital he lost a hundred pounds and he looks a bit gaunt.

He is not as healthy as he should be. He has smoked most of his life, in fact when I saw him last spring he was still smoking. Now he is off. But he does not look good, really.

The day before we visited he took his 3 wheel motorcycle (a real work or art, powered by a 2 liter Dodge engine!), on a parade. The trike is built to look very good and to be eye catching, but it is not too protected from the weather and Jay got pretty cold.

Kay has memory issues. She won't admit it and won't let any one else admit it for her (Miriam is about the same). Jay and I talked in hushed tones. She is a decade younger than Jay and she is worried about what might happen to her if something happened to Jay.

It is a legitimate worry, unfortunately.

I relayed a message from a daughter: “Kay is family. If she needs help we will do all we can.”

He was reassured by the message.

Seeing them was good and sad both.

And I worry a bit.

I worry about all of us a little bit.