FRIDAY - Visiting with the Nelson Clan

Marc and I got up, worked out quickly, and then got on the road to Mississippi. We had a peaceful drive up to the Nelson home, no mistakes like last time :-) Aunt Nell was a little shaky on her feet and walked with a cane. Charlie was his usual talkative self :-) We sat and visited for a while until Uncle Norman awoke from his nap. During our conversation a thunderstorm moved in, and the lightning scared Charlie's dog Molly. After walking and pacing around for 15-20 minutes, Charlie finally put her in her crate to feel safe.

The Nelson Clan did go down to New Orleans in January for the coming out ball, but Uncle Norman was not feeling good enough to attend. So they went without him. Tradition is preserved :-) I also seem to recall that Jennifer did not renew her membership in her Mardi Gras Parade.

Charlie told us all about the upcoming new STAR WARS movie, and it sounds pretty good. I think that Marc and I will see it when it comes out in December.

Sadly, the Mississippi Medical Center (the Center that Uncle Norman used to run) is cutting billions of dollars and losing nurses and doctors due to management issues. Aunt Nell felt very unhappy about that.

Jennifer could not come because she was about to fly out of New Orleans on business. A big drug company just bought the startup she works for, and her job situation is changing. She had to tour a drug lab in Iowa as part of her orientation with the new company. Also on the subject of travel, Jennifer was recently in Copenhagen on business and loved the city. She also looked, and found, some family (Nelsons). For the unfamiliar (which included me), Uncle Norman is Swedish and Czechoslovakian.

Norman, Junior, and Rebecca and the kids were coming to visit for the July 04th weekend, so we missed them by 1 week :-( Meredith brought her boyfriend home after graduating from college. They are both currently working in Atlanta. She works for a major hotel; he works for HOME DEPOT in management and the National Guard.

After a couple of hours, Uncle Norman woke up. He was happy to see Marc and me :-) Uncle Norman is still bedridden. He is currently receiving chemo treatments, which made him look a little puffy. We could understand his "yes" es. Otherwise, his speech was not comprehensible :-( We stayed and sat with him for about 20 minutes. He seemed in good spirits the whole time; I felt thankful for his good attitude. We met his nurses: Antoinette and Mabel. They are both very nice ladies.

After saying goodbye and manueuvering back onto the highway, we eventually stopped for dinner. After eating dinner and feeling much refreshed, we returned to the road and drove back to our hotel without incident around 10:45PM. And such was our visit with the Nelson Clan for 2015.