Hello on Friday Morning from Tewsbury

Dear Friends,

On Thursday, Linda and I were in tears as we saw our grandchild Max hooked up
to an I.V., and other devices to monitor heart rate and oxygen flow when we
visited him at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
When Linda talked with Kevin last evening all the tests performed on Max were
coming back negative which appeared to be a good sign. We were thinking that he
would be discharged today. Not!
When we talked to Kyla this morning, she was told that they want to keep Max in
the hospital for another day. The doctors were trying to figure out what was
causing a low white cell blood count. Max still has a fever, but it is lower
than the high of the other day of 102 degrees.

We stayed at the Brodeur's "Bed and Breakfast" last night, and it looks like we
will be doing so again tonight.
We will be heading to Mass general in a little while since Kevin will be
visiting Kyla and the Max before he has to open up his restaurant.

The baby sitting gig that we had scheduled this Saturday in Hartford Conn.
might be in jeopardy. Kevin and Kyla might have to forgo the wedding that they
were invited to on Saturday. This was going to be a Greek wedding just like the
one that they made the movie after.

We haven't been home since September 7, 2009, and we aren't sure when we will
get back to Pittsfield. Linda doesn't want to leave until he gets they find out
what is causing Max's fever whether it is low grade or not.

Sports -- I did watch the Red Sox go down to defeat last evening. Maybe it was
better if I just caught the results on ESPN the next day like I did in Barbados.
Barbados is on EST time.

Speaking of Barbados -- Ginny wanted to know of all of the details of the trip.
I had to think of what we did on a daily basis. It started me thinking about
some funny situations which occurred during our visit. Here is one of those. If
you go to the same hotel enough you often get to know who runs the place. We
often sat with the Matriarch of the family, and chatted with her. For some
reason, Linda and I have the ability to find out personal information even
though we weren't explicitly trying to do so.
One of the things which we did find out from the Matriarch was that her three
sons don't want their mother to be served alcoholic beverages at the main bar,
or at the beach bar. Well, this one day the Matriarch was buying us beverages,
and we were buying her beverages at one of the many happy hours. We weren't
aware of the "Don't serve alcohol to Mom rule". After several rounds of drinks,
I realized that she was pretty over her limit. As we watched her get off the bar
stool, I noticed that she might need help getting to her room. Luckily her room
was on the same level of the bar, and about 50 paces from the bar. Visualize a
thin woman in very good shape who takes no pills, who has a little arthritis in
her hands, and nearing 80 years old using one of those four pronged canes. She
needed major assistance to get to her room. I put my arm around her arm and
walked her to her room. Just as I was all set to open the door to her room, she
couldn't walk any further. Luckily there was a chair on her little patio, and
she sort of fell/ flopped into it. After a couple minutes, I lifted her up, and
got her into her room. I left her upright as I said goodnight. I was thinking
about her falling on the tile floor before she made it to her bed which was a
few steps from the door.
Well, the "Do not serve Mom alcohol rule" wasn't in affect for all the 8 days
that we were there. I helped the Matriarch back to he room again another day,
but she wasn't as inebriated as the first time.

It was nice to hold a newspaper like The Boston Globe in my hands this morning.
I guess that I didn't realize the morning routine of having a coffee, and
reading the newspaper has become a way of life.

Well, I guess that our hosts have agreed to take us to Building 19 which is
like a place (Railroad Salvage) that buys out stuff from stores that have gone
out of business, refurbished appliances, sporting goods stuff, clothes, seasonal
items, furniture, some junk in general, etc. A flier was in today's Globe, and
as soon as I saw it, I knew that Linda would be going into her shopping mode.

Have to go. We are ready to get into one of the Brodeur vehicles.
Hope to see our Berkshire Friends soon.

Talk to you soon! The Curley Lad