Bringing it All Home

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After 21 years of rambles that took me across the U.S.A. and six continents, I find myself back in my childhood home where many things have changed while some stubbornly will not. This blog has gone a lot of directions although mostly travel recollections while later blogs explored the nuts and bolts of travel in Eastern Indonesia. I have been pondering bringing it back for a while as a way to share lessons I am learning as a caregiver and hopefully allow me to process everything better. So I guess the first question is why on earth I came back here when I was living the expatriate dream in Indonesia?

It began with a message I had dreaded. I was in bed on a Sunday morning foggy headed from excessive celebrations from the previous day's match. Our team was well sponsored by McGettigan's Pub, Carlsberg and an unofficial sponsor, Extra Joss which fueled us deep into most evenings. The message was from a dear friend and bartender of a bar where mom and dad have frequented for the last twenty plus years. She had noticed the subtleties of mom's progressing Alzheimer's disease and dad's progression with liver disease. It was time to come home.

The month was August of 2019, and I had just started my fifth academic year at a school I loved with a garden project that was really coming along. I put in my notice that I would need to leave in December giving them plenty of time to find a replacement. I soaked up the warm tropical vibes, made a few more motorcycle trips around West Java, and continued to lead out one of the best collections of soccer players I have ever played with, some of whom had played at the highest level back in Africa.

The introduction is complete. I'll be back soon covering topics including elder fraud after tracking at least $5000 in bogus charges on mom and dad's accounts, hospice care which covers so much and for much longer than most believe, and all the other resources I have found of great benefit as a caregiver.

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