Sylvia was with her family on Friday and Saturday. It was a very full two days. I asked her to share her story with us, and she graciously consented. Thanks Sylvia.

Joyce, Gaylynn, Dad, Sylvia and Karen

I did it! Well, not alone. My father has had some health issues lately and I guess at almost 92 years young that is to be expected. My sister and I who live closest have done some house cleaning for him occasionally and another sister has come down from near Cadillac to help, but this week my youngest sister from Florida and her daughter from Chicago decided they were coming, too.

We started Friday morning about 9 AM and spring cleaned all three bedrooms and little “library room” and upstairs hall by the time we stopped to eat lunch at 1:30. That means washing the curtains, woodwork, windows, Swiffering down the walls and dusting and vacuuming.

After lunch (during which my niece drove in from Chicago to the surprise of her grandpa), we tackled the computer room, living room and dining room. We had the old washer and dryer going continuously all day, since we found piles of clothes here and there that also needed washing! We finished those rooms by 4:30 PM and declared it enough for one day.

After supper (we had all planned the meals for two days and brought it in already prepared, so it didn’t take much time or effort) we sat around and visited and even invited our cousin over–she stayed until past 11. We all stayed the night except my oldest sister who lives only 6 miles from the old farm house. Dad and I retired about 11:20 and the others kept yacking for another hour or so.

The next day we tackled the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. My brother came up from Wyandotte to mow the lawn for Dad, but it had been done earlier when they thought it would be raining on Saturday. He barely had time to sit down for a minute when Dad said “Don’t worry, I’ve got things for us to do.” So he weed-whacked tall grass by the ditch (where dad throws his table scraps for the animals), fixed the lawn mower, and dug up the garden areas where Dad wants to plant flowers next Tuesday. We had a “Supervisor’s Chair” out there for Dad.

We stopped for lunch about 1 and then went back to work until 4:30 when we finished the final vacuuming out thru the back porch. Everything looks and smells so clean. We had never done so much so fast. Then we took pictures of Dad and us five “kids”, since we don’t all get together very often. I woke up with a few sore muscles this morning, but it was worth it. — Sylvia

[Thanks Sylvia. I forgot to send you off with your camera so you don’t have photos of the work. At least we had the shot of you, Dad and your sister.]