Frustration. Disappointment. Grief.

So I have a deathly ill uncle in California. The doctors are telling folks that they need to get in their last visits pronto, and when my mother talked to him, she said he was very confused and faded in and out.

She wants to visit him. I want her to visit him. It’d be awesome if one of my aunts could visit him, too, because the three of them were close.

My father just bought a $500+ cell phone and service, leaving him dependent on that money I’d said I’d give them to pay for groceries. Deduct from that money the cost of my trip to move in (because I won’t get paid again until the end of the week I move in). Deduct again for groceries for the next week. Deduct for gas for his little sports car and for my mother (and me, if she goes to LA) to get my little sister to and from school. Deduct for his meals out.

Short notice plane + hotel + car for a trip to LA runs upwards of $700 for a single person, and I’ve been scouring all the airline ticket sites I can find. I simply don’t have that much money, even if I return the clothing I bought yesterday.

Driving to LA in a rental car would be cheaper, but would require her to drive a day to get to Cincinatti to pick up my aunt and cousin (she would need the extra drivers), then two days for them to get to LA. If she left tomorrow morning, she would get to LA on Monday night, get to visit for a couple of days, then drive back for three more days to bring me up to Terre Haute with all my shit. We’d leave out on Saturday morning, and she’d have to drive back on Sunday, because Ali has school on Monday.

An alternative would be for her to stay a little longer in LA, just drive up to Terre Haute and meet me, drop off the rental car in Terre Haute, and drive her own car back on Sunday. This has the added risk of my driving to Terre Haute by myself with Ali, because she simply cannot be left at home with the Old Man.

Do we see the miles and time behind the wheel adding up? She’s a damn good driver, and has no problem making the round trip from Charlotte to Kentucky/Ohio/Indiana by herself, but this would give her no rest at all.

The logistics are simply not in our favor.

And it doesn’t seem to have crossed my father’s mind to return the damn Blackberry phone, no matter how cute and gadgety it is.