Lots of things to catch up on. I haven’t had much motivation to post or take pictures, but anyway:
February saw a lot of snow and a lot of driving to McHenry. Auntie Mench checked into the hospital at the beginning of the month presenting symptoms of high blood pressure. Her heart was found to be in bad shape and underwent a quadruple bypass and repair of her mitral valve.
The surgery was successful, but she developed complications post-op and unfortunately spent the next few weeks on life support in the intensive care unit before it was clear that the likelihood of her recovery was slim to nonexistent. The clock turned past midnight on the morning of March 3; life support was terminated and soon afterward she passed onto the next life, having spent a scant 70 years on this earth. I try not to dwell on the unfortunate turn of events because it is not her death but her life that is important–but it’s hard to shake the regrets and the guilt of not having spent more time with her.
Life continued in the meantime–February saw a trip to the Chicago Auto Show with the Chicago MINI Motoring Club to check out the new MINI Cooper Clubman and some other very cool cars, and the beginning of March saw a mini-road trip to the Dells to rendezvous with the MINIs Motoring Against Cancer banner.
On the way to Chicago to be with the family before the funeral, the MINI struck an unholy pothole, trashing a rim and rendering Radcliffe immobile until I could find a replacement. I took the opportunity to put some new non-runflat tires on… so far, so good.