Sam Perkins visits Juneau…

June 29th 12:15 am

Me and Papa Sam at Mendenhall Glacier. It took an embarrassing amount of time for us to pose correctly for the selfie with the glacier behind us. Luckily there were not many people out and about to witness.

Hello my dear readers! Guess what? My father’s in town! He came middle of last week and is staying for 2 weeks! We already have had a blast exploring Juneau these past few days.There's a lot I want to write but it is very late and I have promised all those who love me that I will make sleep a priority because it does affect my mental health. So I will just bullet point what we have done so far and then give you ALLL the pictures.

Nina does not appreciate me hold her for these pics, but I can’t help it- she is just so cuddly and cute and sometimes I want to pick her up and squeeze her…

First, I want to give you a Gram update. Sweet Nik has taken over visiting her for me like when I was in Africa and she saw her on Friday. It makes me really sad to say, and I cried a bunch, but it was the first time Gram didn’t recognize her. Usually it takes a minute or two for her to figure it out when Nik visits without me because Gram doesn’t have the visual of us standing side by side. Gram’s eyesight is really going (I guess since it has been 30 years since her Lasik surgery this makes sense), so that does make it hard for her recognize faces. Nik said she tried everything she could think of: She put our wedding photo that has my Gram in it next to her face and pointed to herself, she wrote on the whiteboard a variation of “I am Jenny’s wife” or “I am Jenny’s roommate” (Gram still calls her that sometimes even though she went to our wedding and I think it is adorable) or “I am Jenny’s husband” (Gram refers to her as that sometimes and kind of winks and has a twinkle in her eyes when she does, I think to let me know she knows Nik isn’t really and Nikki said she’s ok with it). But no dice. Gram didn’t remember her.

It is actually even more sad because for some reason, the staff wouldn’t let visit her in the living room so Nik had to visit in Gram’s room and because Gram was confused of who Nik was, she got agitated and kept trying to leave the room (by wheeling herself out in her wheelchair), saying “Well, I don’t have to go to the bathroom. I want to go to the living room!”. Nik said she felt awful keeping her hostage but if she left the room, Nik wouldn’t have been able to visit. Sweet Nik even offered to soak her feet and she said no!

So yeah, I’m feeling lots of guilt about being so far away and having to rely on Nik to visit but I do know I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now and Gram would be ok with it if she could fully comprehend everything.

Nik and Gram at her visit last week- Gram actually looks the best I’ve seen her in a bit and I think it may be because they finally got a better hairdresser there…HA!

1.29.23 6:00 am

Well, I couldn’t finish the post so I set my alarm to finish it this morning.

As I was saying before, my dad came to visit last week and it has been so good for me to have someone here again to keep on task and schedule and not live like a bachelorette slob. This is the first time I’ve lived without someone since Nik moved into my house 13 years ago or so…so I knew it would be an adjustment. I like it but having someone walk into the house and see me on the couch all day isolating and not doing my meetings or socializing was definitely a nice motivation to not do that. So, yeah, dad coming is great.

What is awesome is my dad is in long term recovery too and works at a treatment center; (he actually lives there too and it is where he got sober), so he goes to meetings with me. It is so cool to see how much he has changed during his almost 4 years of sobriety. Unfortunately his sobriety journey this time around had to start with him getting arrested, having the sheriff do a live press conference about his arrest and the circumstances surrounding it, and then a pandemic that forced him out of jail and into a this treatment center, but it takes what it takes. It is so amazing to have my dad back and an even better version of him now. Recovery is incredible and is a testament that people really can change- no matter how old they are.

Yesterday, my dad and I had an epic day of hiking and exploring Juneau. We started first at the Auke Bay and the Tongass National Forest. Nina loved it and even though it was 28 degrees out, snuck into the water to chase the ducks when my back was turned. My dad has lost a lot of weight in the past 5 years, partially through bariatric surgery and partially through the better eating and exercise habits he’s gotten from his recovery program, Living Free (https://www.livingfreeministries.net). This means he is so much more spry and able to exercise and hike with me. It is so nice. I know many people would have been upset that I “let” my 66 year old father traverse the rocky beach and then the icy glacier hike we did, but he’s an adult and knows his limits and he really is super fit now. It is so nice!

Dad at the Mendenhall Glacier (the glacier is the blue ice and snow behind him…

The next place we went was to the see the glacier, which I want to remind everyone is 5 minutes from my office and that is still incredible to me! We did lots of photo ops, checked out the visitor center, bought ourselves souvenirs and did a little hiking on a very icy trail. We had a picnic lunch right in front of the glacier and it was the best view someone could ask for!

My dad did give me permission to disclose to everyone that he did take a tumble. It was very much in slow motion. I turned around and saw him falling like Humpty Dumpty down a very big ravine, wondering if he was going to break sometime or whatnot. He did an amazing job of tucking rolling and hardly had any sore pains right after or today.

Me and Dad at the drag show last night

I gave my dad the choice of a drag show on Saturday night or sober bowling with some of the new folx I met. He immediately said rage show, and it made me remember it went to my first pride event new me. He really tries to be intentional with his words and actions. The drag show was a hit and I will update more another time bit I did not sleep nearly as long as I I miss my home elliptical. It is so weirds.

Then we stopped at a sober bowling event just to see how fun it could me.

We did lots yesterday but I am fading and fast. I need a nap. I will write about the goings on of today either tonight and tomorrow since we’ve jam packed everything in right now.