At the Foot of the Stairs

I am coming undone. During the past month, I've experienced ugly family blowups, orchestrated the fastest cross-country move on the planet, sent my husband off for a five-week-dream-come-true trip to the Middle East, and for just one night got out of town last week to Iowa to see some friends. For the past three days (and the past ten, with the perfect vision of hindsight), my dad has begun a rapid decline. They have been here for, what, a month? So of course, I'm second-guessing everything. If we were still in Utah, then I don't know if I would have my kids with me. Sam is working on campus and taking a college class. I was coming unglued already in Utah-- but if I had known that he was going to start declining this fast, I would have probably just stuck it out there. All indications were that we probably had months . Oh, melanoma, you trickster. You fooled us all. So, my mom and I, my three kids, and a couple of friends are holding down the fort. I looked at the clean...