AGING MOTHER

I am still "practicing" for when I quit my job next month, and of course hoping I can make it on my Social Security and a bit of savings. I'm taking 3 days off work this week (yesterday, today, and tomorrow), and one thing I'll be able to do more of is spend more time with Mother. She's 93 and physically frail but mentally mostly all there. Some of her "slips" are not much worse than mine!

I got to spend about 9 hours with her yesterday, just the 2 of us at her house, and I had a wonderful time! It's something to think about if I ever make it to that age. Here's how it went:

First the "bad":
It upsets her that most of the time, she is unable to attend worship, even though the church house is less than 2 miles away. She does read the Bible a lot and, as we say, she's "studying for her finals".
She said that now that she cannot drive (she quit driving 2 or 3 years ago), she understands my frustration at not being able to go anywhere, anytime. (I became legally blind 7 years ago and obviously had to quit driving.)
She was repetitious several times, about several things.
She complained some about a lot of people (including me)! She was "no respecter of persons"!
She complained some about how many pills she takes every day.
She complained that her knees hurt and squeak. I told her once that maybe she needed to get a ride to Jiffy Lube; another time I asked if she wanted me to get the WD-40! We both laughed about that.
She complained some that people seem to have forgotten her, and that she'd like some phone calls and visits.

But by far, our visit was good!

Like me, she has a screened-in porch. The weather was beautiful, and we sat there and talked (I had some crocheting as usual) and watched the birds (mostly cardinals, sparrows, and mourning doves) and squirrels. She went outside to the muscadine (or scuppernong) arbor and walked around some, but at least this time she didn't fall!
She worked some search word puzzles, while I worked a crossword puzzle.
We both reminisced about bygone days and people.
We shared kitchen chores in fixing grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.
She is re-reading "Tuesdays with Morrie", which I loaned her. She loves it, as I do, and even though it's about Professor Schwartz in the 4 months before his passing, Mother said she wishes she had such an upbeat attitude! (I've already written a couple of things about that true story; you'll just have to find a copy yourself and read it!)

Because I'd been up off and on so early, about mid-afternoon, Mother noticed I was nodding. I was on the couch, so I lay down. A little later, Mother put a blanket over me and tucked it around my feet! ... always a caring mother!

(We had a storm that hit yesterday about 3 a.m., which woke me up. I had to set the alarm on my cell phone so I'd be up in time to call bus dispatch and cancel my trips, up about 5:15 to do that - the electricity was out about 4+ hours, then a little after 6, 2 others who ride the same bus I ride but are picked up later, calledto ask if I was on the bus or knew where the driver was ... well, you get the idea.)

About 8 p.m., my nephew brought me back home. How blessed I am to still have Mother!