It's a Gregorious Life

Sunday

Mom was enthusiastic when I called about 2pm and asked if she'd like to go sit on the porch. "That sounds good to me" she said.

She was in the lobby talking to Mrs. Perry's daughter when I got there at 230. We sat out there til I took her in to supper at 450. She had went to Sunday school then lunch later.

I told her when I got there that I had an apple turnover we could have after supper. But after I finished hanging up her laundry and went back to the dining room to get her I saw she was eating a piece of sweet potato pie.

John said she didn't want the jello on her plate so he flagged someone down and got her the pie. I thanked him and he said "I try to take care of her."

She wheeled into the room later carrying the coffee I had gotten for her to have with the pie. She wanted to know where the apple turnover was.

I told her it was in my bag and that she didn't need it since she had already had dessert. No, she protested. I told her I'd take it home. "It won't be good once it gets cold" she said. I told her I'd remember that whie I was eating it later tonight.

She laughed but continued on. "Where is it?....can I see it? ...can I just have a bite?" so I did give her a bite and she was happy.

We returned to the porch where David and Pat joined us. I told them about the turnover fiasco and mom just laughed and shook her head. She was looking very good today. I left about 650.

I went by dads grave on the way home and put new flowers on it and two flags. When I got home a rabbit was there to greet me.

It was a good day.

Tuesday

Mom was in her room when I called as I left work. She was halfway down the hall when I got there.

I wasn't there but a moment when Pat walked out into the garden with us. She had some of moms clothes with her.

Mom went to the resident birthday party today with Batchie. They had cake and drinks.

Then I came home and saw this on Fox 18. This man is like Hitler. Is this our future? Kill anyone different? That's not the Christian message I got from my parents. Was it yours?

http://youtu.be/d2n7vSPwhSU

Thursday

Yesterday at moms we all sat out front on the porch after she finished
eating. She was in a good mood. She reminisced about how she still
remembered funny sayings that Paw Smith had said, live "quiver" for cover
and things like that. "It's funny how we can remember things like that from
so long ago."

Today I went over after work and ran into a former co-worker whose mother in
law is across the hall from mom. She came over and said hello to mom. Mom
was looking for her tissues.

She had called me earlier in the day but it was so busy I told her I had to
call her back. I did but she didn't answer. She said they had the family bbq
tonight. I had forgotten about it and I don't know that anyone else knew.
She said Julia, her tablemate, "Julia's daughter was there and she helped
me. She cut up my bbq and got me some milk" mom said. I had to work til 7.
They usually have them those days.

She said they had tacos for lunch. I told her that's what I had too I told
her.

She looked good in her pretty top and actually had a smile on her face when
I took her photo.


♡ PEACE ♡
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`'¹li¡|¡|¡il¹'`
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God has not called us to see through each other, But to see each other
through.
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'Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of
battle.'
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Monday

Mandy was out back with mom and her brother today when I got there after work.

We moved to the front porch. Mom had on her new clothes Tim got her. I tried to get her to smile for a photo and barely succeeded.

She told me she doesn't like to smile. It goes back to an incident that happened when she was staying with her mother.

Someone said something funny and mom laughed really hard. Rudy's son Shane saw her and thought her teeth were big. "Wow you've got FANGS!" she said he shouted. It must have crushed her because she said "you wouldn't want to smile either if you had fangs."

Such a strong woman to still be hurt by a child's harmless content even at her age. Are any of us any less vulnerable, at any age ?

I remember being on the school bus in junior high and I was lip syncing a song on the radio as we all rode on the school bus. My friend Jackie looked at me an with such a blank, expressionless face said to me "you have a large mouth for a boy."

I've been insecure ever since. I said things to people at that age that I'm sure made them feel the same way.

Our struggle as believers is that after all the hurts of this life, many committed by those that portray themselves as righteous when really they practice selective literalcy, we know there is peace in the next.

Mothers Day 2012

Mom seemed to have a good week. The facility had some mothers day activities and singing and her church deacon came by.

On Friday she got to see Terry and Marianne and Annabelle before they left for Hilton Head and beyond.

She hasn't been getting exercises though. Saturday we had a good laugh on the porch about her and Frank if they were to marry. I told her the bluebirds were home.

Sunday we all left the facility about 2 and met Tim at Catfish Cove. After lunch we went back and had some awesome cake Pat had made. Then mom opened presents. She seemed to have a good day.

Monday, April 30th 2012

I had to work over little and got to moms about 630. She and Donald were on the front porch.

He said she was asleep when he got there. Glady's husband came in to check on her and get her to supper. She was confused and thought it was the next day at breakfast, that she had been in the same clothes as last night, etc. 

But they had sat outside after supper in the sun and she really enjoyed that. She said she had a dream last night that my cousin Cindy and I were married. Donald said they went to Showmars over the weekend and "nobody was there, I counted 15 people." I asked him if those people knew he thought of them as nobody. 

They went about 7 and I retreated. But before that I captured them in all their goofiness. 

Wednesday

Mom and Donald were already out back when I got there just after 5. He said she didn't eat her fish for supper because she was afraid of bones.

Adrian saw me and came out and said Dr E said mom can't be put to sleep because of her breathing, for the oral surgery Monday. But we're not sure if that includes sedation so she's going to check on that by calling Dr. Jameson and asking him directly to clarify. If she can't she can't. I'm getting the feeling the nursing/doctor side is against the procedure so I'll be glad to have it clarified and then let mom make the final decision.

She said she had a busy day. Therapy, nails, Terry was there, "I haven't been in my room much all day" she said. I told her that was good because she was busy and she said no it wasn't because she didn't get any rest. I told her rest for sleep at night. 

Mrs. Neely stopped by she and mom started talking about the wistria in the front of moms house. I think it was wisteria, I can't remember. But I brought up the tree that got hit by lightening on that side of the house and mom said "that was like me and the stoke. I'm the tree" she said, pointing to her chest.

Her brother and his wife made an unscripted visit to the mountians yesterday and seemed to enjoy it.

This will be the last daily blog from me until May. I'm taking the rest of March and all of April off due to pain in my left hand and side that makes it difficult to type after doing it all day at work. I will continue to post updates of note, such as her oral surgery on Monday, but nothing daily unless circumstances warrant. 

Thanks for listening.

The Weekend, March 23-25 2012

Friday evening was spent on the porch. Mom had on a top that matched the colors in one of her bracelets, which I mistaken called a necklace. "It's a bracelet, not a necklace" she said.

Tim had been there earlier before lunch and had gotten them some stuff from KFC. They ate it out back in the garden.I told her and Donald about a dream I had that morning about dad driving a speedboat with us in it.

Terry came by Saturday and they sat out in the sun. David and Pat joined them. They all left before supper. I went over after that. She said she had pecan pie. We sat on the porch but ended up in the room to get the sticky off her fingers.

 I told her about Drake finding a snake out back just before I came over there. It was a black snake it looked like. He chased it under the house. I'm glad it didn't bite him. She said she played bingo that morning but didn't win anything.

Sunday I took her laundry back and she was still eating supper when I got there. I took her some brownies too but she chose to forgo them because she had carrot cake for supper, after her ham and something else I can't remember. The Salvation Army had been by at 2.

We sat out on the porch even though it was in the 60's. She had her sweater on but I didn't. I told her I was going to wer one to work tomorrow even though it's supposed to be much warmer. She said that may be what's wrong with my shoulder, not wearing a sweater. She laughed and said "we keep talking and we'll solve this mystery. I feel like a detective" she said. I went to the restroom and still could not use the left arm to flush, it didn't have enough strength to mash the lever.

I left and went to the car wash and saw a clever sign on the way out.

 

The Case of the Missing Green Bean

I suppose it's appropriate that "Murder, She Wrote" was on tv when I got to moms about 4. Trivia: When the show was in first-run production it was known in South Africa by the title "The Murders She Wrote."

The mystery today was the green bean that I saw on her leg yesterday. Pat sent me a text message tonight that they found it on the bathroom floor. She said mom and the nurse had a good laugh about it because she told her I had asked her if she ate it. Pat texted a photo of her laughing about it. She said mom saved it to show me but before they got there someone had thrown it away. That was a really good "you had to be there" event.

When I got there I saw the Hershey wrapper from the bar I brought her yesterday. I asked her if she had eaten it and she said yes then she asked if I wanted some of it. I said no! She laughed.

We went out to the dining room and I ran an errand then came back. Mrs. Perry's daughter brought mom out to the porch where I was waiting. She sat in the sun for a good while. She seemed happy. We had sat out back in the garden for a little while prior to supper. When we went back to the room afterwards she was hearing that music again, this time it was hymns.

The Weekend, February 24th-26th

Friday mom and Donald were in the lobby when I got there. She said she had some therapy that day. She played bingo but didn't win anything she said.

The Kings Messengers were there to sing, or that was them that were there Thursday night I think.

Saturday Terry and Mandy went over just before lunch and stayed til after I got there at 4. Mandy put a St. Patrick's Day charm on moms door. David had called me at lunch and said Belks had a big sale on so I went by there and got 2 shirts on my way over. Then Pat called later and invited mom and I to lunch tomorrow at their house.

Terry said they had done her exercises in the room. After they left I took mom down to supper then sat with Wilma a few minutes. Lisa and her husband came in and I went on to moms room a little after that. When mom got back from supper she said she had bbq and baked beans and greens. Lisa and Bruce stopped in to say good night. I had brought my computer to do some work on that scrapbook for Batchie from the reunion in October so I got a little but done with that.

Sunday I picked mom up at 1215 and we headed to David and Pats. We forgot though that their wheelchair was in mom's trunk so we had to go back to her house to get one out of the building. We hadn't figured out at that point that the other one was in her trunk. On the way back to David and Pats I drove down the street to the new Piedmont and Northern station and got a photo of one of the two locomotives sitting there.

Pat had a great lunch with chopped steak and gravy, broccoli casserole, rice, green beans and home made biscuits. Then she had pumpkin pie after that and mom had some coffee with it. She was in food heaven. So was I. I told them my tongue thought it had died and went to the Food Network.

After lunch we went to the living room and David and Pat got mom into the recliner. She and Gus were pretty much sacked out. Before she napped she was watching racing until they switched it to Matlock.

She had to go to the restroom so they helped her in there. She got embarresed though that her pull up was wet. She talked about it from the house all the way back to the room. We got back about 545.

In the room she looked so upset and I told her she looked like she had committed a crime. She said it was, and that it was humiliating to be in that position. I told her that was crazy and she had a good laugh out of it and forgot about it. Just before I left she took her beads off and said "well I guess the party's over I'll take my beads off. I told her I could leave now since that was a sign she would not be up to any mischief tonight.