Family Visit – Day Three
The garden we toured, originally created by a world renowned horticultural superstar, who still consults and volunteers for the local Indian tribe who now owns it, was a delight. The family elders enjoyed what we saw of it, and were very interested in what I shared with them about the plantings. I joined the garden […]
Monologues
The dialog(ette)s or conversations that comprise my mother’s communication consist of the following topics. This has been consistent for the last 10ish years: While listening to music, of any flavor, she’ll start tapping her knee in a syncopated rhythm and explain how she figured out, some years ago, the ‘beat’ is on the up tempo. […]
Family Visit – Day Two
Day two went better than expected, as it usually does. Upon greeting her brother at lunch, mom said, “I haven’t seen you since your hair turned grey!” She saw him four years, three months ago, and his hair was the same grey then as it is now. Charmingly, their hair color is almost identical. After […]
Family Visit – Day One
My day launched when my daughter texted to share that mom was freaking out due to her brother telling her, the evening before via phone, that I’d told him she would need to be institutionalize for the rest of her life. On a scale of 1 to 10, my anxiety was at an instant heart […]
June 16th, 2017 – Home Again
Waking up early allowed me to, barely, catch an earlier (three hours) boat. I was the third to last vehicle aboard, and being a 21 foot long truck, asking the universe for a big favor, until I set my parking brake, seemed to do the trick. No sooner than sitting down with my husband, after […]
June 13 – 16, Island Compulsiveness
While here I have: Never gotten to bed before 11, usually not before 1am. Vacuumed the house, twice. Weed whacked for hours. Watered plants, twice. Washed all the curtains in the house. The smoke stains remain, but they no longer smell. Edited mom’s vast magazine collection, ruthlessly. Started working on my dad’s dark room office. […]
Mom’s Flowers
Mom has a fine touch growing what most of us call Christmas cactus. Her versions of these plants bloom right now. For the last four years, each June she calls me, over and over, to tell me her cacti haven’t bloomed like this in years, or ever. I realize she just doesn’t remember how well […]
June 12 – Island Day One
Upon arrival another task was added to the list: Grass cutting. The exit drive makes it abundantly clear that no one is living here. I found the weed whacker, knew it had fresh-ish gas, and ran it until it was empty. The only other gas is of unknown vintage, and so not usable. The gravel, […]
Wisdom of the Ages
I could probably look this up, but does Wisdom of the Ages refer to a collective wisdom we as a species gather and grow as we evolve (current political evidence to the contrary), or does it mean that as we individually age we, if lucky, grow into wisdom as we jettison tightly held, or long […]
Dementia Dance - Travels with Mom 