Reality Blog

It seems this has become a reality blog. There always seems to be a looming crisis.

Martha has not been home for 10 days now. For the second week in a row I have gathered up the checks and mail and done the deposits for the office... today I did the payroll and the printer sucked in two checks at once. So I have ruined one blank check and that persons check was printed on plain paper. I try to fix it and it goes away... the computer won't let me print it again because it thinks I am a thief. I hand write that check... not pretty. I go home and sit at the kitchen table and try to figure out the deposit on a bejeweled calculator. The fun part is being creative with the rubber stamp. I try to see how high I can hold it and then slam it down in the little square on the back of the check... for deposit only. Does anyone know how to get that ink out of a kitchen table? I have made six neat stacks of papers and stuff so everything will be organized for her when she gets home. The cleaning lady came on Friday and put everything in one nice and neat stack. There are sticky notes everywhere... I have no idea where they go now. This is going to be interesting... I may leave town for 10 days when she comes home and tries to figure out what I have done... Lake Powell here I come... tent camping at 110 degrees, no problem... sounds more bearable...

I went to visit my Mom in Fredericksburg. My Mom has "Old Timers Disease." That is what she calls it and then she laughs. My Sister lives a about a mile from my Mom, but she has been out of town this week. It seems that Mom has run off a few times more than normal this week. She runs real well when they come to get her. She took a good fall this week, but she was not hurt. She laughed about it with me... says, "They can't catch me." This is all pretty normal and I am sad, but it is the "normal" we live with. I know they allow her to "escape" it sets off an alarm when she does it. They watch her on TV and eventually they go ask her to come in. This week she has taken to pinching fellow residents, and this is new. Tonight she asked me to take her to see her Mother and this is new too. While she is talking, she is looking at the collages of photographs (complete with names and dates) that I have hung on the wall. She helped me put the collages together over a year ago. She remembered quite a bit back then, and we actually got most of the names and dates right... what mattered most was the time spent together. I realize that is where she is. Mom is 90 and she thinks it is 1949... she is living in that time. She questions me deeper as I try to figure out what to say. Regrettably, I tell her she is 90 and her this photo was taken in 1949. Two minutes later we go down the same road. Later she points to a photo of me on a tricycle when I was 4 years old. She says, "He is such a good boy". I blurt out... "That is me, Mom". She pats me and says, 'You are such a good boy". She tells me I am her favorite Son and I tell her she is my favorite Mom. The nurse comes and tells her it is time for bed.

I get in my truck and head home... with the Eagles singing "Get Over It", just a loud as I can stand it... I have the CD stopped on that song when I go to see Mom... It's the first one I always listen to when I leave... I always try to follow it with "Take it Easy".

Stay tuned... tomorrow is the "Chicken Pox" dilemma... and who knows what else?

Shoot! I forgot to make the deposit...