reluctant reentry
I spent last weekend in a place as close to perfect as I've been in a long time. Good friends, good food, a good book, a lake, mountains, a spacious home with lots of decks, pitchers of Cosmos, and laughter-filled games of Boggle. I could have stayed there forever.
Now I'm back in the situation I should never gotten into, and I'm finalizing plans for my escape, with support from both the Hospice nurse and social worker. I would like to take my mother (92 years old and demented) with me, where we would be with our extended family in a home with beautiful gardens on a dead end street with lots of neighbors. She would have pleasant distractions from the painful movements of her body and mind. I would bring in the help we both need.
But my brother doesn't want to let her go. And I just can't stay.
As my hair grows gray, I need to spend more time in places of peace.
carefully care-free
Four days free of caregiving!
I am heading out tomorrow with my gaggle of friends to Lake Luzerne, which is not far from Lake George, which, as fate would have it, is the site of the annual motorcycle Americade at the same time. No doubt, the roads will be crawling with hogs of all kinds and their wannabe relatives
Back in high school, I dated a guy with a motorcycle -- unbeknownst to my parents of course. It might be fun to ride on one again. I mean, isn't there some commercial where a grandmother rides in on the back of a bike that her grandson is driving? Hmm. Maybe I'll run into a senior citizen biker.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out if the itchy bumps popping up on my arms are flea bites or hives or some sort. I can't seem to find any fleas on my cat, but I know those critters are pretty tricky.
Also, meanwhile, the hospice nurse continues to check in on my mother. Mom somehow fractured a rib while I was gone a few weekends ago. While the pain seems to be finally subsiding, she is getting less and less stable on her feet and just is not happy about very much. The nurse brought in a young woman who played the guitar and sang, and my mother seemed to like that -- although after they left, she was sure that they stole some of her jewelry.
I don't know how my brother is going to handle four days and three nights taking care of mom on his own. If it were me, I'd hire someone to come in and help. I'm leaving a list of available private hires on the refrigerator and a stockpile of food that mom likes inside.
I am sooo out of here.
