Thursday, March 31, 2016

DO YOU SEE IT



A friend ask me yesterday if my Mom was delusional.
Her Dad had dementia and he was.

Well, according to Mom we have cows in our back woods.
She can clearly see them.
Apparently our next door neighbor can't keep his
cows in his fence.

Everyday, sometimes multiple times, Mom comments
about the cow in our woods.
"You would think that man would miss her".



Can you see it????


cow pictures pulled off Pinterest


Wednesday, March 30, 2016

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MY MOM


Every morning I try to get get up about six or six thirty.
It gives me enough time to
piddle and straighten up a bit
before Mom gets up.
I need to be ready for action when I hear her
walker scraping and moving down the hall.

When she first gets up, she doesn't have her
hearing aid on yet so I just heard her
into the bathroom where we take care
of morning duties.
Then it into the dining room/den/ I don't know room
where she has coffee and starts to
watch the birds at our
bird feeder.
I get her breakfast, she takes her pills
and then after a while we get
her dressed.

She may watch a little TV or look at magazines
(I'm not sure how much she follows on either)
We chit chat and ease into the morning.

By about ten thirty she is ready for a nap, where she
stays until about twelve when I wake her
for a bathroom visit and lunch.



 Weather permitting we get outside for some sunshine.
  Lately though, it has been a little too windy.

Depending on my timing, and
if I don't get Mom to the bathroom on a regular schedule
she may need to change her clothes
during the course of the day.
She will look at her mail or the paper
(again I don't know what connects and what doesn't)
but she goes through the motions.

Then it's nap time again until dinner is ready.
In the evening we watch a little TV
(Grit TV is a favorite of my Dad's),
then off to bed at about eight.





Monday, March 28, 2016

MAKING A NEST

Easter marked my third week here at 
Mom and Dads.
I've been busy trying to make a nest for myself.
I started with my own bedroom.


Over the last few months on my visits here
I've been bringing things to create a space that I could
call my own.
A sanctuary of sorts.
Almost everything in this room had to relocate with the exception of the bed, a small table and a wardrobe.

I created a make shift entertainment center
to accommodate
my wonderful smart TV that I
received for my 25 years at Victoria's Secret.
In fact, it is almost entirely made of things that
I scavenged, at one time or other
from Victoria's Secret.
Cubes, shelves, and risers.

I had to bring my art.
I need a little whimsy in my life here.

At the end of the day
retiring to a room where I can look at this guy,
I know
I can absolutely  live
with a lot of things in and on
my head.



Wednesday, March 23, 2016

THE ARRIVAL


Well, I'm here.
Fayetteville Tennessee.
I thought I'd give you a little tour.
This is my parents little brick ranch.
I will be calling it my home for...
well, a while.


Why,"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly",
because that's  how I see this journey.

"The Good"
Spending quality time with my parents
and making a difference in their lives.

"The Bad"
The emotional rollercoaster
I just got on.

"The Ugly"
The little brick ranch.



Outside it's really quite pretty.
Especially now in Spring.
The house overlooks three fields.
One across the road, and one on each side of the house,
both of which they own.



Our neighbor raises cattle and the view is nice right now.
He has a little pond in the middle of his field
that we can see through the trees.


My mom and Dad inherited this home from my uncle
about 15 years ago. 
Uncle James was not much on curb appeal,
this is our only flowering tree on the whole place.



Mom and Dad aren't much on aesthetics either.
Little story:
When I arrived my Mom had two silk ferns in these urns,
they had been there forever, in fact once I took them out and they somehow found their way back.
Well, once again I plucked them out, thinking
I can't live with this,
I placed them on our garbage pile in my Dad's shed.

Later, taking a little walk this is what I found.

Dad had taken them out of the garbage and thrown them into the woods
GO FIGURE???


I've been here sixteen days and just got my internet connected today.
I hope to be posting on a regular basis,
join me.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

AND SO IT BEGINS

I will be leaving my beloved sister
whom I've shared a wonderful home
with for the past twelve years.
I've quit my job, retired actually,
and will be starting a new journey
in a small rural Tennessee town,
Fayetteville.
Why, would I even think of leaving
this beautiful, charmed life?
Because it's the right thing to do.
My father turns 90 next month
and my Mom has dementia.
It's as simple as that.
What's a girl to do?


Meet the folks
Bill and Deloris.
Join me on my journey.