I am sitting here, waiting for the snow to start, with a migraine headache. Tomorrow my mother will be 86 years old, and if it is snowing, I won’t be able to go see her. Yes, I know lots of people go right ahead and drive as usual when it snows, but I don’t think I can. I no longer have my Jeep.
The Jeep was not only my snow-mobile, it was my dog-mobile. I had 2 beautiful German Shepherds, Duke and Gretta. But both of them have passed away, and I went crazy when I turned 60. I traded my Jeep for a Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible. Then I got a Great Pyrenees dog. 93 pounds she weighs. So I need the Jeep back for 2 reasons, the snow and the dog.
Mom lives in another city, and her friend Nancy, who is my age, is taking her to the grocery store this afternoon. That’s an obligatory outing when snow is forecast in the South. I have probably broken a law by not going myself. Perhaps they will go easy on me because of the migraine. But I have a nice card and wonderful gift for mother ready to take to her tomorrow and now I doubt I will be able to give them to her. My computer is a Mac, and I used the tools provided by iPhoto to design a 2011 calendar using photos of Mom’s favorite people, places, and pets. It came out beautifully. I recommend it. And she's getting two velour pant and jacket sets.
The picture of Mom was taken early on Christmas morning a very few years ago in her kitchen. She's never used a drop of hair color. But since that picture, she has aged rapidly. The eighties are being hard on her. She has lost several inches in height, quite a few pounds, and her memory is beginning to fail. Her greatest challenge is words, names for things, nouns. She will paraphrase, describe, so that I will supply the right word. Sometimes I fail. But her health is good, and her doctor always said she'd live to be ninety. That's close, now.
The picture of Mom was taken early on Christmas morning a very few years ago in her kitchen. She's never used a drop of hair color. But since that picture, she has aged rapidly. The eighties are being hard on her. She has lost several inches in height, quite a few pounds, and her memory is beginning to fail. Her greatest challenge is words, names for things, nouns. She will paraphrase, describe, so that I will supply the right word. Sometimes I fail. But her health is good, and her doctor always said she'd live to be ninety. That's close, now.
Well, I am going to feed Miss Kia, the Great Pyrenees, and Shadow and Readmore, my two cats, then walk the dog. Maybe the evening air will cure the headache. Or maybe not. I’ll be watching for snow flakes. I know how blessed I am to have my mother at 86. It will be a disappointment not to spend her birthday together, but I thank God for her. It is enough just knowing she is in this world with me. I’ll think about all this as Kia and I walk in the dog park in the twilight.
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