Mother's Day 2023
What do you get the mom who has everything? You don't. You buy her a card and flowers and you make her food. Pretty easy.
I picked out flowers at the store on Saturday, and dad hid them in the garage for me overnight. He actually got up early enough yesterday to have them on the kitchen table before I got up, and before she came downstairs, so that worked out; I was able to get them in a vase for display. Then I made scrambled eggs for breakfast, simple but tasty. She kept saying, "Fluffy, not stuffy!" What...what are you going on about? She ended up searching that term and it was the tagline for Three Musketeers back in about 1972. Ah, no wonder it's not familiar to me. She also chose dinner, which was Manwich, corn on the cob, and salad. Simple, but she likes it.
We called grandma at 1 but didn't get an answer. About 10 minutes later she called back, not having heard the phone ring. Cue several more times of us calling her, since mom wanted it on our bill. First time, I must have called back too soon and it went straight to voicemail. Second time, the ring sounded funny and grandma sounded garbled, so we hung up. Third time was the charm. She let us know she's looking to get her driver's license renewed this week and was going to call mom's older brother to see if he could accompany her; she said sometimes she has to walk from a far parking spot and she could use someone to lean on. She called back during dinner to say he'd declined. Mom then said, can't you park in one of the handicapped spots? Apparently grandma didn't have a placard the last time she went and didn't even notice if there were such spots. ...There should be several, grandma.
My parents were annoyed that my uncle said no. They look at it as him not participating in the care of his elderly mother. Frankly, I can see the other side of the story--she only calls when she wants something, and being the oldest, I'm sure he got the brunt of my grandparents' bad parenting. All three of those kids came away damaged to some degree. Sometimes when you didn't have a good childhood, you want to avoid the adults who didn't help you out. Oh, and I guess he told grandma that he and his roommate don't think she should be driving anymore. Mom was incredulous when she said that to me after the call, but...yeah, kinda. I don't like the idea of her driving. She wasn't a great driver when she was younger. She's not going to improve with age. So...yeah.
I picked out flowers at the store on Saturday, and dad hid them in the garage for me overnight. He actually got up early enough yesterday to have them on the kitchen table before I got up, and before she came downstairs, so that worked out; I was able to get them in a vase for display. Then I made scrambled eggs for breakfast, simple but tasty. She kept saying, "Fluffy, not stuffy!" What...what are you going on about? She ended up searching that term and it was the tagline for Three Musketeers back in about 1972. Ah, no wonder it's not familiar to me. She also chose dinner, which was Manwich, corn on the cob, and salad. Simple, but she likes it.
We called grandma at 1 but didn't get an answer. About 10 minutes later she called back, not having heard the phone ring. Cue several more times of us calling her, since mom wanted it on our bill. First time, I must have called back too soon and it went straight to voicemail. Second time, the ring sounded funny and grandma sounded garbled, so we hung up. Third time was the charm. She let us know she's looking to get her driver's license renewed this week and was going to call mom's older brother to see if he could accompany her; she said sometimes she has to walk from a far parking spot and she could use someone to lean on. She called back during dinner to say he'd declined. Mom then said, can't you park in one of the handicapped spots? Apparently grandma didn't have a placard the last time she went and didn't even notice if there were such spots. ...There should be several, grandma.
My parents were annoyed that my uncle said no. They look at it as him not participating in the care of his elderly mother. Frankly, I can see the other side of the story--she only calls when she wants something, and being the oldest, I'm sure he got the brunt of my grandparents' bad parenting. All three of those kids came away damaged to some degree. Sometimes when you didn't have a good childhood, you want to avoid the adults who didn't help you out. Oh, and I guess he told grandma that he and his roommate don't think she should be driving anymore. Mom was incredulous when she said that to me after the call, but...yeah, kinda. I don't like the idea of her driving. She wasn't a great driver when she was younger. She's not going to improve with age. So...yeah.