Omigosh, It's Christmas!
December has been unusually mild and a lot of us are looking forward to our first "two month winter" in a long time. Visiting Mom has been a pleasure. I have discovered a new bus route to the nursing home that lets me off about a ten minute walk away. New Yorkers can never have too many alternate bus and subway routes at their command.
On Saturday, soon after I had warmed up the Kindle with a few selections from West Side Story, I could see Mom's lips moving. I turned down the music and bent close enough to hear her whisper, "Tell me..." Just those two words. I wanted to answer her. But, tell her what? What wold she most want to hear? Finally, I bent back down as close to her good ear as I possibly could and shouted,
"Everybody's fine!"
"What?"
"Everybody's fine!"
"Oh. All right."
Yesterday, I had a very sharp premonition while walking down one of my shortcuts, of the street as it would appear covered in snow. It was not such a scary prospect from the vantage point of a seventy degree afternoon with much of the grass along the way still a crisp green. I also realized as I approached the nursing home how no matter the length and stress of the trip to get there, it all sort of disappears once I gain the final few steps of the way.
I hate to say this, but after five and a half years, the nursing home is starting to feel a little bit like home.
On Saturday, soon after I had warmed up the Kindle with a few selections from West Side Story, I could see Mom's lips moving. I turned down the music and bent close enough to hear her whisper, "Tell me..." Just those two words. I wanted to answer her. But, tell her what? What wold she most want to hear? Finally, I bent back down as close to her good ear as I possibly could and shouted,
"Everybody's fine!"
"What?"
"Everybody's fine!"
"Oh. All right."
Yesterday, I had a very sharp premonition while walking down one of my shortcuts, of the street as it would appear covered in snow. It was not such a scary prospect from the vantage point of a seventy degree afternoon with much of the grass along the way still a crisp green. I also realized as I approached the nursing home how no matter the length and stress of the trip to get there, it all sort of disappears once I gain the final few steps of the way.
I hate to say this, but after five and a half years, the nursing home is starting to feel a little bit like home.