My mother has become a Costco aficionado, again.
    Yesterday she corralled me from sample table to sample table. While we were making the rounds it occurred to me that this was a bullet-proof way of exposing those on specialized diets to the former delights of their now more disciplined palates at least once a week, and it seems to satisfy from visit to visit. Although Mom still wanted a polish sausage with sauerkraut afterwards, depending on the array of samplers I have known her to pass up a proffered lunch.
    At the smoked meat case for bacon I sidled up to a man about my age who was shopping with his father. "Dad," he said, "you love bacon. Get the good stuff. You can afford it." This is not only precisely my policy with my mother, a few years ago I had precisely this conversation with her at precisely this place. This is Costco. Get the good stuff, the lean, thick sliced, maple cured bacon. We use enough so we can buy in bulk. It worked for us. It worked for this man and his dad, too.
    My mother was never the owner of emotional incapacitation in this regard. My father was the needlessly stingy (as well as cleverly frugal and a smart investor) one in our family. His obsessions became her habits. Immediately after his death, though, she recarpeted the house from dirty rust to off-white and purchased a micro-wave before the "funeral baked meats" spoiled and the guests were gone. But when she forgets what day today is, she sometimes thinks we must cinch more than we do and more, sometimes, than is advisable. As well, she is not a particularly materialistic person (both of us delight in our ability to use things beyond what is, today, considered appropriate) so sometimes she doesn't want something simply because the item doesn't matter enough to her to buy for quality. And sometimes, like all of us, her cheaper tastes get the better of her.
    Today is wide open. I might even be spending more time online.
    Later.
- posted by gail rae @ 12:22  0 comments   email...this post

 
I still haven't figured out...
...how to delete that empty row in the ammended medication schedule for A.M. (8/14/03), but everything else worked, so her med schedule is essentially updated.
    Doctors and Patience is taking fine shape in my mind, thanks to the conference, yesterday. I've been spending lots of time with my mother; we've been out a bit, today.
    The refinancing papers came today so we're outta here in a little over a week, probably. I'm hoping we'll be able to make a goods delivery trip this weekend, maybe Sunday, and another trip to stop mail forwarding on Wednesday. Then we're up the mountain for the season, maybe a somewhat extended season if the weather is warm.
- posted by gail rae @ 20:59  0 comments   email...this post

 
Just a note to note...
...I attempted to post the medication addition of metformin to Mom's regimen, but the auto-web-page-program I'm using through my ISP doesn't seem to want to update tables at the moment. At any rate, for an explanation of why and how I'm adding, with extreme circumspection, this medication, see today's blood glucose readings at How Sweet it Is.
- posted by gail rae @ 09:03  0 comments   email...this post

 
No evening blood glucose reading.
    I laid down for a 'nap' around 1900 and didn't awaken until 2230, after my mother had gone to bed, sans oxygen, sans tests, sans changing paper underwear and completely happy.
    I'm refreshed (unfortunately, I think, since I need to awaken early this morning and usher my mother through a hair-appointment/Costco day), though, and decided to write a Sharing Wisdom Conference Review before going to bed. I gave the review its own page. I still have loads of literature to go through and, for fun, I'll list the goodies I got, but those can come later.
    To publishing and to bed.
    Later.
- posted by gail rae @ 02:32  0 comments   email...this post

 
Blood Sugar Blips
    Although her Midday is almost ten hours past her A.M., I'm putting it under Midday because I intend to take a reading later tonight.
    She was on her own from 0745 - 1530. When I returned she was up but just up. Same for The Girls (our cats). The popcorn I popped had not been eaten. The soy cracker pouch was zipped. The water had not been drunk. The can of V-8 juice had not been opened. One confirming scan of my mother's internally puckered fingers and I realized it was obvious what had gone on in this house all day. Nothing but sleep.
    It's all right. A day like this here and there give both of us a break. But when my mother got excited over her blood glucose reading this afternoon, I assured her that sleeping all day, drinking nothing and eating nothing is not the way one wants to achieve normal blood sugar. "I allowed that before," I said, "when I didn't know better, and we paid for it. If it is within my power, I'm not going to let it happen again."
    "Well, I suppose not," she slied. My mother. She'll get in as many all-sleep no-anything-else days as she can. I'm a sleep lover, too, so I sympathize but we already know what happens when I let her sleep all the time. Neither of us enjoyed that experience.
    So I gave her a tall glass of diluted, delicious orange juice and placed the popcorn in her eye-sights. Now, I'm coaxing her through 16 oz. of water.
    I dispensed her glipizide without waiting a half hour. I can tell that this evening is going to be All Aboard the Snack Train so it won't matter when I give it to her and it certainly isn't worth it to battle each other while we're both waiting. Sometimes decisions like this are made in regards to medication that are examples of the "art" of medicine, versus the science of medicine.
    Today I was attending the Sharing Wisdom Caregiver's Conference (also known as "Fearless Caregiver Conference"> in Phoenix. I'll review it, later, probably effusively. Suffice it to say here:

1. I'm glad I went. I'm glad I was offered one of the "few" free placements.
2. It was kind of a waaaay scaled down Women's Expo for caregivers with a fancy looking lunch and very satisfactory table service, which you can't get at Women's Expo, but overall, Women's Expo is better and more satisfying to its purpose, and it's free. If I hadn't received free entrance I don't know that I would have gone because I am familiar with small scale trade shows (which this conference was), having both attended and put together some and usually, those are free, too, and include comparable food and service.
3. Although I can say that I met the organizers, talked with them, had some time to sense them and am very impressed, I have to say that the conference needed more organization, maybe more money (perhaps in the way of endorsements and solicitation of vendors) and more sophistication.
4. The conference gave me the sense of a small but ambitious corporation with a currently small, slick portal and big, slick thoughts, with the added bonus that its founder(s) has a compelling personal interest in Caregiver.com. I don't have a problem with the slick, as it is a fuzzy slick, but I can see that the entire area of business related to caregivers has a long way to go...very promising, and wide open, as well.

    More will be published later, if you're interested.
    Oh. Yes. I've begun to add counters. It is a free Nedstat counter. Clicking on it will take you directly to my stats. Click away. I'm curious, too, which is why I've installed it.
    If I remember, I'll do my "official" review of the Conference in a different color. Maybe that cool, light lavender that I love so much.
- posted by gail rae @ 17:32  0 comments   email...this post

 
A funny thing happened on our way through check-out.
    I think I've used this intro before but, trust me, you haven't heard this one yet!
    As we tripped smartly through the grocery today, a new one having a grand opening, loaded with coupons for free items, a few of which we needed, my mother quietly placed a super-size of M&M's with Peanuts in the basket. I didn't discover it until I was unloading the cart at check-out.
    "Mom," I pleaded, "I know you really want this, and I feel horrible denying it to you, but, things are going so well, let's not test the waters just yet."
    "You're not going to let me have it." Her voice was triple edged, if such a sound is possible.
    "No, Mom, I'm not. I promise you, you will, again, sometime, be able to eat candy, but we're in a convalescent stage, let's wait a few weeks before we push it." I put the bag into an empty POP magazine holder.
    I continued unloading the basket. Before I was done my mother rediscovered the M&M's with Peanuts in the magazine holder, picked them up and announced, delighted, "Well look what someone left here!" as though Bacchus had taken a personal interest in her.
    I reached across the basket, laughing, and said, "You're a sly one, Mom, leaving it there and then making it look like it was left for you! You must want candy really bad! I'm so sorry, Mom, that it isn't a good idea for you to have it, now. I'm going to give this to the check-out clerk to put back. I promise, in a few weeks, we'll try heavy-duty sweets, again."
    By this time we were face to face with the clerk. I looked toward the tally of our goods and noticed four pairs of eyes glaring at me as though I was, well, taking candy from a baby. As I handed the goody package to the clerk she said, with a good-natured, supplication, "Come on, it won't hurt her..."
    I was surprised but was in an excellent mood and continued, chuckling, defending my case, "Trust me," I addressed all onlookers, "this could hurt. We've been battling anemia and quirky kidneys and her blood sugar for several months and we're just turning it around. Right now, this can and will hurt. Maybe not next time. Where there's healing there's hope."
    It worked. Eyes of humorous suspicion switched to sympathy focus. The check-out clerk one station down from us even said to my mother, "You're daughter's doing you proud. You listen to her, now."
    As we left, I assured our clerk my behavior wouldn't seem so mean next time. Internally I was making a note that this wouldn't necessarily happen because I wouldn't behave this way again with my mother, but, as a result of this incident, these four people would be sympathetic, next time.
    Did I mind? No, not at all, surprisingly. I never mind when people around us ask for explanations of my behavior with and public restrictions on my mother. I really do sense us as part of a community that, if it hasn't yet gotten it about within-family elder care, it's going to get it, through Mom and me, and I love setting an encouraging example. Most of the people who speak out fearlessly on behalf of my mother and the choices into which I steer her (and most of the onlookers) will one day find themselves in one or both of the spaces she and I currently occupy. Even if they share an incident that doesn't appear to be significant to their lives, as I find my mother and myself involved in these events I almost autonomically pump a little extra energy through the moments to highlight the incident for them so it will later be recalled. Insisting that we parade our adventure through the community is exactly how I see us being able to educate the community.
    I remember, a few months ago, when Mom was very lethargic and I could expect a shitting accident at least once a week, in public or not, we found ourselves arriving for one of her hair days a bit late. I had called, but was up to my elbows in shit so I didn't explain until we arrived, sotto voce to her hair dresser. "It's okay," she said before I could finish, "you don't have to explain."
    Without irritation I responded, "Yes, I do. We all need to know how it will be as we take on more and more of this care. We need to know how it will be for us and that it's okay to be this way in public, in polite society. The elders we tend are the senior citizens of our polite society."
    To my astonishment and delight, she understood and agreed with me.
    I never miss a chance to let people see us, interact with us, become actively involved in our appearances and our choices. I like to encourage others, us, to become what we truly appear to have the just-this-side-of latent ability to be: A community that embraces our Ancient Ones and looks forward to being embraced when we are Ancient.

    As a footnote to today's 'funny thing': on the way home, knowing my mother was simmering with sugar disappointment, I suggested an alternative. "Mom, when we get up to Prescott what we should do is, on days when you have sugar-need really bad, we should plan on going out for a dessert dinner. That way we won't have it in the house, we can get really good sugar rather than junk sugar, we'll have a few hours to prepare for it and the money we haven't spent on junk sugar will go toward quality sugar. As long as we can't have sugar that much, anymore, let's turn it into a celebration of sugar's excellence."
    Mom thought this was a great idea. So be it.
- posted by gail rae @ 13:34  0 comments   email...this post

 
April Daily Blood Glucose readings will be published shortly.
    To give you an example of interesting historical commentary, click into this link.
    March will be next, perhaps today, perhaps over the next few days. I'll also be adding an intra-page navigation section up top and modifying the explanatory material into a more easily read bullet list.
    I think, for September, I'll be starting a companion page, probably called How Sweet It, 2, Is. Seriously, folks.
    Tomorrow will be a hectic day. Expect few to no posts. I'll explain later.
- posted by gail rae @ 07:49  0 comments   email...this post

 
All recent ammendations...
...will be, momentarily, fully searchable.
- posted by gail rae @ 07:34  0 comments   email...this post

 
Make it a habit...
...to check out Daily Blood Glucose updates on How Sweet It Is for current news relating to Mom's vitality. I won't bother to repeat that news here unless further commentary seems suitable.
- posted by gail rae @ 05:45  0 comments   email...this post

 
I've posted the Daily Blood Glucose Readings back through 5/03
    They're pretty slim and erratic. I'm including blood test glucose readings as they fit in. I don't think I'll do any more today. It's been a busy day and still I've been able to get in July, June and May. No more today, except, of course, for today's evening reading. I'm not sure what to expect. She's been good, today, and we got out a bit, this morning, moving around, but I feel like I need a short nap and I think she might snack before dinner. Oh well.
- posted by gail rae @ 15:33  0 comments   email...this post

 
Oh, and Saturday...
...amazing. Again. Or, no, I guess Sunday was the "again". The first "amazing" day was actually Friday. My mother's hair stylist had introduced me to the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice some months ago. I had mentioned to her that I had loved it, it made the story more accessible to me and I was going to look for the VHS set at Costco. In fact, I believe Hugh Grant, who has worked with Emma Thompson in several of her adaptations of Jane Austen's novels, said, during his interview on Inside the Actors Studio he thought Thompson's adaptations were better than the original novels.
    The VHS edition hasn't yet returned to Costco. But Friday my treasured mother's stylist brought her entire VHS set and offered it to me. She said she'd picked up the DVD and she knew it would probably be ages before we got a DVD player down here.
    I cannot be blamed for feeling so favorably expectant. If I was not afraid to say it out loud, I would announce that I am being blessed. And, I am expecting more.
- posted by gail rae @ 00:59  0 comments   email...this post

 
Something posted before midnight...
...that's what I want. Then, I'll come back later, add and publish.
    Today was another absurdly lucky, serendipitous day. We received a free microwave. Our old one finally, today, refused to pop popcorn. I decided to visit some friends for the afternoon, leave Mom alone, let her relax and sleep from yesterday's near marathon day. We both needed a vacation from one another [thankyou, that she is alert and healthy enough to be left alone for some hours, now, thankyou on her behalf and on mine]. The friends are MCFs, intimates, with whom I discuss every detail of almost everything and vice versa. I whined that our microwave was dying. They had an extra. She gave it to me. I felt, damn, blessed.
    Our a/c has taken a trip into Insane Land but I'm not considering this infelicitous since it is a 1.5 month old unit. It won't stop cooling so I have to turn it off manually at the circuit breaker. I'm a little obsessive about reading the temperature and sensing it, but that is all.
    Mom was in good spirits. Insisted on playing Sorry. I won three out of four in amazing sets that mimicked each other almost identically. I was delightedly, apologetically astonished, and expressed my inability to do anything about what was happening to my mother. As I mentioned once before, I did not inherit my sore loser/in-your-face winner from my mother, although I didn't from my father, either.
    I'm doing some routine maintenance. Wondering how to express myself today about today in the background. I'll probably be back later. Not sure when.
    I am unusually expectant. Of what, I'm not sure.
- posted by gail rae @ 23:54  0 comments   email...this post

 
Oh. I've added a word...
...to my journal slogan. Did you notice?
- posted by gail rae @ 23:49  0 comments   email...this post

 
"How Sweet It Is" has become so interesting for me to do...
...that I will also add links to it on Mom's Test Results page. You'll notice that the sparsest month is 6/03. None are nearly as sparse as June, but 5/03 comes in a close second.
    Initially, I am happy to report that Mom's overall blood sugar levels seem to be doing better off metformin, although I have also been careful to institute firm changes in her life style to which she has mostly been amenable. Either way, every time I can take her off a medication, I celebrate.
    I've also begun to record times of day. You may assume that, if the first reading of the day is a Midday reading, that was probably when she awoke. In some cases, I will remember events happening on those date. I'll also check the Blood Draw histories for Blood Glucose Levels on days in the past, through March, which is where Mom's Glucometer history ends.
    I discovered that peppermint tea in the evening helps relieve her bouts of hiccups. That's nice to know.
    I have it in my mind to write an essay. It is practically complete in my mind, but I've been distracting myself with other interests and curiosities because I think it's going to be a deeply emotional essay, even if it isn't written in a style designed to provoke a tear. I am mentioning it here as a reminder.
    All continues to be better than well.
- posted by gail rae @ 23:41  0 comments   email...this post

 
I have begun Mom's blood sugar history...
...and have reversed the order of the table in order to make it easier to add stats on both ends. The lastest recordings will appear at the top (or near top). The history will be recorded backwards at the bottom of the chart. That's the way it's recorded on her Glucometer.
    It's going to be slow going.
- posted by gail rae @ 14:55  0 comments   email...this post

 
A mildly significant drama is developing...
...that I intend to solve over my mother's blood glucose. I'm going to begin posting backwards on How Sweet It Is what history I have Glucometrized and see if my contention that her blood sugar is performing "essentially the same" (so to speak) as it did when she was on metformin tests positive. If it doesn't I may consider adding as her PCP suggested, half a 1000 mg tablet, or, maybe, one 850 mg dose in the middle of the day, although I'm not sure if its best to give this medication alone between doses of glipizide or if it works best when taken in conjunction with a dose of glipizide. I'll attempt to run that one by her PCP before I do this. If she begins to revert to her on-metformin demeanor though, I'll immediately stop the metformin. In the meantime, since I expect us to head up to Prescott soon, I may hold off on trying this (unless her blood glucose gets really out of hand a.m./p.m. and is soaring well above 200 midday). Her metabolism may be going through some back and forth adjustments that might settle down when it perceives that movement is going to be routine for Mom.
    The a/c turned out to be a contact problem rather than a thermostat problem so we are good to go for free, since the contact problem is covered under the warranty for the new cooling unit. Excellent.
    Mom's moving slow, as usual, but she's dressed [I gave her a choice of full bath or Baby Wipes wipe-down; do I really need to tell you for which she opted?!?] and arguing about how she needn't run errands with me after her hair appointment, so we're in good order here today.
    And, oh, check out the new Updates/To Do List [As of 11/23/08, hasn't been transferred to new server, yet] item about a new procedure I'll soon be implementing. There is another new item on the What's Next side. Although the list keeps getting longer, I am knocking a few things off here and there as well.
    Later, I'm sure.
- posted by gail rae @ 10:56  0 comments   email...this post

 
Mom was a trooper, today (Sunday).
    As usual, even though I spent some time yesterday preparing her mentally for an extended shopping trip today, heightening its appeal by promising her that we'd stop for Chinese-to-go on our way home (over the last week every time we pass the franchise in one of our local groceries I've had to steer her away because we already have something thawing for dinner), she was, as usual, hard to get moving. She's never been a morning person and the better she feels (and is), the more likely she is, as she's told many in her family she did as a child, to have a hard time getting to bed because she is afraid she's going to miss something. Now that she's retired she doesn't have a reason to force herself out of her morning lethargy, part of which is due to the late hours she's keeping now. It's a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I am thrilled to watch her slip back into her natural circadian rhythms. On the other hand, one of those natural rhythms is such a slow, gentle morning beat that at least once every morning now I have to turn her back from her bedroom and insist we begin getting ready for whatever we've planned.
    I'm beginning to adjust, sort of, to this. We're eating all our meals later, she's taking her medication later. Unfortunately I'm a very early morning person who would love to be able to go to bed, as I used to, around 2000-2030 so I can arise around 0300 or 0400. I want to be up with my mother though, and it's easier for me to adjust than her so I'm spending a lot of time burning my candle at both ends these days. My energy level remains very high and seems to be able to refresh itself with a dead-to-the-world afternoon nap every four to five days while Mom is napping.
    Today at Walmart in the fabric department, the associate who waited on us was a woman in her mid 60's. After she measured and cut the facing I was purchasing she turned and caressed Mom's back, smiled with delight and said, "This is your mother, isn't she? You're very lucky."
    "I know," I said, smiling back with equal delight. "I'm her companion."
    "I could tell," she said. "You remind me of my sister and my Mom when they're out. She's, oh, 86, now."
    "So's my mom," I said, reaching over to join the woman in rubbing my mother's back. Because of the occasional disapproving looks I get from those distant from their own Ancient Ones when they see my Ancient One pushing the cart while I'm meandering alongside it is automatic for me to mention that she walks better when she's pushing a cart, thus, she walks more.
    The woman waved away my explanation and my concern. "I know," she said. "My sister does the same thing. It's good for them."
    While both she and I rubbed my mother's back and arms and my mother grinned (and probably purred) like the Cheshire Cat, the associate and I chatted a bit about our parents' "times past", as she put it. She asked my mother a few questions, having to lean into her and repeat them, then nudged me and said, "My mother doesn't hear very well either," as though it was a joke Ancient Ones play on the rest of us. "Pay attention to her," she advised me. "She knows more about life that any of us. She's seen so much."
    She went on to thank me for being my mother's companion. "I'm so grateful my sister is doing this for my parents," she added. "I tried to keep up with [her parents] for awhile but it was impossible. I'm lucky to have my sister be able to live with them, take care of them, make sure they live well [I'd never heard it put this way, before]. It takes a load off my mind. When I was doing what I could, we'd hire people to be with them when we couldn't be there but we all worried so much. Now that my sister is with them we're all so relieved. It is a wonderful thing you're doing. People you don't know appreciate you for it."
    By this time my mother was beginning to show signs of wanting to move toward the exit. I began making our apologies, thank-yous and good-byes. The associate said, "I can see she's ready to sit for awhile. I'm glad you came in. I hope someone is telling my sister, today, what a good thing she's doing. Don't forget how lucky you are."
    I won't.

    This evening we played three long, animated, teasing games of Sorry, which we bought today. It's a hit with both of us. I won all three but this time it was strictly chance. I've noticed that I've been experiencing a run of extremely lucky, felicitous days recently. I even took the trouble to explain this to Mom. I was beginning to feel guilty for winning so much. Last night in one Yahtzee game I got four Yahtzees. I needn't have bothered. She is neither a sore loser nor an in-your-face winner like I am so she wasn't bothered by it. After some initial groping to remember the rules and argue with the box about how "they've changed since the last time I played" she settled into the game and played zestfully.
    In the last week as well, I discovered that our cable channel has several music stations. Mom woke up from her nap, I think it was on Tuesday, as I was playing the Big Band station to help settle and revive me from a series of frustrating, anger producing phone calls over a business blunder to which I couldn't seem to get the perpetrator (a bank) to admit, much less apologize for and solve.
    "Where's that coming from?" Mom asked as she entered the living room.
    Over the last few years she's been so super-sensitive to music that she hasn't wanted to listen to it and I've taken this debility on, although I've also been forcing myself, for the last half year or so, out of desperation, to work myself out of it. I scrambled toward the TV in response to her question. "Here, Mom, I'll turn it off. I just needed to listen to a little music."
    "No. Leave it on." She was waving her hand to the music as though she was scanning a hall signaling her availability to potential dance partners. "It's been a long time since we've had music around here. It's nice." She two-stepped into the dining room to look for her coffee cup.
    Since Thursday the Big Band station has been playing regularly at our house. Tonight while I was rubbing her down she asked if that was the only station. I ran through the line-up and she chose a few she'd like to try "later". "Do you mind?" she asked.
    Absolutely not. I didn't think the reintroduction of music into my life, let alone hers and mine, would ever happen again. It is my pleasure.
- posted by gail rae @ 01:09  0 comments   email...this post

 
i...
...ambeingblessed.tomycore.
- posted by gail rae @ 01:07  0 comments   email...this post

 
Reading online journals backwards...
...is disorientingly weird.
- posted by gail rae @ 01:00  0 comments   email...this post

 
Something else I want to mention:
    When we both found neither of us could face another game I asked her what she wanted to do.
    "Just hang out," she said as she headed for her rocking chair and TV table to read her new gossip tabloids. It's been a long time since she's voluntarily chosen to entertain herself. One more victory. This woman may surprise everyone. She may well live to be 120, as she often says she intends.

    Tonight when I was rubbing her feet, after telling me, as she usually does, how good it feels (especially the part where I work her soles and feet over) she told me something interesting.
    "You know, I tried to do that for Mother [her mother], rub her feet, and she didn't like it."
    "Really! I can't imagine anyone not liking it! When was this?" I asked. "When you used to stay with her up in Prescott after Grandpa died?"
    "No. This was after she moved down to Scottsdale when she was in the mobile home."
    "Did it bother her? Did it hurt her?"
    "No, I don't think so, she just couldn't handle it for very long."
    We contemplated this while I continued rubbing her feet and legs.
    "You know, Mom," I speculated, "I don't think it was because you were doing anything wrong or physically irritating her or anything. Now that I'm thinking about it I think Grandma was the kind of person who couldn't really enjoy someone doing something like this for her."
    Mom thought about this for a minute or two. "What do you mean?"
    "Well, Grandma was so very independent. That was a fundamental part of her character. In order to enjoy the possibility of a good foot rub you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable to what someone else does to your feet. I think maybe she just didn't want to become that dependent on anyone to provide her with anything. If she got to the place where she liked foot rubs she'd be dependent on other people to provide them for her. A foot rub doesn't ever feel as good when you do it to yourself. It think Grandma's baseline motto was, 'If you can't do it for yourself it's better to do without."
    Mom smiled while she took a minute to think about this. "Mother was certainly independent."
    "Fiercely. She was so independent she didn't even depend on her husband. He depended on her. I don't think that was a circumstantial necessity for her, I think she was always that way and just happened to find the right man who would not only put up with this but enjoy it."
    Mom laughed. "You're right about that!"
    "So I think the whole idea of foot rubs, massages, anything like that, probably made her really impatient. If she couldn't do it for herself it wasn't worth having someone else do it for her."
    "You know, I never thought about it but I think you may be right."
    Sly, as usual, but this is her way of saying, "I agree."

    We talked some tonight, too, about how I managed to grab ahold of her this fall, pull her out of the clutches of doctors, her resignation, her body going haywire and my fears and walk her back to being interested in life again and healthy enough to enjoy her interest.
    As the conversation closed she said something I never expected her to say, mostly because I never expected her to really be aware of how far she and I have come in the last year. She leaned forward in her chair, looked me directly in the eye and said, "I'm really glad you did. I don't know if I've ever thanked you for that but I want to now. Thank you."
    You're most welcome, Mom. Thank you for allowing me to guide you back.
- posted by gail rae @ 00:30  0 comments   email...this post