Monday, January 31, 2005
MAY COMPLETED....1986
After spending hours on the telephone working out the details of our new server we are most happy to be online with DSL. I am amazed with the quickness in response time. I am finally comfortable with my new address and although there was a complication with the spelling of our server….centurytel.net…it seems to have worked out the gremlins.
The family is safely home after their trek to George’s home in Shawnee and ultimately the 80th birthday party for their dad. They were pleased to present him with a very sentimental gift…..a paving stone with his name, the years of service and the names of his children…to be put in place at Union Station in Kansas City sometime in May. He worked out of the station in the 1950’s as a railway mail clerk and it provided very interesting work until the U.S. Post Office no longer used trains to carry the mail.
Today Rocky and I are getting back in the groove after our short trip to visit his brother and sister and their spouses. Our visit was too short but the three couples of us had obligations waiting and all to soon it was time for the goodbye hugs.
*****************************
Getting back to May in 1986.………we continue with our story. Mom’s birthday was May 12th and it was celebrated in the nursing home. Mom was having a lot of trouble adjusting to medication given her from the doctor at the hospital. It was a very unpleasant series of upheavals that took some time to work out. Mom had the amazing ability to roll with the punches and to accept advice. She always looked at peace and rest when we went to see her. In fact, she was starting to look better than I was as I ran from work, home, to the nursing home and to church. Household chores were taken care of by Warren who helped all he could and I managed the cooking and laundry.
It is fair to say it was emotionally stressful. Mom had never had surgery, had all her teeth and enjoyed good health most of her life. When she was 81-years old and had her stroke and heart attack, it was the first of her medical woes. It was sad to look up at her house just about 100-feet from our back door. No light at night and no activity throughout the day. The birds flew to their normal feeding places, supplied by mom, but found empty feeders. We took up the ritual and soon they were happily eating here. It was a love affair that lasted both with us and the birds. They gave so much more pleasure than our efforts to feed and water them.
There were so many ways it began eating in on my routine without mom up the hill. You don’t think much about it until someone isn’t there and then you discover how much you noticed, thought or reacted to the person living in the house next to yours. Her new situation not only affected her but us as well. I began feeling uneasy….that maybe this wasn’t a temporary move for her. Each day I visited there was some new little problem to work out to keep her longer.
I went to see mom every day without fail. It gave her something to look forward to and to give her a little relief from the complaining lady in the bed next to her. Mom was a very quiet person who liked being alone and so we began efforts to get her into a different room. In time we were able to do so.
This May was one of adjustments and reality. Mom’s condition took roller coaster rides to euphoria and depression because of negative reactions to medications given her. It was a fact that mom wouldn’t be going home again to stay. That was hard to accept for all of us…… for different reasons. However difficult, we knew it was the right decision and we would have to make the best of it….for her and ourselves as well. With dad and Louis already gone, I didn’t want to lose mom. It was a struggle that would last for a long time…………
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
The family is safely home after their trek to George’s home in Shawnee and ultimately the 80th birthday party for their dad. They were pleased to present him with a very sentimental gift…..a paving stone with his name, the years of service and the names of his children…to be put in place at Union Station in Kansas City sometime in May. He worked out of the station in the 1950’s as a railway mail clerk and it provided very interesting work until the U.S. Post Office no longer used trains to carry the mail.
Today Rocky and I are getting back in the groove after our short trip to visit his brother and sister and their spouses. Our visit was too short but the three couples of us had obligations waiting and all to soon it was time for the goodbye hugs.
*****************************
Getting back to May in 1986.………we continue with our story. Mom’s birthday was May 12th and it was celebrated in the nursing home. Mom was having a lot of trouble adjusting to medication given her from the doctor at the hospital. It was a very unpleasant series of upheavals that took some time to work out. Mom had the amazing ability to roll with the punches and to accept advice. She always looked at peace and rest when we went to see her. In fact, she was starting to look better than I was as I ran from work, home, to the nursing home and to church. Household chores were taken care of by Warren who helped all he could and I managed the cooking and laundry.
It is fair to say it was emotionally stressful. Mom had never had surgery, had all her teeth and enjoyed good health most of her life. When she was 81-years old and had her stroke and heart attack, it was the first of her medical woes. It was sad to look up at her house just about 100-feet from our back door. No light at night and no activity throughout the day. The birds flew to their normal feeding places, supplied by mom, but found empty feeders. We took up the ritual and soon they were happily eating here. It was a love affair that lasted both with us and the birds. They gave so much more pleasure than our efforts to feed and water them.
There were so many ways it began eating in on my routine without mom up the hill. You don’t think much about it until someone isn’t there and then you discover how much you noticed, thought or reacted to the person living in the house next to yours. Her new situation not only affected her but us as well. I began feeling uneasy….that maybe this wasn’t a temporary move for her. Each day I visited there was some new little problem to work out to keep her longer.
I went to see mom every day without fail. It gave her something to look forward to and to give her a little relief from the complaining lady in the bed next to her. Mom was a very quiet person who liked being alone and so we began efforts to get her into a different room. In time we were able to do so.
This May was one of adjustments and reality. Mom’s condition took roller coaster rides to euphoria and depression because of negative reactions to medications given her. It was a fact that mom wouldn’t be going home again to stay. That was hard to accept for all of us…… for different reasons. However difficult, we knew it was the right decision and we would have to make the best of it….for her and ourselves as well. With dad and Louis already gone, I didn’t want to lose mom. It was a struggle that would last for a long time…………
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
