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2012-09-06 - 8:42 a.m.

Just put the kid onto the bus. This is day three of morning peacefulness. I am slowly getting the house turned back upside after the long holiday weekend complete with house guests and birthday party for the kid.

The weekend began early, Thursday when I got out of work. My Parents arrived not too long after I got home. My Darling set me worrying when he told me he had passed my folks a little ways away from our house and we waited and waited with no sign of them. I tried calling only to go straight to voicemail. I imagined my folks arguing their way all the way to the next town. Long past when they should have arrived based on my Darlings observation they pulled into the driveway and we found out that my Darling had waved at strangers. Now my Darling drives a somewhat foreboding black lifted truck. There are pipe bumpers front and back and a large mudder spare on the back. He is also very tall, even when sitting down. W imagined an old couple smiling and waving while desperately hoping he would follow them home. They were also from out of state so perhaps they simply thought Michiganders a very friendly sort, even the ruffians.

We didn't do that much Thursday night, in fact I can not remember at all what we did even though I know we did something. Friday morning my Darling headed off to a half day at work having taken a part day so he could go and pick up his mother for the weekend. My Darlings mother, I am sure I have mentioned before, has advanced Parkinson's disease. She has moved quickly through the stage that Micheal J Fox is maintaining and is almost completely cut off from her body. She can hold things (somewhat) and move her arms a little. She can still eat but it must be soft, sometimes pureed, and it takes forever. She is incontinent and has bedsores that must be cared for. There is nothing wrong with her brain, she has all her wits about he, she has simply lost control of her body. It has become a prison. I had hoped the program we were working on, to help her communicate, would allow her to speak to us better but unfortunately she doesn't seem to have enough control left to operate it. And, since she is neither rich nor a brilliant physicist the many very expensive communication devises are not available to her.

Communication is difficult. She has trouble communicating her needs and complicates things by trying to chat. You will spend several minutes trying to figure out what she needs only to find she wants to know something about you. One morning we spent ten minutes struggling for her to ask where I had gotten the corner cabinet in my sons room. I do appreciate the fact that she is all there and curiosity doesn't stop because you can't talk but damn it is frustrating to spend all that time and then have to explain that someone was throwing it out and we rescued it. Seems way too much work. Because of the bed sores she must be moved every two hours while she sleeps, a chore my Darling and I split. I had to handle all her personal stuff though so even the night he did the turning I still had to get up early to help her use the bathroom. She is a tiny thing anymore, under 100 lbs (though she has gained weight recently, yay) but moving her is still hard work. one of the trips to the bathroom left me drenched in sweat and feeling like I had just worked out at the gym, the bad kind of workout that leaves you wondering why you even went to the gym. She is a nice lady but lots of work.

I am a very lucky person though. My family always come through for me. My older brother kept my Darling company and helped care for my MIL on the way back from the home. My father chopped veggies and my Mom kept the kitchen clean, loading and unloading the dishwasher. We went to dinner out as a family, I was preoccupied feeding my MIL and didn't get to visit much with my brothers but my folks hadn't seen them near as much as they see us so it was good they could focus on them. After we go home I decorated the cake I had baked during the day. Oh, I almost forgot. I went to the store to pick up some last minute stuff and when I got home the power was out. Yes, that is right, the day before my big party, with my house full of food and still one more cake to bake, there was no power. Never one to freak out in the face of disaster, I simply worked on what I could and hoped that the power would come back on soon. And no, there was no storm no visible reason why there would be no power, I swear someone could sneeze near our power lines and we would lose power. The power was on before we headed out to dinner and although we didn't get the cake for my MIL baked she never knew anything about it anyway and enjoyed the kids cake just fine.

Saturday every stepped up to the plate. When my Darling got cranky, feeling very overwhelmed my older brother went out and helped him with setting up outside. My Darling stopped feeling like he had so much to do and calmed down. Everything was ready on time, people started arriving around 2:15 and we were in full swing by 2:45. Shortly after three we served lunch, there was enough of everything (except maybe the deviled eggs but lets face it there are never enough deviled eggs). Some folks had to leave early, multiple parties and all, but most stayed and enjoyed the fun. I am aware of the time during children's parties. I don't want people to feel trapped waiting to open gifts and cut cake while I dither about. But my Darling had set up a rather large obstacle course for the kids including jumps, crawling through tires, running and the piece de resistance a slip and slid to the finish. We waited at the end with medals for everyone. The children ran the course over and over and the adults reveled in their joy. Oh, and we tossed in a big bucket of water balloons just for fun. I finally dragged the kids away from the course for cake and presents. Before we knew it it was six oclock. No one seemed to mind the length of the party though. Honestly, I think the kids would have spent another hour on the course if they could have.

It was a good day and my BIL and his daughter took some of the load off of my when it came to the MIL feeding her so I could enjoy some of the party.

Enough now, more later and pictures of the cake too.

I wish you Peace

~alison~


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- - 2013-08-16

Darkness - 2013-04-18

Too much - 2013-04-09

Skip - 2013-03-03

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