Should She?
Yes, my mother will be 92 next month. She was 42 when I was born; the seventh of seven children, I was a surprise. She actually didn't even think she was pregnant; she thought she was starting to go through menopause early.
When the doctor told her she was pregnant, she asked, "Are you sure?!?" I can't imagine having a baby at 42, with six older children ranging in age from 18 down to 6. The eldest, Dennice, got married one month after I was born. I was an aunt twice at the age of three! I was closer in age to five of my nieces and nephews than I was to the sibling closest to me in age. In the picture above, Mom smiles at something my son's girlfriend is saying.
Mom says her kids keep her young, but I think she just has really, really good genes. She's a little too spry sometimes, though. A few years ago my sister Barbara walked over to Mom's house just in time to catch Mom climbing up on a chair on the back porch, getting ready to clean some spots off the wall. Barbara scolded her and then did it herself. Two weeks ago she -- Barbara -- was washing Mom's windows for her, left the house for something, came back and caught Mom, again, climbing onto a chair to wash the kitchen window over the sink. When asked why she was doing that she blandly remarked that it was the only way she could reach the window. We still aren't sure if she really didn't understand the question or if she was deliberately making a joke!
I called Mom today to check in with her to see if she was feeling better. Last week she was complaining of a head cold. She said that had passed. She really does take pretty good care of herself -- and my sisters who live there and nearby take good care of her too. She goes to the doctor for her regular check ups, but she also goes if she starts feeling bad at all. At her age she doesn't need to let anything go.
She told me today not to worry about her. "I rest whenever I feel like I need to. There's nothing I just have to do; the girls do everything. If I feel like doing something, I do it." I reminded her of the two "chair" incidents. She chuckled and said a bit sheepishly, "Yeah, I guess I really shouldn't do anything like that anymore even if I do feel like it."
In the picture on the left she is snapping beans to can.
In the picture on the right she is making
no-bake cookies.
We're happy to have her with us just as long as she wants to stick around. I plan to write quite a bit more about Mom and about my Dad too, this month -- as well as my siblings, especially my sister Barbara who writes me a snail-mail letter every week. Bye for now. Happy blogging!
~ ~ Lori
No comments:
Post a Comment