Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2006. Mattie was smiling next to his dinosaur themed birthday cake. That year we had Mattie's 4th birthday party at the the Riverbend Nature Center. Based on the advice we received from Mattie's preschool, we invited a handful of friends. The children had a wonderful time on a nature walk, meeting a naturalist who gave the children a hands-on learning experience with several local animal species, along with a mock excavation in a sandbox for plastic dinosaur bones. Don't you just love that smile?!
Quote of the day: Although the days are busy and the workload is always growing, there are still those special moments when someone says or does something and you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. ~ Diane McKenty
Last night was an interesting dinner. I have had issues with this particular couple who are friends with my mom. In 2019, one of them said to me that I need to give up my Foundation work and do something more productive. This comment was said to me minutes after our 10th anniversary Walk, which they attended. Needless to say, you can imagine I was less than pleased to hear this and did push back. In fact, from that moment on, I have kept my distance from them. But last night they were in my house. I am juggling a ton on any given day. In addition to what I am juggling, I had to grocery shop, cook, serve and clean up last night's dinner. There was very little appreciation for this effort. In fact, I was even asked.... what do I do? How do I spend my days? HONESTLY!
Literally my response was mature, but if you have to ask me, then you have NO UNDERSTANDING or insight into my day to day life. I responded that I was a full time caregiver as well as run the Foundation. I leave it at that, I think you get the picture.
Today my dad went to his memory care center and for four hours, I worked non-stop of Foundation things. The time went so quickly! My dad says going to the center is boring, but I remind him, it is far more stimulating than sleeping the day away. He couldn't argue with that logic.
After I picked my dad up, I took my parents out for a late lunch. While at lunch, as usual my dad ate too fast. When he does this, the food literally backs up into his esophagus. He then starts to hiccup and it goes down hill from there. After the food was finally processed and went down, he immediately had to go to the bathroom. In mid bite, I have to stop what I was doing and it feels like a national crisis. I have to mobilize forces and get him to the bathroom ASAP. Literally he can be very stressful as he will start shouting.... move quickly. The restaurant is so used to us, that they make me feel normal. After the ordeal in the bathroom, I then had to come back to the table and finish eating. I assure you, this isn't for the meek, as most people would we sworn off food after the bathroom show. While resuming to eat, my dad out of no where thanked me for taking and helping him. He maybe out of it most times, but he is still in there.
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