Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2005. Mattie was three years old and that day he and Peter went outside on our deck to open up a fresh coconut that Peter's mom sent to Mattie from Florida. It was always a riot seeing a coconut coming in the mail. Literally the actual shell was addressed and had postage on it. Opening up a coconut was no easy task, but Mattie was always intrigued, which was why we also brought this project to Mattie's preschool and kindergarten classes. Mattie's classmates were mesmerized by the whole process too, as Peter got into it with googles and a saw!
Quote of the day: The disease might hide the person underneath, but there’s still a person in there who needs your love and attention. ~ Jamie Calandriello
Don't ask me how it can be 8pm, and I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. Or anything that I really need to be doing. My day was inundated with laundry and chores. In fact as I am typing this, I have another load going. Peter is on the road again this week. He has been traveling practically weekly for a month now. It is hard on him and it is definitely hard on me. Peter works from home typically and I try not to bother him most days, but it is always comforting to know if I need another hand or if something goes wrong in the house, he is there to help.
Besides laundry, I did a big grocery store run today, as my mom's long time friends are coming to visit on Thursday and I am cooking a big dinner. Honestly prior to my parents moving in, if you told me that I would be focused on anything else other than fundraising the week of the Walk, I would have laughed. Years prior, my number one priority was fundraising and leadership around this event. This isn't possible this year and naturally I could feel guilty about this, but instead I am a realist. I can only do so much as one person, and already I am strung out and working like I had ten hands.
Since Peter is away, I took my parents out to lunch. We went directly there after we picked up my dad from the memory care program. He entered the car, not happy. He doesn't like the program and he feels many of the people running his sessions aren't 'bright.' This bothers him greatly because I think if the person he interacts with doesn't engage him and stimulate him with thoughts and ideas, he tunes out. So today wasn't a good day. We went into lunch with this attitude. While eating, he literally had to run to the bathroom twice. Which means I take him into the women's room and go into a stall with him. As he can't logically go through the necessary steps to go to the bathroom. The second trip to the bathroom was a mess as he pooped all over himself. Which means it is a big clean up job for me in the bathroom. Mind you I am supposed to be eating. The average person I am quite sure would feel sick to their stomach after cleaning up what I did, but someone I keep moving forward. Despite sheer exhaustion.
I have no idea when my dad's Irritable Bowel Syndrome got so bad, but I truly believe his moderate to late stage dementia plays a key role in the uncontrollable nature of this disease. My dad no longer is rational enough to recognize the physical signs that he has to go to the bathroom, until it is too late. Again, I am not trying to toot my own horn, but I am not sure many people could juggle my parents even at home, much less at a restaurant.
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