Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2009. Mattie was out of the hospital and was invited to a friend's birthday party. These kind of events were a mixed bag for Mattie. Mainly because these outings reminded him how different he really was from the other children. Both in physical looks and ability. While at the party, I tried to capture Mattie in motion and playing with the other children. As you can see, this led Mattie to give me this look. This look meant he wasn't happy with me, I had to back off, and certainly not take any more photos.
Quote of the day: You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force. ~ Publilius Syrus
I got up at 6am today, to get myself together, breakfast ready, and my dad washed an dressed, so that I could take my mom to the city for her hair and nail appointment. The appointment was at 10am, and I have to leave the house at 9am, in order to deal with traffic and parking. Parking in Georgetown is never an easy task and I try to park close by so that my mom doesn't have far to walk. My mom challenges me in many ways, especially since she doesn't have the insight into her own physical limitations. However, when she is at the salon, I notice that an employee is always next to her, which makes perfect sense to me, because she truly has awful balance.
While at the salon, people were asking me how our Christmas and New Year's were! I answered the question in a trite manner, because I know NO ONE really wants to hear the truth. The truth is my daily existence is not for casual conversation. It isn't fun to hear about and I also know most people wouldn't and couldn't sign up for this. I get it and respect that choice.
When I got home from the salon, it was about 1:30pm. About thirty minutes before Peter had to pick my dad up from the memory care center. I literally wanted to work with my mom on her physical therapy exercises, so that I could then take Sunny for a walk before having to pack my parents back up in the car and take them out for an early dinner.
Needless to say, my mom said she needed a minute before doing the exercises. Her minute turned out to be 45 minutes later. At which point, I started working, rather than continue to stand around. As is typical, whenever I start working, that is when she appears and wants my attention. As a result, I never walked Sunny, I never got work done, and instead, finally did her physical therapy exercises with her. She is having a lot to trouble with sit to stand exercises, so she gets frustrated, angry, and then becomes teary. Caregiving is a very frustrating, stressful, and in my opinion is a selfless task that can weigh on you, as the amount that you give up piles up and up with each new day.
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