Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2006. As you can see from my most recent blog posts, October was a busy fall festival month for us. Each weekend, we wanted to get Mattie out and about, both to expend energy but also to take in the world around him. By age four and a half, Mattie was more eager to try slides, climbing, and other things. Whereas when he was much younger, he had great fear around being around lots of people and forget about hearing any loud noises. By the time this photo was taken, we had jumped through many hurdles with Mattie, and he was really thriving and shining.
Quote of the day: Grief is like a moving river, it's always changing. I would say in some ways it just gets worse. It's just that the more time that passes, the more you miss someone. ~ Michelle Williams
It was another winner of a day on the Farm. Today wasn't as positive of a day on Ritalin as yesterday. I have to level set my expectations, as Saturday seemed like we may potentially be turning a corner with my dad. I would say my dad was back to his chronically exhausted state today. After breakfast, my dad was complaining that I was asking him to walk in the house for 15 minutes. He implied... how would I like to have to do all that? So I tried to give him perspective of what I accomplished by this same time today. I laid it out for him, just like I am doing below:
- I got up.
- Changed my bed linens and started the washing machine.
- Took a shower and got dressed.
- Came down stairs and made breakfast for us.
- Vacuumed the first floor of the house.
- Folded the laundry I started earlier in the morning.
- Fully cleaned out the cat's litter box and put in new litter.
- Threw out the garbage.
- Woke my dad up.
- Made their bed.
- Got him showered, dressed, and downstairs for breakfast.
- Started the second load of laundry.
- Cleaned up breakfast dishes.
- Did brain games with my dad.
- Oversaw his 15 minutes of walking.
- Then did his PT exercises.
This bulleted list was just from the time I woke up until about 11am. Honestly that alone would be a full day of chores. But then add onto it toileting my dad, which means cleaning the bathroom after every use, managing their other needs and demands and then taking them out to dinner, and I am DONE!
Along our journey today we kept finding piles of fur. It looked fluffy. At first we thought it was dog fur, but since it was all over the woods and in large quantities, I deduced it had to be from deer. I was correct, as I am learning they molt throughout the year. As a city girl, I am not up to speed on such facts. But I am learning quickly.
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