Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. We took Mattie to the US Botanical Gardens. This was a holiday tradition we loved to do. There was nothing better than to come into that space on a cold and gray day! Why? Because the atrium area was like walking into a hot house. Almost like a humid summer day in December. To me it was a magical feeling. The Gardens also decorated beautifully for the holidays and did miniaturized National monuments made out of branches and plant material. As you can see, Mattie found this wonderful plant and thought it looked like LONG hair!
Quote of the day: It’s so curious: one can resist tears and ‘behave’ very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses. ~ Collette
This morning I took my parents to the hospital, for my mom's appointment with the rehabilitation medicine physician. We met this doctor when my dad was hospitalized in March of 2022 for a pacemaker. It is thanks to this doctor and his staff, that they admitted my dad into their acute rehab program. As my dad was very debilitated after that surgery. Needless to say, both of my parents became his patient and he sees both of them every four months.
The doctor was lovely today and spends a lot of time talking and answering questions. What he did say was that my parents are looking better physically from when he first met them. Translation, this means..... Vicki is doing an excellent job. I take whatever victories and positive feedback I can get, because I get very little in general. Fortunately I am not the kind of person who needs a lot "that a girl's." If I did, I would be up a creek.
After the doctor visit, I took my parents out for soup and a sandwich. When I got home, I had work to do and needed the time to focus. Never happens for me. My mom needed help with bills and my dad's health insurer is driving me nuts. They keep double billing my dad and I have spent more time on this issue over the last week than I care to discuss. I helped to pay their insurance premium last week, but the insurer is claiming not to have received it. So I had to stop what I was doing to log into my mom's bank accounts. While I went upstairs to do this, I could hear my mom talking to my dad downstairs.
Basically she said to my dad two things. One was that she has 'a daughter who brings her no joy' and then the second, which is the most upsetting.... she wished she 'never had any children.' Needless to say, I came downstairs and was besides myself. I told my mom that this was the cruelest and meanest thing I have ever heard.
In fact, I told her if she really felt that way, that I was going to grant her, her wish. Just like in the movie, A Wonderful Life. I got my jacket on, grabbed my purse, and walked out the front door. I told her now she has no daughter and let's see how tonight goes for her. I literally got in the car and was on the driveway. At which point she jumped in front of the car. So naturally I had to stop. She apologized and I had to take a deep breath. There is no way she can care for herself, much less my dad. Therefore, despite the mean comments, I put them on a shelf somewhere in my brain, and kept on doing what I needed to do. Which was make dinner, feed Sunny and keep the household going.
I try to picture myself ever saying such a comment to Mattie. I suppose under the right circumstances one can say just about anything. But unfortunately words do hurt and they can have a lasting impact.
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