My Trip to Mom's 2009

This has been a very different trip. Each visit with Mom is different , but this one held uniquenesses I truly had not anticipated.

First, the desert was very green, adding a new beauty to the vista that I love so much. I have been here during monsoon season before, but the desert wasn’t nearly as green. It may have made some difference that I was there at the beginning of monsoon. It definitely rained more and threatened rain every day. The dark rolling clouds made me wish I had a camera to capture the power.

Today as we drove to the airport I observed another first: water in the “river.” Each time I’ve been here I tease Mom about the mighty “rivers” that we cross over on our excursions because they are dry, dusty wide spots. Not today. Today there was actually moving water. She was so pleased that I got to see it.

I didn’t walk this trip. I usually took a one or two mile walk each day, soaking in the heat and the beauty. On my two last visits, I was able to walk to Curves and do my workouts. It was really nice. For some reason, probably related to economics, the Curves moved across town and there was no way to go but to drive. Fortunately, George being in Alaska allowed me the opportunity to have the car. So, even though I didn’t get in my daily walks, I did work out ten times. I missed my Smart program from home, but it did feel good to get the workouts in.

Mom and I played 237 games of Scrabble. The marathon score ended up being 121 for me, 113 for Mom, and 3 ties. She led for the first week and then it turned around. There were times that I thought my brain was getting tied up in knots. We both were frustrated by the all vowels or all consonant slates. I had the high game score of 482 and the high word score of 128. We also played three games with Aunt Ellen on Thursday of the second week. The fun thing about that was that we each won one game. It was very good to visit with Aunt Ellen.

A couple visits ago, Mom was sick a big portion of the visit. It turned out that she was very close to pneumonia. Once she got some steroids and a strong antibiotic she was fine. Before that I was running urine specimens to the lab. And before that we had a visit to the endocrinologist. This visit started out well. Then in the wee hours of the second Sunday morning, Mom got charley horses in both of her legs and as she was trying to maneuver around the bed to get to the bathroom, she fell, landing on her hip between the bed and the sliding door window. She called out for me and I was able to get her turned about and into the bathroom. Nothing appeared to be broken, but she was very sore most of the week. She assured me that even if she went to the ER or doctor and they found broken or fractured ribs or vertebrae they would only prescribe pain medication and she didn’t want to sleep through my visit. At first she took Tylenol, but when that didn’t seem to touch the pain she switched to Advil. She was only taking one at a time and it seemed to be quelling the pain to her satisfaction. In addition to the pain, she was having a very difficult time coughing. Yesterday, she asked to go to Walmart to get her regular prescriptions, stop at the grocery for steaks, and get gas. She was able to do it all. She wanted me to know she was okay. Today she insisted on driving me to the airport, further assurance that she would be okay to pick George up by herself on Tuesday night.

When I started this I was in the airport at Tucson. Now I’m waiting in Houston. A couple different flights have been overbooked and they’re offering vouchers and upgrades. The problem is that no one seems to be in too big a hurry to go to Columbus. We were lucky one time when I was traveling with the girls. We accepted a later flight and were able to go back and visit Mom at Christmas. She only had to pay for Nelson’s ticket. As good as the voucher sounds, it would be fun to fly in first class some time. I think I’m going to make a potty run before they start boarding.

As we were getting ready to land in Columbus, I found myself wishing that Nelson would park the car in the garage instead driving around the loop and picking me up at the curb. I was very surprised when I called after we deplaned and he answered from the luggage carrousel! It was so nice to walk up and get a hug. We stayed in Columbus last night. That was very nice, too.

Now I’m home. My friend did our front flower beds and they are beautiful. Nelson did so many wonderful things around the house. He put the new front door on—and I love it! He fixed my closet door. He hung the TV in the bedroom. He ran the gas line for the dryer. Annie un packed so much and arranged things quite nicely. I got my suitcase and back pack unpacked and have started laundry. Nelson wants to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese tonight. I may beg off on that. We’ll see.

Right now, it’s just nice to be home.