I was headed to the fitness center this morning when I heard sirens and they were headed my way as I drove through the parking lot. It turned out there was already one ambulance there, just 40 yards away and the fire and rescue truck was coming into the apartment complex with their siren blasting. This happens every week or so and it never fails to make me think about me being possibly next week's reason for the ambulances to arrive.
I'm an old man, I get moody at times but I am trying to keep my head thinking about all the wonders I see around me, but as you may well know, I am not always very good at it. I am trying to stay healthy to take care of my beloved because even though she is recovering from what 90 percent of people die from, she survived, but I do not know if she will ever be able to care for herself alone. I know she will want to do so, but I am not sure that she will be able to do that alone. Neither of us want to become a burden on our children or granddaughter. I know they would care for either of us, but we have both been down that road and it is too difficult to put on people you love. Joyce took care of her mother in our home during her mother's last years, with loving and understanding, but it almost killed Joyce years ago. Joyce went through those years deprived of sleep and I do not know how she survived. There were times when I thought she could not go on another day, but she did. Her mother would ring for Joyce's assistance every hour of the night. Our son in law and our daughter took care of his mother in her last time on earth and God bless them for doing that, but we do not want them to live through another repeat. No one deserves to have to do that twice, no matter what, no matter how much love they have for their family.
My mother took care of her mother for 13 years when her mother was an invalid and mom raised three of us kids in the process. I know she is in heaven today because she did her time here on earth.
One more note here, just to give an inkling of how it is dealing with elderly parents. Near the end my mother was in the hospital for weeks. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her other than being just old and tired. She was recovering in a room. We went up to see her and because she could no longer be alone I offered to bring her home with us so we could take care of her. She thought about it for several minutes while she was walking about the halls as part of her therapy. When she came back to the room she said to me, "a mother can raise and take care of six kids, but six kids can't take care of one mother." She died two weeks later in a care facility in 2005. That sentence she uttered to me has haunted me for 13 years now. I don't want to have Joyce or I saying something like that to our children. One last thing before I go, my mother told my sister on a Friday that she needed to call mom's sister and tell her to come and see her because she was going to die one week from that day. Mom's sister came from Arizona to say goodbye and mom did in fact die the very day she foretold. Here's another thing I think about. On her last day mom kept asking my sister if her father was still standing there waiting for her? Mom could not look over there in the corner where her father waited for her. I wonder what I will be thinking and speaking about on my last day?
I'm an old man, I get moody at times but I am trying to keep my head thinking about all the wonders I see around me, but as you may well know, I am not always very good at it. I am trying to stay healthy to take care of my beloved because even though she is recovering from what 90 percent of people die from, she survived, but I do not know if she will ever be able to care for herself alone. I know she will want to do so, but I am not sure that she will be able to do that alone. Neither of us want to become a burden on our children or granddaughter. I know they would care for either of us, but we have both been down that road and it is too difficult to put on people you love. Joyce took care of her mother in our home during her mother's last years, with loving and understanding, but it almost killed Joyce years ago. Joyce went through those years deprived of sleep and I do not know how she survived. There were times when I thought she could not go on another day, but she did. Her mother would ring for Joyce's assistance every hour of the night. Our son in law and our daughter took care of his mother in her last time on earth and God bless them for doing that, but we do not want them to live through another repeat. No one deserves to have to do that twice, no matter what, no matter how much love they have for their family.
My mother took care of her mother for 13 years when her mother was an invalid and mom raised three of us kids in the process. I know she is in heaven today because she did her time here on earth.
One more note here, just to give an inkling of how it is dealing with elderly parents. Near the end my mother was in the hospital for weeks. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her other than being just old and tired. She was recovering in a room. We went up to see her and because she could no longer be alone I offered to bring her home with us so we could take care of her. She thought about it for several minutes while she was walking about the halls as part of her therapy. When she came back to the room she said to me, "a mother can raise and take care of six kids, but six kids can't take care of one mother." She died two weeks later in a care facility in 2005. That sentence she uttered to me has haunted me for 13 years now. I don't want to have Joyce or I saying something like that to our children. One last thing before I go, my mother told my sister on a Friday that she needed to call mom's sister and tell her to come and see her because she was going to die one week from that day. Mom's sister came from Arizona to say goodbye and mom did in fact die the very day she foretold. Here's another thing I think about. On her last day mom kept asking my sister if her father was still standing there waiting for her? Mom could not look over there in the corner where her father waited for her. I wonder what I will be thinking and speaking about on my last day?
No comments:
Post a Comment