It Was A Good Day

Each morning had a certain crispness in the air.  The sun shown bright while the gentle breeze blew each day, the same as the one before it.  Odd for Nebraska.  I often called this the "make-up fall".  The one preceeding it was trecherous; cold, nasty and unrelenting. (We won't even bring up Winter!) On this beautiful October day, I found myself driving to my hometown to spend time with my mom and then bring her back to Lincoln to watch my oldest daughter, Bailey, play volleyball. When I arrived, Mom was standing in the garage waiting for my impending arrival.  I called her when I was about 30 minutes away.  She had remembered I was coming, but was uncertain of the time. Since I am often running late, it is the perfect excuse to let her know that I will always call her when I am on the way. We headed over to a local fast food restaurant.  Knowing she likes soup, I told her what they were serving.  "Oh yes, I'll have that!" she said when I said they were serving chili.  Never one to ever appear to have a strong opinion about such things, I found it humorous that she would be so bold with her choice.  She loved it and devoured ever last bit. She is so thin.  Even thinner than she was in her prime.  She once said to me, "I weigh every once in awhile and if I weigh less that 113, I just have to eat like mad."  Wow, what a problem to have!  Often, now we fear that she forgets to eat, especially when dad has been gone in the field for harvest.


After lunch we set off for the pumpkin patch.  She had made it quite clear that she did not have any desire to have those things sitting around her house.  But I remember the days when she would buy dozens of them and paint them all sorts of colors and characters.  Clowns, sad faces, funny faces, scary faces....they were precious. Many people with Alzheimer's tend to hoard their possessions.  Not my mom!  The opposite would be quite true.  Most of the time we can't find many towels in the house and while she has never been one to have clutter standing around or anything on her kitchen counters, this now seems to be even more exaggerated.  I bought some pumpkins for our home and she really seemed to enjoy browsing through the Christmas shop.  We drank some apple cider while we looked at the various snowmen, angels and manger scenes.


We headed toward the game and it was wonderful to visit with her as we drove. She seemed to do so well; especially if I was directing the conversation and asking her questions.  She talked about her daughter Joyce and her growing up in the depression.  One thing that she said to me that I had never heard before was that shortly after they lost this daughter, someone had said to her, "Well, at least she wasn't a real person yet, she probably didn't look like much yet."  Mom said that this was the thing that probably hurt her the most "during that time".  However, anytime the conversation went idle, she would begin to talk about the "men" in the house.


She so enjoyed watching Bailey play.  She seems to do well in that environment and always knows to cheer at the right time and of course, thinks her granddaughter is so very special. It hurts me so much to think that she will most likely not see her get married.  She will not hold her children or sing "Jesus Loves Me" to them.


But you know what?  THAT was a good day.  I cherish the good days and will continue to do so for as long as the Lord would see fit.  I believe we will let Bailey provide the next blog entry.  She wrote a beautiful speech for a class about her "Nanny".  I hope she will share it along with her special thoughts. :)