After a very difficult and emotionally trying day with Mom* I came home and was sitting at the breakfast room table scarfing down eating a bowl of ice cream. I was talking on the phone to my best friend when I heard the front door open, so I hung up the phone and found TheHub had come home early because the day had been so hard on my sister and me. He sat with me while declaring keto be damned for the day when I noticed I had missed a call from my cousin.
I returned her call but was so tired I could not even hold a stinking cell phone to my ear so I put her on speaker phone. Until TheHub sneezed I did not even mention we were on speaker, but as soon as he did I told her. (It didn't matter since we were only talking about Mom and her health anyway, so no trust violations occurred)
She said hey to him but he said "Please excuse my sneezes. This is Armando, the yard man, and working in the yard makes me sneeze. I am here now and J, I mean Jośe is gone."
I cannot tell you how great it felt to laugh at that moment. And to TheHub, thank you for knowing me well enough to understand laughing is my primary coping mechanism and providing some immediate comic relief when all I wanted was chocolate and to cry.
* Very early yesterday morning I went to Mom's house to relieve the overnight sitter. She woke and I got her out of bed and walked her (with the aid of her walker) into her den and sat in her chair. She had her eyes half opened and half closed and was breathing very shallow breaths with her mouth gaping open. I asked her what I could do for her, she pulled my face close to hers and said "Please let me go" She proceeded to tell me she had talked with her dad, sister and my dad and they had all told her they were waiting on her. She also said she talked with her mother (Grandmother to all of us) who said "You just do what you have to do", which also sounds exactly like my grandmother. (She was a 4'11" little spark plug filled with siss and vinegar)
I called my sister and told her to hurry, told Mom she was on her way and so we needed to wait on her. Mom said "She better hurry". She got there and we sat on either side of her holding her hands while we played her favorite music and watched her breathing get shallower and shallower, her eyes half closed but completely vacant and her mouth agape because of her slack jaw.
About that time the song "With a Little Bit of Luck" from My Fair Lady started playing and somehow the feet of this person who appeared to be between 2 worlds started keeping time with the music. All of a sudden she bolted upright in her chair and declared she had to use to bathroom. I guess Broadway show tunes and bodily functions had the power to keep her from making the transition she was seeking earlier.
I called my sister and told her to hurry, told Mom she was on her way and so we needed to wait on her. Mom said "She better hurry". She got there and we sat on either side of her holding her hands while we played her favorite music and watched her breathing get shallower and shallower, her eyes half closed but completely vacant and her mouth agape because of her slack jaw.
About that time the song "With a Little Bit of Luck" from My Fair Lady started playing and somehow the feet of this person who appeared to be between 2 worlds started keeping time with the music. All of a sudden she bolted upright in her chair and declared she had to use to bathroom. I guess Broadway show tunes and bodily functions had the power to keep her from making the transition she was seeking earlier.
I spent the night with her last night and she talked continually from about 9 until 12:30, stopping only for a quick breath between words and of course milk and cookies (because her world requires milk and cookies every night before bed)
If you had told me at 10 a.m. yesterday, I would be writing like this today, I would have sworn you were a cruel and lying POS. Life (and death) is interesting and unpredictable, isn't it?
One night when I was staying overnight with Mom TheHub brought a few of these cookies to me. (not a few tins, just a few cookies) Best. Therapy. Ever.
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