Thursday

Thursday was our first full day at home with no appointments. Mom and Dad stayed here and unpacked some. I went next door to work and D helped my folks with things around the house.

One of the ladies from the church came by with a wonderful chicken casserole for our dinner. She came in for a moment to meet my parents. I believe that "V" is older than my parents- if not then very close. Mom got all emotional like she had just seen a lost friend. I didn't expect that reaction. V was very gracious.

Small things do make Mom cry these days. Its hard to know what will set her off. (I don't mean this in a bad way- it's just odd to me what causes her to cry.) I didn't expect a casserole from a stranger to make her feel so emotional.

Mom has been going through stuff and trying to find places to put it. I'm letting her decide and staying out of it. She keeps coming to me with things saying, "I don't have a place for this. Why do I have so much stuff?" And she is, on her own, deciding to get rid of things.

Last night at dinner, Mom said her bathroom is really cold in the morning and she doesn't know how she can take a shower on Friday morning with such a cold bathroom. I asked her if she keeps the bathroom door open at night. She does. The bathroom is attached to the bedroom. They cover the vent in the bedroom at night and open windows because they like to sleep ion a cold bedroom. I suggested that would be the reason her bathroom is cold. Last night that made sense to her, we'll see about this morning!

Dinner was wonderful, everyone loved the chicken casserole. Dad has seconds, which thrilled me to death because he has been eating very little. It was good to see his appetite improved. My dear husband loved it too (he who hates casseroles!) and also had seconds. I haven't had the heart (yet) to tell him there is mushroom soup in the recipe as he also hates mushroom soup and will not eat anything that contains it.  :-)

Last night Dad told me he is so happy to be with us and feels at home already. I'm very happy to hear that. Mom told me last night she is just getting around to realizing they are staying and not going "home." I understand that. It's got to be difficult.

It was good for me to be back at work. Mom has no idea of course what it is I do and can't seem to grasp that I need to spend whole days in an office. But that's okay.

One of the things I need to work on is not correcting Mom. Its hard to know when to say something and when not to. Mom will say things like, "I need to get more vitamins." My first reaction is to say, "No- Mom you already have three huge bottles."  Sometimes she will say, "I do?" and other times she will say, "I know that- I'm just joking." And then she gets ticked off. I can't tell if she is joking or not... or if she remembers when I remind her.

Everyone is up and moving- time to find out if the shower worked out. And praying Dad feels like driving today so I don't have to take them to hair appointments...