Well . . .
I acknowledge that I have been gone for too long. A year and a half ago I spent two to five hours a day on the net, now it seems like I can't spend that much time a month. I'm lucky to check my Email some days.
Why?
Mostly a house and yard. My younger brother who was here for about a year treated it as a flophouse while the young couple who tried to buy it were just out of their league, especially when their income dropped by ¾ when hubby went to prison for trying to kill her, then she just let the place disintegrate so a lot of my time is taken up with simple repairs, cleaning, yard work ( a biggy), garden (even bigger) and soon some painting. My Mom and Dad put a lot of themselves into this house and while I may be a redneck, I don't want the house looking like it belongs to white trash.
Work is going OK.
Mom and Dad are another story. Dad's mind is doing well but his body isn't. He is hanging in tough and I am surprised that he lived this long. Two years ago we were figuring on three to six months. His brother from North Carolina visited about a week ago and he told another aunt of mine that That guy might outlive all of us. and Dad is tough enough that he just might.
Mom is not in good physical shape but it gets worse; her mind is going. She is showing severe signs of dementia and paranoia. She has to go to a nursing home, no questions asked, and Dad will go with her just to be beside her. She is in a rehab center right now but her time there is just about up. She also believes that I and my brothers want to just lock her and Dad up and divvy up the estate, which is absolutely not true. Like I told my Dad years ago, I would rather inherit nothing and see you alive than see you die and get some money. I meant it and I certainly don't want to just lock my mother up.
Speaking of locking someone up, my number three brother (the same one who treated this as a flophouse) is going to spend a long time behind bars. He never got in trouble for a serious crime but it's just one act of stupidity after another and eventually misdemeanors pile up until the judge just says ENOUGH!.
Actually I am finding that there is a lot of pleasure and delight, which I had forgotten about, in simply gardening. Watching the plants sprout and grow and I have already sat and watched someone's face burn up as they ate an jalapeno that I had picked a couple of hours earlier. Dad was sitting at the table as well and almost giggling at her. (She was a friend of my brother Skip who thought she could eat one no problem.)
Why?
Mostly a house and yard. My younger brother who was here for about a year treated it as a flophouse while the young couple who tried to buy it were just out of their league, especially when their income dropped by ¾ when hubby went to prison for trying to kill her, then she just let the place disintegrate so a lot of my time is taken up with simple repairs, cleaning, yard work ( a biggy), garden (even bigger) and soon some painting. My Mom and Dad put a lot of themselves into this house and while I may be a redneck, I don't want the house looking like it belongs to white trash.
Work is going OK.
Mom and Dad are another story. Dad's mind is doing well but his body isn't. He is hanging in tough and I am surprised that he lived this long. Two years ago we were figuring on three to six months. His brother from North Carolina visited about a week ago and he told another aunt of mine that That guy might outlive all of us. and Dad is tough enough that he just might.
Mom is not in good physical shape but it gets worse; her mind is going. She is showing severe signs of dementia and paranoia. She has to go to a nursing home, no questions asked, and Dad will go with her just to be beside her. She is in a rehab center right now but her time there is just about up. She also believes that I and my brothers want to just lock her and Dad up and divvy up the estate, which is absolutely not true. Like I told my Dad years ago, I would rather inherit nothing and see you alive than see you die and get some money. I meant it and I certainly don't want to just lock my mother up.
Speaking of locking someone up, my number three brother (the same one who treated this as a flophouse) is going to spend a long time behind bars. He never got in trouble for a serious crime but it's just one act of stupidity after another and eventually misdemeanors pile up until the judge just says ENOUGH!.
Actually I am finding that there is a lot of pleasure and delight, which I had forgotten about, in simply gardening. Watching the plants sprout and grow and I have already sat and watched someone's face burn up as they ate an jalapeno that I had picked a couple of hours earlier. Dad was sitting at the table as well and almost giggling at her. (She was a friend of my brother Skip who thought she could eat one no problem.)
posted by shoprat at 11:24 AM
4 Comments:
Too bad about your parents, SR. My Mom is doing better than she was now that I finally have her in a good healthcare system (Henry Ford) and she is compliant with her diabetes and high blood pressure. This seems to have improved her mental sharpness as well. I love the garden as well, but with travelling like I do I'm affraid it's down to some tomatoes on the deck and some spearmint, peppermint, lemon grass, and chives in the perennial herb garden. Still, there's the lake, swans, geese and ducks to provide distractions.
Oh yeah, and my boy is now in driver's ed. Heaven help us!
Thanks for commenting Tim. I guess it's hard on all when it gets to be time for parents to be cared. I wish your son and you luck, and hope he has a great instructor.
Shoprat,
Wow! You've really got your hands full with hearth, home, and family issues right now.
I'm sorry to read about the severe decline of your mother. With both your parents about to go into a nursing home, I know that you must be extremely stressed.
As for your mother's hurtful statements, don't let them stress you too much. I've seen some dementia in my own family when I was growing up; I learned that those suffering from dementia don't really understand what they're saying. It's as if the brain is running like a missing engine and sputtering.
I'll say a prayer for you tonight.
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