Monday

And she is in!

What began now three months ago reached a milestone today -- my mom, following a stroke, moved from independent living to hospital care to nursing home rehab and today -- to her new digs in an assisted living retirement community.

This final move came on a very rainy day. No complaints there -- rain means spring. Rain means the snow is nearly melted. Rain means we'll get a head start on washing down the glass roof over the porch.

Immediately after breakfast...






I set out to the store to pick up a few odds and ends for her and then I drove on to her new place, making sure that all is ready. Oh, it was now without small glitches and calls to Ed -- how come the power strip isn't working? Are you sure the light bulb you gave me works? Must be the lamp then... And so on. But by 11:30 I was ready for her and ten minutes later she arrived.

She was immensely surprised at how peaceful it all is. A studio, but a spacious studio. So much closet space! Such a nice bathroom! So much room!






(We will forget about the stuff she wished I had packed and that I did not know she wished I had packed.)

My own view is that it feels spacious because it is (at the moment) uncluttered. But vestiges of old habits remain. I heard the words "I never throw anything away..." and I recoil. All you seniors, this is not a good approach. If you don't throw it away, someone else will have to do it for you. All those little plastic containers and jars and bags and extra everything? They cannot stay in the cupboards forever.

Right now, my mom has to have time to take it all in. When someone else unpacks for you, you can't find a thing. Switches, mechanicals -- all new, all different. But, her computer (and thus a return to Ocean) awaits her, the telephone is plugged in and she is on her way to resuming normal life.

I just make it in time to pick up the kids.

Sparrow has been borderline sick these past days and for the first time I got a report from school that was less than stellar. The little guy is needy. Not his usual self.

Well, perhaps an infusion of Snowdrop's excitement moves things around for him, because by the time I get them both to the farmhouse, they're all smiles.

They are enormously creative in their play. Snowdrop is one long story that morphs into another and another and Sparrow? Well, at this point in life, he just wants to keep up with her.






Such sweet innocent play! You can even forget the dire news headlines for the few hours that these two are at the farmhouse. They laugh, you laugh.





And the rains come down and the snows vanish and you hope for a really beautiful spring. I mean, the rough season is the one that was. We need the pick-me-up of an emerging field of spring flowers! Soon!