My husband says he can tell when it’s time for a break. I lose patience with things that normally don’t bother me. He’s right. I’m generally pretty philosophical about the whole experience with Mom but as the weeks pass in between our weekends away, I gradually get a little less accepting. It doesn’t help that the week leading up to this weekend away also happens to lead up to a full moon. Add to that my husband being busy in the evenings and gone during the weekend before and it’s a formula for a meltdown. Luckily, as I write this, we are driving down the road ready to enjoy a four day camping trip.
Normally my husband is able to stop working in the evening by 8:00 and sits down to watch TV with Mom and me. Last week he spent three nights working right up to bedtime thatching our yard, planting new grass seed and setting up sprinklers. Mom, of course, didn’t settle down because she had to go to each window and give me a blow by blow.
My husband is always busy on weekends too, but around the house so he’s in an out and eats meals with us. This past weekend he spent two full days at my youngest daughter’s house, helping her and our son-in-law build a garage. That meant Mom and I, alone for two whole days and Saturday evening!
Saturday was pretty calm until afternoon when she kept asking about my husband and whether he would be home to eat with us but Sunday brought some fun! It was a warm day and even though we had just put clean clothes on, Mom came out in a totally different outfit. That would have been fine but she proceeded to complain about being cold – she had taken off the long sleeve shirt and couldn’t understand why her arms were cold. My husband made it home for dinner and soon after, we were joined by our granddaughter who would be with us until Wednesday afternoon. We rocked Mom’s world!
On Monday as it poured down rain, I listened as Mom explained to me that “they are cleaning up there and it’s a good thing”. I guess that’s what made her decide to move things around in her drawers and closet. Meanwhile my granddaughter and I worked on beaded bracelets for her upcoming birthday party.
On Tuesday, we took a ride to the daycare where my daughter works so that my granddaughter could run in and pick up something we needed to make her party invitations. When she returned to the car and we began to drive away, Mom asked if we forgot the little boy. Seeing the building, she remembered that we always pick up my grandson there. That might not seem unusual but later that day my granddaughter took a bike ride and when she returned, Mom looked at me and said, “Who is that???” It’s amazing how the mind works.
Wednesday brought lots of harrumphing and complaining about being cold. I finally took her into the bathroom and changed her back into a long-sleeved shirt to eliminate that aggravation. That evening brought a fight again about wearing her Depends during the night but I maintained my calm and told her there would be no argument and the doctor said… Sullen teenager appeared!
Even though I saw smart alecky teenager and sullen teenager this week, none of it was that horrible – but like my husband says, he can tell when I need a break.
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