Good news... I actually had a rather good conversation over the phone with my mother yesterday! She sounded really good and we managed to talk about general, everyday stuff without toiling over her care, her health, problems with the family etc etc. We just exchanged little stories about our day and she laughed for the first time in a long time. Parkinson's is such is cruel disease as I have said before, it's right up there with cancer as far as I am concerned. It seems though she has finally settled and she's no longer denying the fact that she's incapable of really doing much.
I sent her a calendar recently that has a little quote or saying every day about the relationships between mother's and their kids. She sometimes texts them to me when she feels they may be relevant.... it's comforting. I also made her a calendar on Snapfish... awesome that they just ship it right to her and it's really inexpensive. She loves it and has it hanging on the wall in her room at the nursing home. I can just hear the nurses in their broad Midlands English accent saying "oooh how luverly, is that yer family in America then?". All I can do right now is keep reminding her that we love her and that she's worth another day. It's so hard to be far away and to feel so helpless, all we can do is communicate; as long as the words are soft and gentle and the pictures beautiful she still has something to look forward to.
p.s. the picture was taken about 18 months ago and this is how I prefer to think of her, and I am sure this is how she prefers it too.
3 comments:
wow, it must be very hard to be so far from her, but it looks like you are doing your best to keep in touch. I know how you feel, when someone you love is ill, you just hang on to those few days that they are feeling happy and energetic. My husband is ill with cancer, and it's getting worse each day, so on days that he's in a good mood, we cherish every second.
That is a great picture of your mom :)
Don't you wish we could have learned these lessons a lot earlier in life before being forced to realize it!!! Thanks for stopping by and hang in there.
Ali.
I love that picture of your mom. I really enjoyed meeting her and think of her often. She's a funny lady :-) After meeting her, I know where you get it from!!
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