Frustrations and Elations 1.

Since my mother has become unable to live on her own any more, I have moved her in with me. This is why no one has seen me around here for a while!
I have a feeling that I may get several books out of this experience and they will ALL be titled: Frustrations and Elations.
Under frustrations I am filing things like being sent to the store to buy her some Raisin Bran. Ordinarily, this would not be a difficult chore and I thought that I had done it well. Upon presenting her with the box, she told me that I had bought the wrong kind - she wanted the kind WITHOUT the raisins in it!
Also filed under frustrations is when we have an early morning hospital appointment to which we must take a form that the hospital has sent her. She lets me know about this form at midnight, the night before and informs me that it is a pink page that is in a box on her windowsill at her house. Since this is a necessity, I drive over to her house (at midnight, in a snow storm) and search everywhere but there is no pink paper to be found. So I get her on the phone to ask her where else it could possibly be and she tells me - Nevermind, it's a white paper and I have it here in my purse.
I can laugh about these things now but at the time....!
Filed under elations are her good days when she is relatively pain free. She will sing along when I pick up my guitar and it really does not matter that she is singing a different song than what I am playing!
She will sit at the kitchen counter and teach me how to make different dishes.
She will talk to me about my dad and when my brothers were just small boys.
She will help me translate songs and phrases into the Mohawk language.
On her really good days she will wheel her chair around and sweep the floor and/or do the dishes. Even though I can see how this tires her out, I won't tell her not to do it. It is important to her to feel useful and to see the look of satisfaction, pride and accomplishment on her face when she gets it done is truly elating.
Also filed under elations are the things she does that make me laugh out loud.
I heard her one day calling, "Purple, Purple come here!" I could hear her getting frustrated and I was totally puzzled until I realized that she was talking to my old deaf dog and had forgotten that his name was Blue.
When she first came to live with me, she was a little frightened of my 4 dogs. She would yell at them to go lie down. I thought she was never going to get along with them until the day I discovered that when she thought no one was around, she was petting them and feeding them treats! As soon as I came into the room, she started muttering about "mangy mutts"! It all worked out - she now has 4 granddogs.
Ah well, when it comes to Mom - even the frustrations are elations. I'm just glad she's still around to cause them!