I wondered the other night if Mom would be here for Dad's birthday on August 2nd. My hope for her sake and also Dad's is that she isn't but it's too bad Dad's birthday is just around the corner for him to "celebrate" and Mom may not be here. Mike passed April 27th and I didn't have to deal with my "first" birthday without him until September. I always knew Mom and Dad's birthdays were close together just like Mike's and my birthdays were close together but it hit me - how many days apart were our birthdays. I think Mom and Dad's birthdays are 18 days apart and Mike's and mine were 19....just thought that was interesting.
Some of you may be aware of my garter snake issue I've had this summer and a friend of mine that is an Iowa transplant to Wyoming had posted a picture of a snake (dead snake) she had found in her garage wondering what kind of snake it was. She was wanting people to identify it. I identified it for her - it was a snake - good enough identification for me. Someone posted that it wasn't a such-and-such snake because it's brow wasn't as pronounced or something like that. I'm like it's brow isn't pronounced - I don't even take long enough to make sure it has a head if I know it's a snake - again knowing it's a snake is good enough for me and I'm heading the other way......
This morning I looked out at my hibiscus plants and the yellow hibiscus was blooming - it hadn't bloomed in over a month.
If you know me - you also know that no matter what the speed limit is my foot knows exactly 10 miles over the speed limit. Mom used to give me a hard time about that and the past three days I've seen a State Trooper between Otley and Pella so I've held it to 5 over. Trust me if you get pulled over for 5 over the speed limit you have a very bored officer or trooper. But today must have been the Trooper's day off because I didn't see him.
Mom was sleeping when I got to Comfort House and Dad said she had slept pretty good last night. She didn't want to drink any Ensure for dinner though. Dad and I visited for a while and then a friend of mine from college was in town visiting her mother and called me to see if I wanted to get together for lunch. The timing was perfect because they were going to give Mom a bath so I headed out with Linda for lunch and had a good visit with her. When I got back Mom was sleeping again and Dad said she didn't drink any Ensure for lunch. Dad needed to run back to their apartment for a while so I settled in next to Mom to hold her hand and read.
A couple of the ladies from the church in Pella stopped by and we had a nice time catching up on their families. They both had three boys with some older and some younger than me. It was nice that Dad made it back to visit with Linda and Marcia before they had to leave - and we had a nice prayer time. I stayed a little longer and then headed back to West Des Moines. That was the hardest thing for me to do because I'm not sure if that was the last time I'll see Mom. I know she wasn't awake to know I was there today - and that's ok - but I won't get back down to Comfort House until next Saturday...and that's a long time. I'll call Dad each night to see how the day went and then do a daily update to my blog.
Like I shared with my friend at lunch and with the ladies this afternoon before Dad got back - I'm not mad at Mike that he's gone. He couldn't help it that his cancer reoccurred and he died but part of me is like he's suppose to be here for me to lean on during this time - and he's not. I come back home and it's just me and that stinks. Poor Butler, he looks at me when I talk to him but it's not quite the same :)
Tomorrow my only plan is going to church and then back home to sit in the air conditioning. It's suppose to be hotter tomorrow than it was today - and it was really hot today.
