I guess the best place would be back at Thanksgiving when I wrote my last post...oh my! We had the best 3 days with Mom, Josh, Katie, Camden and Hampton. It truly was the best 3 days that Mom had seen in 2 months...what a blessing. I took tons of pictures of Thanksgiving on Thursday, Hampton's birthday on Friday, and Christmas on Saturday, but these 2 pictures say it all...
I will be forever grateful for these wonderful, wonderful days that we had has a family celebrating very special days.
Mom and the doctor made the decision right after Thanksgiving weekend that she wouldn't be going back to her Villa and that she'd be staying in the Health Center permanently. She made such a wise decision 15 years ago when she moved to the Mayflower where they provided independent living, which she's enjoyed for all these years, assisted living and the Health Center . She was in a semi-private room and had several different room mates...she was fine with it, but knowing that she would be there for always I felt like we needed to get her into a private room. We had a "Care Plan" meeting on Monday December 5th, let them know that we really wanted a private room...as it turned out the largest private room have become available that weekend...Oh my...I nearly jumped out of my chair. It's a beautiful room, probably the size of a small efficiency apartment. They got it all painted for her and by the Saturday she was all moved in. That really stepped up the schedule for cleaning out her Villa...I had promised her that we'd have it done by Christmas...we got it all done that week....worked a lot of 10-12 hour days to get it all done...bless Andy's heart, I never would have made it without him. Don't think we'll ever move out of this house, but it did make me realize that I'm not saving anything anymore, well excluding my sewing room. No more papers that I might look at another time, clothes that I don't wear for a while are going to someone who can wear them. Mom had so much "stuff"...we got a 15 cubic yard dumpster and almost filled it. Gave tons of clothes and furniture to charity...she didn't want to have any kind of sale...just wanted people who needed it to have it...we were able to move a few pieces of her furniture and she has all of her pictures of the kids on a library table that we brought over. She's very content and very comfortable...and for that I am more than grateful.
So, to make a long post a bit less long I'll say, we've kind of gotten into a "routine" and I pretty much know where I'm going to be when, but I also know that I'm not going to get too attached to it because it's likely to change...and I'm OK with that. I continue to focus on TODAY, I don't look past that and I don't look back....Thank you my dear friend for that advice...I hear her on my shoulder many days saying "Focus, Focus...Today!" and that snaps me right back where I need to be. Thank you all so much for notes and e-mails checking in on us...I'm hoping to be around blogland a bit more after the first of the year...we'll see how it goes. Right now Mom is doing pretty well, her bloodwork was actually up from last week, and no one has an explanation for it, the doctor has never seen that happen with anyone her age and with this advanced leukemia...I'm calling it our Christmas miracle.
So from our house to yours...We wish you the Merriest Christmas ever...ENJOY!
I saw this quote this morning and just loved it...I think it says it all in looking to the coming year...
“This year, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and the speak it again.” -Howard W. Hunter
