Day Off - Visiting mom

The trip to visit my mom today was quite poignant. She cried almost uncontrollably because she was so happy to see me. Then my anger at my father who refused to even open his mind to making healthy drinks with ingredients readily available in a blender that is sitting on the shelf. Taking my mother to Wal-Mart to look at arts/crafts supplies. Although she can no longer drive, she still pointed out the stop signs and told me to be careful. In Wal-mart we walked very slowly stopping to rest now and then. In the arts/crafts section, her once great talent for floral arrangements now focused on the shiny chenille pipe cleaners that she will use to decorate more photos in a bizarre shrine she has created on the wall of all her children and grandchildren. As her mind leaves her, her essence still remains. Her love of her children. Her love of creating with her hands. And her love of the Florida Gators.... her ecstatic response when she picked out a Gator embossed handbag. She seemed a bit confused not knowing where her money was. The mother who always insisted on paying for everything simply accepted the explanation that the purse would get paid for. She exclaimed several times how she has wanted that purse for forever. We returned home and she held the handbag with admiration. I asked her where she wanted the pipe cleaners she said "let's put it in the purse". So we did. When it was time for me to leave,she cried again and thanked me for coming. I don't know if she could see my tears as well. She followed me outside although I insisted she stay inside because it was so hot out. She stood on the porch and waved to me as I pulled out of the driveway. Be careful of the ditch, she said, her final advocacy for safety as I drove away.