Josh was out of town so the boys and I decided to keep my mom occupied today. You see, my mom goes to my aunt's house (which is where my gma now lives) and "watches" my gma every saturday while my aunt goes to work. The boys love to go because there is always lots of kids to play with and lots of cookies to eat. My aunt isn't concerned about calories or fat. She cooks like a storm. 3 sticks of butter in the mashed potatoes, 1 stick of butter in the green beans, extra crispy fried chicken, homemade rolls, apple pie, and don't forget the sweet tea. It's pretty fun to go, because I normally don't eat like that and it's a treat to get to pig out on homecooked food.
Well, the point of this blog is to talk about what an angel my mom is. You see, she works full time, hangs out with the boys and I on Fridays (so I maintain my sanity and get errands ran), babysits my gma all day on Saturday, cleans her house and does laundry on Sunday, then back to work on Monday. Busy schedule and hardly anytime for herself. My gma has the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. She can pretty much remember the important things but will tell you the same story over and over again. This is the part where my mom is an angel. As I was sitting there today, I heard the same story atleast 17 times. This story is long and every single time she told it, it was the exact same version. I felt like the Candid Camera people should jump out at any moment. By the 12th time I heard the story, my nerves were shot. I felt my brain screaming "no more, I can't handle this." I was looking for any type of escape and there wasn't one. But instead, I would smile and act interested, every single time. To clarify, Alzheimer's is an awful disease and I'm not making fun of it or diminishing the severity of it. My point is that my dear mother sits for 14 hours every Saturday and listens to my gma tell her the same stories over and over again. My mom just smiles and acts interested. It's hard to do because I got a tiny taste of it today. A tiny taste of what my mom has done, every single week, for the last year/year and a half. All I can say after this experience today, is that I hope I raise children who will love me enough to take that kind of care of me when I'm older.
(This is just a random pic of the boys playing outside on a chilly day)
5 comments:
Aww. That is so sweet of your mom to give of herself that way, and you are right - doesn't it make you flash forward when you see something like that and pray to the heavens that you raise kids that will love you like that. I am sure you will sweet Julie. I am sure you will. You are a fabulous mom and you already work tirelessly to teach and train your young boys. They will clip your toe-nails for you one day. I'm just sure of it. :-)
We have the best mom ever to take time out of her day off to spend all day with grandma. I hope that when I get old Madison does the same thing for me.
Your mom is so lovely. Thanks for the blog you write so well.
I always think that watching my mom is like getting a glimpse of the strength and wisdom and faith that women are capable of. I think that women are often strong in ways that men cannot even begin to fathom. We have awesome moms- awesome role models. We have a LOT to live up to!
This was a very sweet blog. Your love for your mom shines through!
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