Saturday, December 02, 2006

A Woman's Work Is Never Done

Awaking this morning was normal. Max and I went back to lay down a while after I switched on the coffee and he went outside to patrol the parameter of the backyard and water somewhere. I turned on the tv to check and see if the world was still rotating on its axis and drifted back to sleep.

Next thing I knew the telephone was ringing. I reached over to the nightstand and cleared my throat. "Hello?", I say, trying to sound like I wasn't asleep. It was my mother in law, chirping hello and telling me to ask her how she is. Ok, I say. "How are you?". Her leg is in a brace, thank you and her kneecap has suffered a fracture. The doctor put her in a full leg brace to keep the kneecap secure to mend. It won't be in a cast so she can still shower and change clothes comfortably, with the help of medication. Her friends are all stopping by and bringing her meals and helping around her place.

She is a lucky woman. Not the broken kneecap thing, of course, but the fact that she has lived in the same town for more than 60 years and has so many old friends who automatically kick into gear and take care of her. She is extremely healthy, especially for a woman of 84 years, but all the women rally around each other with support and care when needed.

We should all be so lucky.

As luck would have it, I had just made the final reservations for her air travel here for a Christmas visit last night, online, as I usually do. Since it was less than 24 hours ago, and since I took out the ticket insurance plan, I got a full refund on the ticket and the insurance charges. That was a relief.

I told her that a couple of books were to be Christmas gifts for her so I'd get them on out to her Monday. She is a voracious reader and will be wanting books to read. The ladies all pass around books to each other, too.

So, we'll have a Christmas celebration in the spring this coming new year with her.

Today I've been running around picking up things for the boy for his Winter Dance tonight, as guest of his date. I picked up his new suit that had been altered and then the date's corsage. I went by the ATM to get cash for his dinner tonight at the restaurant before the dance. Geez.

He did help me put up the large lighted candy canes in the front yard so that's worth something.

His date's parents are arriving with her in 45 minutes to pick him up and he's just going upstairs to get ready. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. As a teenage girl I'd have devoted the entire afternoon to getting ready.

Boys.

3 comments:

srp said...

I had to laugh at this one... not your MIL... hope she heals fast... but at your son. Never having a son I always wondered if they put much effort into getting ready.

The girls do spend the whole day getting ready.... hair appointments... showers, make-up. Usually they are ready a good two hours ahead of time.

When Nyssa was six she had a crush on the college kid next door. He was really good with kids, patient and talked to them. He was finishing architecture studies and was leaving for a semester in Spain. Nyssa was crushed. His mom got him to take Nyssa to see a Disney film before he left. He was so cute. Patrick called and asked her to go and picked her up, fastened the seatbelt then took her to McDonalds and the movie. Her first date.

Even at age six she worried over what to wear. I think she tried on every outfit she had before deciding! All I could think was... if it's this way now, please help me when she really goes on a date.

Hope he had a good time.

Anonymous said...

One thing that got me about girls and prom/dances/graduation is the amount of phone talking it takes between the girlfriends to accomplish putting even a bobby pin in. The air was electric and the phone kept ringing. DH retreated to his barn and shop but I was magnetically it seemed glued to the happenings.

We weren't allowed to have dances in my school until my senior year (it was a public school but a very conservative, even for then, school board) so I only went to one formal. My date who was quite a bit shorter than I wore elevator shoes and a purple velvet tux. He had to drive to Nashville to pick up his duds - 45 minutes - but I would not be surprised if he didn't just stop in a gas station to suit up.

How did your MIL break her knee? That just sent a shudder through me. I do hope she mends quickly and has no stiffness but it sounds like she will work it out if there is any.

Jennifer said...

Boys.

So sorry about your mother-in-law, although at least it sounds like she's being a good sport about it! My mother-in-law also has that network of friends who support and help each other, day in and day out. It's such a mind easing thing to know, and they all probably have no idea how appreciated they are to those of us - like my husband and me - who can't be close by.