Time with Mum

This week with Mum has been a wonderful opportunity for me to spend time with her  without distractions, to enjoy her company.  It also gives me a chance to see how she is faring mentally and physically. I think she is just fine. A little slower but not much, and though she drops off to sleep easily she doesn't when she is fully engaged either in conversation or playing scrabble. She is a strategic and capable player still which is reassuring. 

Physically she is upright, and steady on her feet and still a pretty good walker. She does tire more easily but then she actually doesn't do much lengthy walking either so I don't think that is a major concern. 

It is a great relief to find her so well and mentally alert. She would love to go to Alaska and I'm thinking maybe we could go together next year. I think she would be fine if we had a tour because she was very well organised except for packing her suitcase for this little excursion. Let's face it, packing is always a challenge for most people or women at least. She packed a few groceries too from her pantry so it didn't cost us much for the week. That was her idea so I think that was a great help.  It is easy to slip into the "taking, caring"  way of talking when someone is older and really I was accompanying her and there is a difference. Getting older is a challenge. 

We had a couple of pastel drawing sessions and that was a chance for me to show mum my growing abilities. I felt so proud when she said I had a good eye. It meant a lot to me to have her encouragement. We talked about why I had never drawn when I was younger. I was more interested in drama and I know Mum encouraged me to explore that because she had been shy and didn't want us to be. I was more active too with an interest in ballet but I always wanted to be able to draw. Now I am exploring the interest and it meant so much to me to have her acknowledge a latent talent. I guess we always strive for our parent's approval regardless of how old we are.

Mum is an amazing woman. We have been blessed to have such a loving, well balanced and wise mother.  She may tell lots of stories about her past these days but I see it as the passing on of family history and a way to gain understanding of the era. 

We were at the market at Caloundra and there was a palm reader. Mum suggested I have my palm read so I did. He didn't tell me any great revelations but said I would live to over 100 and that the ring on my right hand was interfering with my monetary luck. He said I was a bit bossy( true), that I speak straight(sometimes tactless) and that I had made a few false starts but once I hit  my late forties or 50 my career took off. That was when I started working full time and studying for my Masters. That was interesting.  He told me I had a good hand and then proceeded to tell me about his life! He was in his 80s, went dancing three times a week but although widowed he had had a wonderful wife and wasn't interested in remarrying! I have removed the ring from my right hand in the meantime and will see if I get lucky! Mum was tempted but thought that at 91 he wouldn't be telling her anything she didn't know. 

I had dabbled in palmistry when I was a young woman and this experience reawakened my interest. Serendipity stepped in and a book grabbed my attention when we were browsing the book barn at Eumundi. It was a book on palmistry that seemed very good so at $7 I decided to splurge and explore the subject further. It could become a sideline. Ha ha.

Mum playing scrabble.